Productivity, Efficiency, and Art

Inspiration is a tricky business

I am NOT an event photographer but here’s one of the many, many, events I shot for our community. The annual 4th of July picnic.

Disclaimer: I absolutely need a much heavier dose of practicing what I preach here.**

In the newsletter that ended 2023 I talked about slowing down. I hope the takeaway was clear; Be more human in your approach to art. In that context I also wanted to make sure my meaning was clear, slowing down is in no way saying be less productive in your artistic endeavors. To open 2024 I’ll share a few thoughts on the notion of productivity when applied to those artistic, creative, endeavors.

What exactly is productivity when applied to something even resembling artistic endeavors? How does one become more productive. Can and should productivity be measured? If so, then how? I guess any of those notions has everything to do with some baseline goals to measure things against. Right?

Sure, let’s go with that notion for a minute. I’m sure that some of you immediately and instinctively react negatively to such a notion. It’s certainly problematic in numerous ways, I’ve acknowledged that in the last newsletter referenced above. The culture we’re living in will tend to measure all those things in terms more suited to machines and throughput than in more human terms. This suggests whatever metrics we might choose tend to be problematic. We tend towards metrics that seem like the most objective when subjective considerations are far better.

I’ll suggest some sort of objective view on how one might become more productive on subjective matters such as inspiration. What’s the cliché expression we’ve all heard a thousand times? I think it’s a take on Edison’s famous quote about inspiration and perspiration.

Art (genius) is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.

If you think on that for more than a moment you’ll probably happen upon the question, what exactly does that mean and how does it apply in my real world? Cliches are like that, they sound nice but what do I do with it? On the surface, the first and most obvious meaning is ideas (inspiration) are not at all productive absent of execution. Okay then, get off your rear end and get out there and make pictures. Problem solved right?

What if what’s needed is that inspiration? I’d suggest and endorse through my own experience that inspiration actually comes through doing the work. In our case, the work of making pictures. In many cases making productive pictures that get used for some purpose other than clogging up social media or filling your hard drive.

Far too many of us suffer from the dreaded disease of believing the need for an inspiring subject to do any productive work. Worse, we turn the lack of that inspiring subject every day into the reason we do no productive work. I propose that you make productive work as often as possible of subjects that are not what you imagine as inspiring subjects. I promise if you do you will find inspiration you’ve never imagined. Better yet, when you are with that inspiring subject you’ll be far more productive.

A Concrete Example

How many of you consider yourself a landscape photographer? How many of you have particular landscape destinations in mind as your subjects? For those who live in those particular destinations, great, a never-ending, always available inspiring subject. If those inspiring landscapes are a once a once-a-year thing and your idea of productivity is making 10,000 pictures in a week I’d suggest you rethink that.

Long before you arrive at said inspiring landscape destination, make 1,000 pictures a month. Make sure ten, or twenty, or some reasonable number of them are productive. Make sure those pictures are as attractive as possible, don’t just phone them in. As you go along, get better at making them more attractive, more productive, and more enjoyable for the intended viewers. Honestly, it doesn’t matter what the subject matter is, they just need a purpose and need to be used for the defined purpose.

Don’t you need to be “inspired” to figure all that out? No, absolutely not. Use your hard-won skills and your investment in that image-making gear to suit someone else’s purpose. Just do it. There are unglamorous, uninspiring opportunities everywhere. Serve your fellow man, suggest something if you see a need.

Here are a few ideas:

• Your local homeowner's association (or neighborhood). Photograph some of the local events.

• Your church, your book club, your school district.

• Everyone needs reasonably decent photography. Illustrations are everywhere, make some that are suitable, useful, and attractive for any of the communities you are associated with, for any of the purposes that serve those communities.

• Do one of those 360 projects, there are dozens defined by other people, so pick one.

While you are doing this do the job as best you can, search for ways to make attractive, well-composed, images. I swear you will find ways to make better images of everything along the way. I also promise doing this more frequently will give you inspiration and ideas you’d never have thought of otherwise. That inspiration will come out of the blue and may have nothing to do with the “productive” work at hand. Pursue that inspiration, you’ll have more potential project inspiration that you know what to do with.

Here’s the real secret, that once-a-year inspirational landscape trip will be much more productive. You’ll see things you wouldn’t have noticed before. You’ll be better at finding that composition. You’ll know your gear inside and out. You’ll probably shoot less but end up with way more productive pictures during that week in that far-away place than if you didn’t do any productive work the rest of the year.

End note: It doesn’t matter what your primary subject happens to be, the temptation of not making productive work based on waiting for inspirational subjects plagues all of us.