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Inspiration - Were does it come from?
There are so many great images here on MM. And some really, really great images. I want to know about the process of getting a vision for a really great shot. - Especially the unique ones. Do you just build on things you've seen before? Do you combine ideas in your sleep? Do you study popular magazines? Do you pray to the camera gods? Or do you drink a case of Red Bull and stand on your head before taking pencil to sketch pad? If your answer is drug induced, I don't really want to hear about it - everyone knows that you can jumble up brain cells and get weird results) I also know that sometimes, a great shot is the result of a spontaneous situation too. - But you can't really on that if your client is requiring you to deliver. (I would have started this thread in the photography forum, but I thought that some models and stylist should participate because sometimes they suggest the shots.) Jan 13 06 11:56 pm Link Alot of my conceptual work is built on ideas, but the final aesthetic image usually comes out of the blue when I'm thinking of the meaning. Perhaps it's because I suffer from anxiety, I always have things mulling over in my mind. Also modeling/fashion photography is all about selling something or other, and that requires a good amount of knowledge on the art of manipulation... perhaps in the guise of some "deep idea" Jan 14 06 12:00 am Link I often credit "Magic" Seriously. I can be discussing a shoot with a model..I remember one time specifically recently, and the model could see something was going on....This idea just arrived. It was a combination of a magazine article I had been reading about an aritst, and the fact that this model was Polynesian....Maybe a little Mary Poppins thrown in...I got this vision of him as a sidewalk chalk artist, and i was going to shoot him in various stages of completing the sidewalk drawing...from different angles..The drawing came from a website of Polynesian tattoos. My best ideas come when I'm most relaxed....I like to take a bath in the morning--start the day with some nice quiet music, and just gather myself before I face the world. Ideas really do just "arrive" I find more "on the spot" inspiration from locations....I see a place, and think--it would be really cool if THIS was happening there.....and off I go..I tend to like to tell a story with my images, so I try to find a character for the model. Sometimes ideas are based on paintings or painter's styles...I have one image as a Carravaggio...There was this incredibly handsome but boyish Mexican guy I wanted to work with--and it just came to me, he looked like Carravaggio's boys....I made a wreath for his head, and gathered props...Anyone that sees it that knows art history "gets" it right away...I guess these little visual things just kind of stew around in my brain, waiting for their turn to be realized... Jan 14 06 12:16 am Link I get mine from movies. Sometimes if I get a block I will thumb through magazines. Sometimes the inspiration comes from the model. The facial structure, mood, colouring etc. Jan 14 06 12:27 am Link hmmmm.... myths and legends song lyrics meditation and occasionally the shower fairies bring me an idea completely intact Jan 14 06 12:44 am Link Go through the model's wardrobe. Often you'll see glimpses of his/her personality that give you inspiration. Finding out thier hobbies/aspirations will often spark an idea or three. Your subject will be more relaxed or inspired themselfs. You could always place your model in an unconventional place. Sure, we've all seen the sexy model in an industrial setting, or the man in a tuxedo along a dusty road, but what about the bodybuilder arranging flowers in the kitchen? Or the portly accountant surrounded by lingere models? Cheers, Allen Jan 14 06 12:50 am Link Some of my ideas come from spicy food eaten late at night! Others come from sleep depravation. And there are a few from near death experiences. Jan 14 06 12:53 am Link I agree. Some fantastic photos on here. I can honestly say that I don't think in terms of some of the more elaborate photos on here. I'm quite envious at times. First things first. You need to know what you are doing before you can even think of executing it. I know that might be obvious, but I thought I'd mention it. Lighting, composition, colour theory, knowing your film/developer (if using), etc. What you see in your mind's eye should be very close to what ends up in the final print. Anyway... I'd say if you don't have the vision to put together interesting photos now - you probably never will. Inspiration doesn't give you vision - it gives you a basis on which to build your vision on. Jan 14 06 01:06 am Link Habenero Photography wrote: I hope that the near death experiences are not done just to get a great shot concept? - That can be kind of risky! Jan 14 06 11:41 am Link What is inspiration? Jan 14 06 11:42 am Link Alan from Aavian Prod wrote: In the context of this thread, I meant the process in which you plan to come up with an idea for an image. I say "plan" because I want to know what people do when they are tasked with having to produce something exceptional within time and budget constraints. - (As if a client hired them to do so.) Jan 14 06 11:48 am Link I'm surprised no one has mentioned other artists... It's not possible to be an origianl artist or photographer... Everything we know come from someone or something