![REleasing childhood experiences and memories and leaving them in the past. Two young women running into the future to escape/oversome their childhood.](https://jgalleriephoto.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/untitled-shoot-049-edit-edit-edit.jpg?w=627&h=627)
Nikon D600
1/100 sec. at f/16
ISO-320 with a 34 mm focal length
exposure bias -1.3 step
Lightroom 5, Photoshop CC, Perfect Effects
So today I think I would like to touch upon inspiration and how I develop inspiration to make a conceptual image really tick. With a painter in the family I was always jealous that she was able to start with a clean slate while, with my camera, I had to work with what was already there. It used to make me feel less creative, like I wasn’t actually creating anything at all, just copying what was in front of me. Thus the draw to the type of photography I am doing now. I now feel comfortable in calling myself a creator because I now create not what I see with my eyes, but what I see with my mind’s eye.
If you are hoping for a road map to finding inspiration I am not a very good tour guide. For me, inspiration is everywhere. It was in the kitchen last night when I was baking an apple pie, I find it in books, video games, solitude, nature walks and meditation. If I open myself up to it inspiration finds me no matter what I am doing. I think that more important to my craft than inspiration is finding and staying true to the emotion that drove the inspiration. It is important not to just grab an idea and run with it without investigating where it really came from and how it really makes you feel. These are not always immediately evident.
Take today’s image for example. It all started when I was cleaning the house and saw my old teddy bear sitting on my desk. It brought back childhood memories and inspired me to create something about my own childhood memories. Initially that seemed like a warm fuzzy image, but the more I thought about the deeper I realized that my childhood memories effect me on a much deeper level than playful thoughts of slumber parties and playgrounds.
For me my childhood defines many of the struggles I face in my adult life. Even though I am not the type of person that clings to the past for comfort and excuses, I know that the events of my childhood are very much a part of who I turned out to be. In this image I wanted to convey the sense of eagerness many young adults have, myself included way back when, in discarding their childhood. As a young adult I did not see that just beyond the visible wide open spaces of ‘adulthood” there was a deeper darker forest. I only knew I wanted to ‘escape’ to the future yet I have never really shed the garments of my childhood.
So put far more simply, I didn’t just grab my bear, a kid and head out with my camera. I made sure that not only was there a story to be told, that it was a personal story. Something that said something about the artist creating it. I believe that no matter what your medium, whether you start with a clean canvas or a full one, the most important thing when creating anything is putting yourself into the piece. It has to be more than just your energy and your craft. For any artwork to be successful it has to contain the heart of the creator.