Travel & Humanitarian Photos
One of the lessons we teach during the Bangkok Photo School Foundation course involves a discussion about Creativity. You know that if I ask you NOT to think about a pink elephant for the next ten seconds, that’s all you’re going to think about? Well, this lesson is based on that principle.
The fact is that although our minds are incredibly complex, we’re invariably attracted to the things that are currently uppermost in our thoughts. We are forever filtering through the cascade of sensory information that we receive and our brains pick out the elements that it thinks are useful or relevant at any particular time. This is how we get through the day. As I’m typing this, my brain is picking out feedback from my fingers as I type, from what my eyes are seeing on the screen in front of me and, to a lesser degree, the sound of Pachabel’s Canon (thanks QB) playing in the background. I’m dismissing the host of other information that’s hitting my synapses, ignoring the fact that the air-con is probably a degree or two lower than it needs to be, ignoring the sound of the building work outside and of the chain-saw humming across the road. All this is good, I’d never get to the end of this post if I was constantly distracted by all this other information.
Sorry?
What was I saying?
Oh, yes. Distractions.
So, this filtering is a good thing in most cases. Indeed, it protects us and allows us to focus. When I step out onto a busy street I want to be concentrating on the speed and proximity of the oncoming traffic, not pausing to look at the interesting cloud formations overhead or stopping to add items to my shopping list. Concentration, it’s a
Where was I? Oh yes, concentration. It’s a good thing. (Let’s see how many more times I can work that joke into this post – at least one I’m sure). However, sometimes we might want to temporarily switch that filter off when we’re photographing. We want to see what’s before us in its entirety and not be influenced by what our mind might currently decide is important. And this is where our lesson begins.
By picking out a specific element in the landscape, we can decide what sort of filter our mind is going to employ. Here’s an exercise: give yourself 15-30 minutes in a particular location. It can be familiar or not, apparently photogenic or not, superficially inspiring or not. It can be your street, your garden, you mother-in-law’s linen cupboard or anywhere. The purpose is not to create wonderful photos to add to your portfolio, the purpose is to exercise your mind and to train it to engage with the world differently. Next, pick a colour, a geometric shape or a pattern. Green, yellow, turquoise, circles, rectangles, octagons, parallel lines, spirals – all are good choices. Now explore your surroundings with that theme in mind and photograph anything you see that fits the theme. If your theme is “Green” then photograph everything you see that’s green. After a few minutes you’ll begin to notice a strange phenomenon.
Very quickly, your world will be filled with examples of your chosen theme. It won’t surprise you to learn that this series of photographs was taken when I was doing this exercise and my chosen theme was “Purple”.
OK, my little joke, clearly it was “Red”. Such a dominant colour that it’s not hard to find examples but as I walked along the street in Din Daeng, red things quickly began to dominate my view. There were red things everywhere and every other colour combined to form a monochrome backdrop to my red, red world. I noticed things that would otherwise have escaped me, the mechanic’s red headlamp box resting on a car engine, the solitary red chair in the garage, the red umbrella. The pay-phone and post box pretty much ran down the road to greet me, such was their intensity and vibrance in my red-filtered view of the street.
After thirty minutes, I hadn’t walked very far down the road but I had taken almost one hundred shots of red things. Some are posted here as examples but, as I say, the purpose isn’t to concentrate on the photographic technique – indeed, it’s to dismiss the photography and concentrate on the process of seeing. You don’t even need a camera to do this. try it with your mobile phone camera on the way to work or even just pick a theme and look, noting examples that fit.
Walking back to my starting location, I picked a different theme and concentrated on circles. Very quickly the world became a sinuous blend of shapely curves and I don’t think I’ve ever looked so closely at wheels, fans, bike helmets, cups, saucers, road signs, trash can lids and sliced oranges. The stall-holders umbrella, previously red, was now circular. Colour became unimportant and straight lines were all but invisible. Another hundred photos later found me welded to a street corner, unable to proceed before I’d photographed every round thing in view. I’d be there now but for the blue box that fell on my head. I still don’t understand why I didn’t see it coming.
This little exercise will, I guarantee, allow you to see the world not through fresh eyes but through eyes connected to a brain that’s filtering in a way that you’ve determined rather than a random fashion that you’re not controlling. The long-term consequence of repeating this exercise regularly is that you begin to notice things around you that would previous have passed you by. You’ll become more observant and you’ll be able to photograph things beyond your current experience.
The other benefit is that your concentration levels will increase and you will be more likely to finish things that you
I like it. Today (well, for an hour) I shall be mainly looking for red things.
It’s going to drive me crazy every time I read that sentence that isn’t finished at the end.
I like this exercise. I didn’t even realize that “red” was your color until you said something and then I saw it. I’m not naturally observant, so it takes much concetration for me in order to really look at things around me. Most of the time I’m oblivious to everything.
Great post!
Very interesting post. Although the joke gets a bit old after a wh
I remember you giving me this exercise on our meeting and i’ve tried it a few times since. I can honestly say it never ceases to amaze me how much stuff we miss as we walk along and the best thing about it? Not only do you get better at spotting things as you go along, your pictures start to look better for it too.
thanx for the post gavin!! this is a very useful & interesting exercise!!
Thanks a lot for this gr8 tip….today the world is linear for me….its gr8 fun!!!
[...] of these is Gavin Gough’s a few days ago he wrote a post titled Creativity: Learn to filter your world. Basically you choose a colour or shape then just wander and shoot only that colour or shape. Its [...]
Hi Gavin I got up this morning and tried exactly what you said, and its so cool how the colour I selected just appeared, and all other colours seemed less saturated. Anyway I’ve just uploaded my images to my blog http://www.TomBourdon.co.uk/blog
Strongly recommend others try this.
Thanks for sharing it.
Tom
Thanks for your post Gavin – on the eve of World Creativity and Innovation Week April 15 – 21. Thanks for helping move the energy.
Marci Segal
co-founder, World Creativity and Innovation Week April 15 – 21
http://www.creativityday.ca
http://wciw.brightidea.com/ideas
http://worldcreativity.pbwiki.com
Twitter: worldcreativity
Facebook: World Creativity and Innovation Week April 15 – 21
Tom, nice job, looks like you really got in the swing of it! Marci, what a coincidence. Best of luck next week.
[...] taking photos based on a theme and guess what? Gavin Gough had written a post on this topic in his blog and the timing couldn’t have been better. If you haven’t read it, go ahead and read it. [...]
Awesome post, Gavin. It’s so easy to get into a rut and become predictable. This is an awesome exercise on creativity. Thanks!
[...] post is sure to inject some much needed pep into your photography. You can check the post at this link. Posted on April 14th, 2009 in Creativity Photography [...]