Exulansis: A sense of frustration when you realize that you are talking about an important experience or feeling, but other people are unable to understand or relate to it, and so you give up talking about it.
Indulge me for a minute on my full on Exulansis state of mind. I have claimed more than once that I do not have a creativity bone if my life were to depend on it in general and the composition skill within the context of photography. But over a period of decade, I have managed to get enough “creative” images that today one may say (some of you did say) that my claim regarding my compositions lacking creativity is not entirely true or true anymore. In fact, recently one of my readers (NW, I hope you are reading this) reached out to me to say that based on what he has seen, I should disclaim the same in the About section referencing how I came about the title for the site. It was a very soul lifting validation, for it came unsolicited and in earnest. I do believe for myself and agree that my photography has improved leaps and bounds since the original comment made by an esteemed member of photoclubalpha forum more than a decade ago about my composition skills.
Creative talent, I believe is something either you have it or you don’t. It is a capability (please see my blog #57 Ulysses Pact). Once you have it, it is a matter of degree as to how much you have it. Whereas a skill can be acquired through education and learning.
I was in a photography discussion forum few days ago. My good friend Simon Childs runs the Luminosity League forum. Simon is a very talented portrait photographer based in Cambridge England, and I had the pleasure of meeting him in London last year. I was even invited by him to a Cosplay photo shoot at Regents Park, London,
There was a segment that went on for about an hour. It was an interactive session in which the participants (all of them highly creative and talented) took an image of a lady on the floor in a pose and the image was taken from above and transformed it into a seraph floating in the cloud with texture added and the result was looking like a snippet from the ceiling of Sistine Chapel in Rome. Every tool used was something I had; every texture used is something I had. Simon was kind enough to allow me to share the before and after images. Here is the before image.
But for the entire segment, I did not (more like I could not) say a single word. It was mesmerizing how the image was transformed. It was enlightening to see how the techniques were applied, and the most mind-numbing thing was how those creative individuals keep coming up brilliant ideas to build upon what is there. It was simultaneously exciting and depressing. It was exciting because I kept thinking wow, I can do that!!! It was depressing because a single thought kept running through my mind “why didn’t I think of that” with more than a tinge of benign envy. Let show what I meant.
Whether one is agreement with the transformation or not, what was impressive was the torrent of ideas flowing in that session. For example, as soon as Simon shared the original image, one of the creatives chimes we should add clouds to the image. From then on, the session went on while I was staring at the screen dumbfounded.
Inspired by that session and the tricks and trips learned, I attempted my own version. Down below is the image that I took recently at a workshop and “creatively” transformed into a mural that is faded over time (my vision). The original is below.
Now this is transformed by applying the tricks and tips I obtained and observed at the aforementioned session and the result is shown below after following the workflow (more or less).
It is a far cry from the collective effort that went into transforming the image in that session as you can see from the above example.
Epilog: I was talking to Simon about allowing me to share the images of Ms. Brooke and we went into a two plus hours marathon on the things covered in the aforementioned session and he walked me through the steps. It seems I did follow the recipe less than prescribed as it turns out. I am showing the result of our collaboration below.
What I was missing was non-linear thinking as I discover. The effect at the session was achieved by adding painterly effect without losing photography element. The point is that I was able to follow the technique but had no clue about the missing element. That missing element is a creative one in nature, and I knew how to go about achieving it but if only I knew that was what needed. Yes, my photography has improved, my post processing skills have improved but creative composition is another story.
But in a quote that is often attributed to Oscal Wilde “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness,” all I can say is how profound Oscar Wilde was and on the target. The operative here is mediocrity. Funny I just realized there is a “me” in mediocrity. 🙂
