My Creative Process and a Fun Creative Prompt!

I really don't think of myself as a creative person. 

I do really enjoy art and creating but I often feel uncertain about what I should create and I tend to settle into what feels comfortable and familiar.

I have learned that I really need to push myself past this comfort zone in order to create the images that make me excited to press my shutter button.

I wanted to share the method that I use for my own creative process with the hope that it will benefit you as well. 

Here is a short video where I explain.

I call this my creative trail.

I use this method often and it makes me think of hiking with my family on a trail. I never want to turn back early because I am always curious as to what is around the next bend. My children probably can't stand the words, "Let's go just a bit further guys!".

Just like family hikes, I think we can always go just a bit further to see what we will discover in our creative endeavors. I practice this method in my own photography and I constantly challenge myself to take one more step and ask:

What can I add here (or take away). 

And/or what problem do I need to solve.

For me, it is important to start with a plan.

I generally have a basic idea of what I am hoping to create. Once I feel okay with what I am shooting I begin to ask myself my two main questions.

For example, I had wanted to photograph my dahlias from the top down. 

I went ahead and cut the stems off so that I could photograph them easily from a birds-eye view.

This gave me two problems: One, I didn't want to see the background, and two I did not like limiting myself to stemless flowers.

At my next opportunity, I decided to try something besides just laying them on the surface. 

I used chicken wire as a frame which kept me from having to cut the stems off. 

I was able to maneuver the flowers into a composition that I liked but the chicken wire backdrop was far worse than the black backdrop I wanted to avoid in the first place.

That is when I decided to use some lace to camouflage the wire.

I thought that this idea had promise but I only had a short piece of ribbon on hand. 

A day later I bought some ribbon from the local craft store and continued on my creative path.

I tried a few different things and I learned that I really loved the way the folds of the silky fabric paired with the textured petals of the dahlias.

I was intrigued with the ribbon and I knew that my creative trail had just begun.

I will share my next stop on the trail in a future article but for now, I wanted to encourage you to start on your own path of creativity and grab yourself some ribbon for this month's challenge.

September Creative Prompt: Ribbon

You can photograph any subject so don't feel that you need to create a floral scene.

You do not have to limit your creative trail to one session. It can span the whole month if you would like! Just keep moving forward and see how your ideas progress.

I would love to see your creative results.

Happy creating!

Leah