We rely on something unreliable if we rely on inspiration to be creative. 

Inspiration and Creativity

Let's define inspiration and creativity. 

Creativity is the process or act of doing the work. 

Inspiration is the kick in our mind's butt that initiates action.

Creativity and inspiration are often experienced together.

However, we can create without inspiration. 

Inspiration isn't a reliable force. 

It's elusive and conceptual and can never be relied on to show up when we want it to visit.  

In fact, an excellent skill to develop is the ability to create without Inspiration. 

In other words, developing and honing the skills to create on-demand pays off big time.  

As Photographers, We Create Photographs

And since we create photographs, we can consider ourselves creatives. 

We seem to view creativity as something that springs forth randomly, usually preceded by a lightning bolt of Inspiration. 

It kinda feels like the feeling we get when seeing a jack-in-the-box pop out of its box. Except, we're not turning a crank to make it happen. We wait for Inspiration to happen on its own. Or think we only get inspired when specific conditions exist.

We've all probably heard some creatives say things like:

"My best ideas pop into my head while showering."

"Struggle seems to be fuel for producing my best work."

Creativity just seems to happen! It can't be forced ."

It seems to me these words describe a creative process that involves more waiting than creating. 

And it seems we're waiting for something that requires specific conditions to exist that serve as the ground for Inspiration and creativity. 

We want to make pictures, but we wait for the stars to align, the weather to be favorable, the golden hour, etc., and hope we'll find inspiration to create. 

What Are We Waiting For? 

As a teacher used to tell us, "Forget inspiration; take out a camera and make photographs." 

"Make 'em often and make 'em consistent with who we are as photographers." 

If we're not making pictures because we're waiting for the Halley's Comet of Creativity, Inspiration, to come along, we've got some things that may work against us as creatives. 

Things like:

• We delay our progress.
• We don't develop the skill of producing creative work on demand.
• Our pursuit of the unattainable concept of perfection
• Our fear of screwing up
• Our mistaken thinking is that our self-worth is tied to our creativity. (Remember, we ain't failures if we try again. And we ain't failures if we change our direction to get to where we're intending to go.)  
• Our belief is that we need specific mental states or other conditions to be present to be creative. This ain't true. 

Are We Procrastinating When It Comes to Our Studies and Practice?

Enter the two terms, Inspiration, and creativity, and you'll get tons of stuff to read. 

In fact, some research suggests that procrastinating supports our creativity. 

 I don't get how that works. 

If anything, I think procrastinating gets us better at and more accepting of our habit of procrastinating. 

Just to be clear, careful consideration of what we're thinking of doing isn't procrastination; it's smart because it helps us plan our actions and makes sure our actions support our intended outcomes. 

But if we cross the line into overthinking, we cross from one mental state to another. 

Specifically, we cross the mental state line from the state of creativity to the state of procrastination as soon as we begin overthinking. Because, from what I've been told, overthinking can be another form of procrastination. 

Procrastination or Prioritization?

I get it.

 If we're talking about photography as a hobby we want to get better at doing, we have things that are more important to do than photography.

But when we do have the time to study and practice our photography, do we wait for Inspiration to make a picture, or do we just go ahead and make the picture anyway?

If we're waiting for Inspiration, we're procrastinating. 

On the other hand, if we make the picture anyway, without waiting for Inspiration, we're doing the activity we need to do (our studying and practicing) so we can improve. 

Procrastinating and waiting for Inspiration get us nothing. 

Doing the activity, studying, and practicing our photography, gets us better at what we do.

An Introduction To Photography class starts this Sunday, July 9. There's more scheduled, but this one is the soonest one. Register now.