My creative lesson of week 2: There is nothing new but that is okay
The second week at my photo group was leading lines, which is quite an easy challenge. And it was nice to have a ‘rest’ after the difficult self portrait of last week.
It also turned into one of the largest albums YET with something at 52Frames. I am happy that so many people are joining the project because I think that doing something creative is just as necessary as water and oxygen.
On the flip side (there is always a flip side isn’t there?) as a committee member, I found it difficult to go through SO many photos. The committee members go through ALL the photos and pull the photos that we feel should be in the 52picks album (52 brilliant photos that are highlighted from every album) and the photos that get the three opening slots of the weekly album. It is a good thing that there is an entire group of us doing this.😀
After the 2000th photo of linear lines, they started to become to me a repeat of old fences leading into the horizon and traffic light trails. And railway tracks! Why do people still risk their lives to shoot on railway tracks!? Of course there were MANY new and unusual interpretations. They were the ones that I suggest go into the 52 picks album.
But it surprised me that there were so many similar photos. Remember that we are an international group and there are Framers all over the world. As coincidence would have it, I then came across a Youtube video with a huge compilation of all the same photos that we tend to take. The same pose at the leaning tower of Pisa, the same photo of a leaf pattern on a cup of coffee, the same straining crowd in front of the Mona Lisa.
This really had a profound effect on me. I always go on about how creativity is so important in our lives, like oxygen and water. And food of course.😁
And now, with this video and with my own experience of looking through the latest 52 Frames album I started to feel that there is no originality in the world.
I have also been part of the 52Frames project for a while now (going on 8 years darlings!) and often see people taking the same type of photo. We get inspired by the same things and by each other. And I was always okay with that. Even if there have been a thousand painted face photos, there has never a photo of YOUR painted face.
But still, this video got to me. Is there NO originality in the world? It took me a while to think about and then I decided that it is totally okay that we all do the same things over and over again.
I even got inspired enough to write a poem about it. (Don’t ask me where this poem writing thing is coming from. It is as though the words just bubble up and I have to write it down.)
Here is my poem:
Nothing is new
We all take the same photos that were taken before.
We struck the same poses and we say the same words.
Like well-trained marionettes without any string.
We are sad about the fires and floods and we cry at funerals
We celebrate births and marriages and earning degrees.
And we all like to go dancing or have a cold beer.
Nothing is new under the sun
And nothing will ever be
But in a way, that’s okay.
We know what to do and we don’t need a script
And easily connect the dots from start to end
Like ants showing the way to the ones behind
We are the bridges between the very distant past and the far away future,
as we stand between the twinkling stars outside and twirling atoms inside.
Nothing is new under the sun
And nothing will ever be
But in a way, that’s okay
Who cares if we all do the same thing. Right? As long as we DO something creative. It is after all just as important as oxygen and water. And food. AND coffee!
Here is the link to the video that made me question ‘creativity’ and yet inspired me too. It is called “Vemödalen: The Fear That Everything Has Already Been Done”.
Here is the link to the latest 52frames leading lines album and here are links so some other creative lessons that I have learned:
Week 1: Don’t just focus on your flaws
Week 10: Fun is important
I belong to this photo group called 52Frames where we have to take a photo and upload it every week. (It is 100% free to join but take note that the deadlines are strict.) Plodding along every week getting my weekly photo has taught me a lot about creativity.
My other creative endeavors are writing words, writing code and messing around with drawings and fiber art.
