The Creative Pendulum
“The road up and the road down are one and the same.” –Heraclitus
The ups and downs – a familiar cycle for most anyone engaged in most any creative pursuit. Some days you can’t miss, and other days you can’t get anything right. And sometimes the days are weeks or months or years, and with every downswing comes the creeping growing doubt — will this, too, pass? For some, it’s a gentle sinuous swing. For others, it’s a vast chasm between cathartic bliss and paralyzing despair. I guess we’re all bipolar to some degree.
Professionals go through the same cycles. A true pro can remain prolific and rely on honed skill to consistently produce high-quality work through the ups and downs, as the creative pendulum swings. The same is true for other creative professionals – whether writers, painters, actors, or musicians. The unseen difference is the level of personal satisfaction that comes from those few truly inspired works, and the self doubt that comes when such works become fewer and farther between. Ansel Adams summed it well when he said that twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop. Note his use of the word “significant” – distinguishing those few special images from any number of others he may produce in a given year.
The years had taught me that the downswings, though difficult and defeating at times, are in fact necessary. Creative epiphanies occur when a constellation of factors come together at an opportune time. These factors include not only subject matter and circumstances, but also a unique state of mind – an emotional extreme that is not really sustainable over prolonged periods. Think of your down time not as a dry spell but as a time of rest and recharging, as your heart and mind prepare themselves for the emotional toll of the next moment that strikes awe in your heart. Be confident it will happen.
Category: Thoughts and Musings
Sweet image, Guy. And too true about “down time.” While I love spring, I find it the hardest season to photograph, and I have a hard time finding inspiration when it’s so windy, and I’m hot, and I can’t seem to make anything look good on the camera. Such is life; one can only keep trying…
“The unseen difference is the level of personal satisfaction that comes from those few truly inspired works, and the self doubt that comes when such works become fewer and farther between. ” Well said! There’s days where you wonder if you’ll ever make “an inspiring” picture again (on a personal level that is), yet, it’s that desire that keeps my engine running.
Oh, and fantastic shot by the way.
Man I hit that right before Africa. I’m sure waiting for Africa had something to do with it, but I just didn’t even want to go to the Everglades. I have found switching scales helps sometimes. Going for macro instead of landscapes sometimes revamps an interest. Another great read Guy. Hope the book sales have been what you wanted.
Inspiring Guy. The creative process is anything but simple and as things ebb and flow it’s important for artists to keep their wits. Thanks for the thought provoking post.
Well written and enjoyable post. Thank you. Your picture is a delight! Sometimes I think it’s finding that subject or model that just inspires us. In a drought, I came upon a simple dogwood tree that was beautiful from every angle and every light and I couldn’t take a bad picture of it. I know it wasn’t the tree, it was that I fell in love with the tree.
Great image, Guy. I find this post of yours to be relaxing to me. By this, I simply mean that it is human to go thru these swings and one cannot fight it. Just go with the flow and keep on doing your thing with an open mind and open vision.