else... We simply use the ingredients that are already there more to our liking that's all... Inspiration is everywhere - we just have to be willing to accept it... Jan 14 06 11:52 am Link The Art of CIP wrote: Thats true- I get inspiration from other artists. Though Im a MUA, photographers inspire me too... Jan 14 06 12:28 pm Link My Inspiration comes from other photographers, a model, movies, or sometimes ideas just hit late at night and I just hafta try it. There is a bevy of phenomenal work on here and I really do love that. Kudos to all you talented Photographers, MUAS, Models and Stylists Jan 14 06 12:33 pm Link Eric Muss Said it best in another thread: "I just make this shit up as i go along." That's me in a nutshell. Jan 14 06 01:50 pm Link Movies, tv, music and madness  Jan 14 06 01:52 pm Link Roshar wrote: I actually study face charts from make up artists... Those face charts on the MAC website and stuff - I pick that stuff apart!!! You ever notice that whenever you crack open a comic book the women never have on any make-up... That's something that is highly overlooked in the commercial as well as fine art realms... And I don't need to even get into the wealth of photographic and film imagery that exists... Jan 14 06 02:02 pm Link T H Taylor wrote: Dude all I know is that you've freed yourself from the camera... I classify you as an "image maker"... I suspect that if all cameras dissappeared tommorow you'd still find a way to make knockout images... Jan 14 06 02:04 pm Link Jay Dezelic wrote: I repsonded in jest because I just woke up after a long drive. Jan 14 06 02:21 pm Link WOMEN Jan 14 06 05:34 pm Link I get inspiration from: The Batman TV Series (from the 1960s and 1970s, not the recent animated series) Ancient Myths Hanna-Barbera (esp. Scooby Doo and Penelope Pitstop!) T&A Prime Time TV from the 1970s/1980s (Wonder Woman, Charlies Angels, etc.) Rocky and Bullwinkle (Really!) Jan 14 06 08:06 pm Link Mostly from the things around me. Here lately, though, I've really hit a frusterating wall in every area of my life, and so I'm having to work really hard to find inspiration. So, in the last couple of weeks, I've decided to start reading more, and, each week, choose a singular word that I want to focus on, and then try to capture the essence of that word. Jan 15 06 12:40 am Link I'm a very random person at times, and will make some things relate that are not related AT ALL. With this "gift" (LOL) I will sometimes come up with some very interesting ideas, or add another twist to the ones that I've come up with, THEN I look for the model to shoot it with. (For me, sometimes that's the hardest part). I can be looking at almost anything, and come up with an idea of a shoot. Add a Crown & Coke to the mix, and "ta-da!" Idea! LOL Jan 15 06 12:49 am Link Jay Dezelic wrote: My near death experiences came from bicycle crashes, allergic reactions to medication and bee stings and a few rafting mishaps. I still like living on the edge. Guess I'm an adrenaline junkie. Jan 15 06 12:54 am Link The process is so totally different depending on the category of assignment (I noted you wanted only sources for assignment work). Portraits, advertisements, editorial... such different animals... let alone reportage, etc. etc. The only generalization I could make about my processes that would have any basis in my reality would be that I do my homework on the assignment including homework on the client -- from brand history and identity to the work of the AD, CD or Editor in charge of the project. That gives me a pretty good idea of the deliverable required. From there, I ask why did I get this assignment? and see how what I know about the assignment informs. That gives me the essentials required to plan the shoot. The decision on when to "click" and when to make adjustments is intuitive ... informed by what I know of the assignment, my own inclinations, the impact of team and subject, etc. etc. I always assure I can achieve the desired result, then hope and watch and attempt something "more" and allow for the unexpected. Jan 15 06 01:15 am Link The Art of CIP wrote: Do you believe that inspiration is the same as influence? I don't look at it that way. I have been influenced by other artists (Neiman, Van Gogh, Da Vinci), but the inspiration that gets me to create an image comes from remembered sights and adventures. My alien series is an editorial on tourism. The psychodelic stuff represents the distortion of color I had during my close calls. My wife inspires many of my other works (but she doesn't model for it). There are many fantastic photos on this site, but none of them compel me to shoot. Yet, seeing how the light is playing against the side of a cliff, a cloud, or a beautiful woman will have me reaching for my camera. See what I mean? Jan 15 06 01:22 am Link I have this curse of sometimes getting tons of ideas going through my head at once. It especially sucks when trying to sleep. I often write down which ones I can remember. I have alway believed the good ideas are the ones you remember, the bad ones are the ones you forget details about. Jan 15 06 01:42 am Link varies depending on a zillion things. mood, reason i need to be inspired, how desperate i am for an idea... sources for me: *music *artwork--sometimes just walking through a museum does the trick *a story *something i saw that ultimately has nothing to do with the image i create *other photographs/photographers *women *weird crap that just pops