David Alan Harvey on communicating with your photography…
Posted by Dean Bradshaw | Filed under Thoughts and Theory, quotes, visual style in photography
You’ve got to have something to say. It could be conceptual, or you can try to save the world as a photojournalist. But you can’t just be a technician. Everybody’s a technician. You’ve got to have an idea. – David Alan Harvey
Via PDN.
Tags: quote, visual communication
Seth Godin on Creativity…
Posted by Dean Bradshaw | Filed under Thoughts and Theory
99% of the time, in my experience, the hard part about creativity isn’t coming up with something no one has ever thought of before. The hard part is actually executing the thing you’ve thought of.
- Seth Godin
Tags: creativity
Do schools kill creativity?
Posted by Dean Bradshaw | Filed under Thoughts and Theory
From TED
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Why don’t we get the best out of people? Sir Ken Robinson argues that it’s because we’ve been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. Students with restless minds and bodies — far from being cultivated for their energy and curiosity — are ignored or even stigmatized, with terrible consequences. “We are educating people out of their creativity,” Robinson says. It’s a message with deep resonance. Robinson’s TEDTalk has been distributed widely around the Web since its release in June 2006. The most popular words framing blog posts on his talk? “Everyone should watch this.”
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I just grabbed a copy of Ken’s latest book from Amazon (which he mentions in this talk) as soon as I watched this . His newest book ‘Element – How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything’ can be found here – I can’t wait to read it! For those of you in Perth, you can find it in Boffins Bookshop in the city – though at a heftier price. You can read more about Ken here and here.
Tags: TED
TED Talks: spreading ideas that change the world
Posted by Dean Bradshaw | Filed under Photography Links, Thoughts and Theory
I’ve been meaning to blog about this for a while. I enjoy sharing important learning resources with other people out there and the following is one of the most empowering (knowledge is power, right?) resources on the internet.
If you haven’t heard of TED talks, then this is your lucky day. I remember when I first came across them. I subscribed to the podcast and furiously went through my itunes playlist, highlighting those including key buzzwords that interested me: photography, biology, evolution etc.
But what are they? Rather than explain, i’ll just feed you the blurb on the about page of TED’s website
TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader. The annual conference now brings together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).
When I tell people about TED I tell them ‘Imagine a conference where the smartest people in the world talk to you about what they know most about for 20 minutes’.
I will post links to some of my favourite TED talks relating to photography in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, spend a few hours exploring and listening here.
Fix it in Photoshop
Posted by Dean Bradshaw | Filed under Thoughts and Theory
Tags: Photoshop
The Story of Stuff…
Posted by Dean Bradshaw | Filed under Thoughts and Theory
I saw this a year or two ago but I was reminded of it by an art director friend of mine.
I could write about this forever, but brevity rules these days, so I’ll pass it on as he did…
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Pass it on.
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What is the Story of Stuff?
From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It’ll teach you something, it’ll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.
Watch the first chapter here:
Tags: consumerism, environment, sustainability
Did you know?
Posted by Dean Bradshaw | Filed under Thoughts and Theory
Technology, alongside the human race, is developing at an exponential rate. The invention of the wheel occurred thousands of years after we first picked up a stone tool – whereas in relative terms the development of the iphone in lieu of the commodore 64 happened in the blink of an eye.
What this means for us is almost impossible to comprehend – and it isn’t often that one stops and really thinks about it.
This will make you do just that…
Copy Cat: Where are we headed – homogeny?
Posted by Dean Bradshaw | Filed under Thoughts and Theory
Thanks to the internet, we are, or at least ‘can be’ exposed to more creative material than ever before. Budding artists and creatives have access to an enormous repository of other people’s work – from the primitive creative meanderings of the technical novice the very best in the medium.
This is a big deal – before the internet – artists were much more isolated data points, many unable to view some of the most amazing work being done in the world because of the simple fact that back then – the world was a much bigger place.
An element of globalisation -it seems that this phenomenon has radically changed the playing field in all the creative spheres. Not only does it mean that one can view the ‘best’ work in the world, but also that one’s work can now stand on an international pedestal where once it was confined to the solitude of a much smaller world. Naturally, such an abundant collective has raised the bar for what is deemed to be truly great work and the world’s global artistic consciousness has reached a whole new level .
However, despite the amazing opportunity to learn from this artistic collective – negative aspects seem to be emerging as well. It would seem that the diverse assemblage of the world’s creative vision is becoming a somewhat homogeneous mixture – as multitudes of people aspire to the techniques and ‘vision’ of the creative leaders in their medium. No longer do artists aspire to develop and nurture their own unique creative vision – rather many of them become mesmerised with mimicking the techniques of the ‘best’ within their medium – confined – as they become shackled to their interpretation of another’s clarity.
As we are seeing – more and more derivative work is being created at the expense of a varied spectrum – not because of globalisation or the internet – but because it is now far easier to latch onto mimicry than it is to latch onto innovation.
But all is not lost – in such a climate those who dare to do something different will reap the rewards…
So go out there and create something unique!
Tags: creativity, originality
We’re all in this together – The Miniature Earth
Posted by Dean Bradshaw | Filed under Thoughts and Theory
I came across this video a while ago, and was reminded of it this morning for some strange reason.
This little piece is a powerful communicator – taking simple statistics like those pasted across news screens over and over again – and breathing life into them.
It is a great example of the way in which information and messages are presented having an effect on their uptake and emotional impact.
Enjoy.
Oh, at any stage do you wonder how many use Canon and how many use Nikon?
Tags: Multimedia, youtube
Finding Style: the dilemma of photography
Posted by Dean Bradshaw | Filed under Thoughts and Theory
I came across this fascinating insight by Chuck Close whilst watching a documentary on the history of the photographic medium. It has led me down and interesting path of thought, one that I have been pondering in the back of my mind for a while, which has now been forced to the forefront of my imagination – the notion of photographic Style.
Here’s the dilemma and the strength of photography.
Its the easiest medium in which to be competent, but it’s the hardest medium in which to have personal vision which is readily identifiable. There is no physicality to a photograph…there is nothing you can point to and say “this is the work of that artists hands”.
So then…how do you make a photograph that somebody immediately knows as the work of a particular artist?
Well that is a very difficult and complicated thing to come up with – and when someone really ends up nailing down a particular kind of vision to such an extent that they own that vision – you know they’ve really done something.
- Chuck Close (American painter and photographer who achieved fame as a photorealist.)
I’m going to consider photographic style over a few more posts, as it can take one very far down the rabbit hole…
What are your thoughts on the matter?
Tags: Art, creativity, Philosophy, Style
