When we think of photographs as good, bad, or interesting, we create halting limitations or sow the seeds of ongoing creativity.
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Thinking of Photographs As Good or Bad, Instead of Seeing Them As Interesting Photographs, Kills Our Creativity
A photograph is a photograph.
It’s nothing more or less than a recording of light displayed.
A photograph is always interesting, but it doesn’t become good or bad until we assign one of those subjective values to it.
And the subjective judgment of something as good or bad are opinions that are usually final and, as final, require no further attention.
But the downside of our final opinion of good and bad is that the object of our interest requires no further attention, curiosity, or wonder.
Once we’ve decided, we’re done thinking about the object of our judgment.
And since we’re no longer involved and thinking, we’re now stagnant within the relationship to the pictures we see.
And then, boredom and disinterest set in.
Surely, this boredom and disinterest are the death knell of active creativity.
In short, stagnation kills our creativity.
Thinking of All Photographs As Interesting Photographs Is the Cure to Stagnation
We counter our stagnating judgments with interest.
Usually, we only need a simple three-letter word to pull us out of our stagnant minds and generate interest.
The word is “why”?
Why why? That one word sparks our interest, and with interest comes attention, curiosity, and wonder.
So, when we begin to think about why we judge a picture as good or bad, we bring our attention, curiosity, and wonder back to the photograph, and now our interest reengages with the photograph.
Furthermore, the act of being interested opens the door to learning, and learning leads to knowledge and understanding.
And undoubtedly, understanding leads to an interested, confident approach to camera operation to intentionally make the best photographs possible.
In a nutshell, an interested photographer makes interesting photographs.
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