into my head (this is about 60% of the time) Jan 15 06 01:53 am Link Love and pain from lack of... Jan 15 06 01:56 am Link I leave a small glass of Irish whiskey on a tree stump in the woods each evening. The "Little People" leave a few sheets of sketches and notes each morning. More seriously, my inspiration comes from a myriad of sources. Myth and legend, the works of the Pre-Raphaelites, other photographers, models, etc. It all blends together and sometimes I get lucky and an idea emerges from the fog bank I laughingly call my mind. Jan 15 06 10:07 am Link Simple. I steal ideas that I see and then fine tune them for my shoots. works for me. bs Jan 15 06 12:54 pm Link When the muse descends, it is gathered by everything I have com into contact with, read, felt, heard, smelled, tasted, seen, everything. I try to take the time to let things talk to me, get a feeling for what would work great here. Sometimes I have an idea for a shot, than start moving things together for it and BLAMO im changing my mind because it doesn't work. middway through set up. it happens. but the true insperation, the true feeling that drives me to create something comes from my direct suroundings. How the model is feeling and acting that day, how they look, how the day has been for me, how the tempature is, ect.. ect.. I may get ideas or influenced for things, and try to set up for them.. but more often than not, everything changes by th etime the shutter opens. inspired, when the muse descends. if the muse isn't there, its just a free for all. Jan 15 06 01:55 pm Link Long drives are a great way for me to think these things through. Since I have no deadlines or need to shoot on any schedule, I'm thinking about ways to frame shots or find poses that would appeal to both myself and the model. I communicate a lot with the models ahead of time and better understand her interests and what she wants to accomplish. I have been approached a few times to shoot something out of my normal realm - Some have had ideas come to me on the spot - and several haven't. Some ideas/requests are rolling around in my head - but, they are not ready yet and I haven't found the right theme. I don't want to try anything until I have thought it through in detail - and am excited about the possibilities. VintageV. Jan 15 06 02:10 pm Link Jay Dezelic wrote: Most of my ideas have not been realized. I don't base my ideas on other images. SOmetimes I just find a location and base something around that. Other times, I think of the feeling I want to portray and go from there. I think there are way too many pictures around that lack any sort of feeling or emotion. That is the number one thing I try to avoid. Sometimes it takes a good couple of months to clearly solidify an idea in my mind. Just open your mind and the ideas will flow. Jan 15 06 05:51 pm Link Everything inspires me. Song lyrics, movies, the produce isle, other artists. Jan 15 06 06:56 pm Link This is a difficult question to answer well. First off, I do bodies of work with related images, so inspiration for a single image is more or less an ahah! thing while looking through the viewfinder. Deciding what to concentrate on for the next year or two is much harder. And it's not really inspiration. More like research - a survey of what's happening in photography, balanced by an idea or two of what's happening in the culture. I look to see what's being done in photography and avoid it. I can't do anything exciting if a million other photographers are already doing it. That doesn't mean I'll avoid everything that's ever been done, because that's not possible. I want to photograph women and want it to be sexual, so that limits my choices a whole lot too. Then I look to see where the culture's edges are and think about whether they can be nudged a bit. I'd like my stuff to make people talk and question taught values. My last thing was fetish/bondage photography, even though I'm not in that culture. When I was done with it - when I was doing "same picture, different girl" stuff - I was done shooting for about two years while deciding what it was I wanted to do next. So what I'm doing right now is less a product of inspiration than a (partial) realization of some ideas I've had during two years of thinking about it. Looking at the port here, there's no clue that it even means anything at all I'd imagine. And though it may look like it, it's not easy. To date there are precisely five images that I've made since August that really fit what I want. I expect another two or three from the shoots yesterday but won't know until I see the film. When I get 12 or 15 or 20 I'll stop shooting until there's something else to do. One cultural movement that keeps coming back to tease me is the way women in the sex industry are advancing feminism by taking and using power. Topping from the stage pole or something. There are many books and articles about how it's working and at least one photo book or book that uses photographs. More women are in universities than men now. More and more are reaching corporate positions of power and more are reaching flag grade in the military. It looks to me like the society of the future isn't going to look much like the one I grew up in and men are becoming less and less necessary and I want to see why and maybe get inside of it with a camera somehow. And maybe figure out why men blew it so badly last century. OK, enough blather. And I'm not even drinking. -Don Jan 15 06 07:16 pm Link |
