I don’t want to be interesting. I want to be good. – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
See previous STATUS QUOtes HERE
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All original content on this blog is copyrighted by Jeffrey B. Ross with ALL Rights Reserved. While reference links back to JBRish.com are appreciated and encouraged, please acquire approval for any reproduction of original content from this website.
©Jeffrey B. Ross – 2017 – JBRish.com
“The inspiration you seek is already within you. Be silent and listen.” – Rumi
See previous STATUS QUOtes HERE
All original content on this blog is copyrighted by Jeffrey B. Ross with ALL Rights Reserved. While reference links back to JBRish.com are appreciated and encouraged, please acquire approval for any reproduction of original content from this website.
©Jeffrey B. Ross – 2017 – JBRish.com
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
— Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities —
No doubt much of this sentiment vividly echoes today. We are living in turbulent times, but we are also living in the most advanced, wondrous time the world has ever known. The video below will offer a glimpse into this proposition and hopefully some JBRish readers will find inspiration and motivation to achieve more than they thought you could.
Undoubtedly some may find it a bit too proselytizing or idealistic and that’s OK too. If you don’t enjoy this style of video, or it just isn’t your thing, I hope that the quotes below, from the video, will provide food for thought.
NOTES
- The video below has some NSFW language. Of course nowadays it may be difficult to judge what NSFW even means, but I would find some of the language offensive if my young child heard them or I had a middle schooler who wasn’t mature enough to hear them. Please consider this before you read further or watch the video.
- The video is comprised of numerous clips from motion pictures, lectures, speeches, etc. and it is a bit lengthy, coming in at 38:24, but it goes fast IMHO.
Some quotes from the video, but not all the quotes:
This is the time of year that photography websites start talking about ideas, resolutions, etc. for the New Year. We often hear about a monthly challenge or perhaps even a weekly challenge.
Every once in a while someone steps up and starts a 365 day photography challenge based on a theme or idea that they have. I am doing a modified* 365 day challenge by posting a picture-a-day for 365 days selected from the shots I took during our hiking and exploration trip to Yosemite National Park. This is the link if you are interested:
Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 1 & Project Introduction
*NOTE – While I do intend to post 365 separate photos from my Yosemite excursions, I am not doing them strictly on consecutive days because of previous commitments and plans.
The PHOTOBLOG is stepping up to help those who might need inspiration for such a challenge by offering a yearly calendar with a new photography idea for every day of the year. This would be a wonderful resource for those who just want to gather new and fresh ideas or to stimulate ideas of their own. The PHOTOBLOG suggests it might make a nice gift for a phtographer-friend and I agree!
Here are some random examples of suggested ideas:
In addition to being a springboard for ideas, the calendar itself has very pretty photography and serves its general utilitarian function of keeping track of the dates. Each page has the main month along with the preceding and following month; a nice touch. See the sample screen shot below.
Check out all of the details and find out how to post some of your own project shots by visiting this PHOTOBLOG web page.
See previous JBRish.com Photography posts HERE
As a photography enthusiast, I follow a number of professional photographers via their blogs. One such photographer is Australian-based Gina Milicia. Not only is Gina a wonderful photographer and podcaster, she also appreciates quotes.
“I told the universe (and anyone who would listen) that I was committed to living a creative life not in order to save the world, not as an act of protest, not to become famous, not to gain entrance to the canon, not to challenge the system, not to show the bastards, not to prove to my family that I was worthy, not as a form of deep therapeutic emotional catharsis … but simply because I liked it.”– Elizabeth Gilbert
I am fairly certain this is from Giblert’s book, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear.
I heartily recommend Big Magic to anyone who has the least bit of creative inkling in their bones. It will change the way you think about creating and about life.
ALSO…if you haven’t visited Gina Milicia’s website and you are interested in photography, I can recommend that as well. I have listened to a good number of her podcasts and I admire her not only for her skill, but for her willingness to share her expertise with the wider photography community. Even if you are not a professional photographer, there is a lot to learn by subscribing to her newsletter and/or keeping up with her blog.
Creativity and inspiration are fickle muses. I have written as a hobby via blogs for a number of years and I wrote (with my wife) professionally for three years or so as weekly columnists for a major newspaper in central New Jersey. There were times, when I sat at the computer and magic happened; words, phrases and ideas flew from my mind to my finger tips and I could fashion a wonderful story in no time at all.
There were other times, when I would struggle to construct an enticing opening paragraph. I find the same scenario with my photography. It is only a hobby, but it is an important one. I follow many photographers via the Internet. I listen to podcasts and take part in various webinars. I am currently working on a personal project, A Year of Yosemite, where I am writing about 365 photographs I took during my week (+/-) of hiking there. It was wonderful, exciting and amazing! The spirits of Ansel Adams and John Muir were omnipresent.
So…where can we find inspiration as photographers? You know, those times when our cameras sit in their bags for days on end and we don’t feel inspired to pick it up and go out to shoot. In the video below, Art Wolfe talks about his avenues of inspiration and the different views he brings to his photographic craft. Although he is very modest, Art Wolfe is an acclaimed photographer. His training and education as an artist enables him to distill visual themes which help him create bodies of work that I found very stimulating.
I encourage anyone interested in art or photography to watch this YouTube video and perhaps watch it again. I thoroughly enjoyed it on several levels. It will certainly serve as a source of inspiration and motivation for my own photographic journey.
Where do you find photographic inspiration?
The video below is for a new television series, Tales by Light, which is intended to showcase photography and videography.
Below is the first paragraph from an article on PetaPixel describing this series:
“Want an incredible dose of photographic inspiration? Check out this newly-released 2-minute trailer for the new TV series Tales by Light, a new TV series that follows 5 top photographers as they take their cameras to the ends of the Earth — photographers who have an unquenchable desire to capture and share the wonders of this world with the rest of us.”
Read more about the series at the PetaPixel website – click here
Tales by Light Official Trailer HD from Untitled Film Works on Vimeo.
I am constantly being inspired by the creativity I see exhibited on the Internet. One reason I enjoy reading the variety of blogs that I visit is to appreciate and admire all the talent that is “out there!”
Every once in a while something resonates strongly with me and I need to try it myself. These explorations are the beginnings of ideas for me to consider and possibly try and perhaps use to grow as an individual.
At one time, I tried calligraphy, but it was nothing like this. These are quite amazing!
Visit the site below to see more examples and perhaps you might want to try your hand (pun) at it!
See more and read the article here: 3D Calligraphy Experiments by Tolga Girgin
* The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.”
― Omar Khayyam