Posted by RR on January 25, 2010 at 20:08:15:
In Reply to: Creativity posted by Lorelei on January 19, 2010 at 21:56:02:
I wonder if the creative endeavors you gave up as a child were not the right ones for you. The world’s loss in those areas are our gains in bondage.
Were you praised much more for your photography than your other endeavors? You continued with music through college, so you must have been encouraged in that area. You weren't a photography major.
With marionettes and ventriloquism, you gave up because of inadequate tools. It almost seems that those were reasons to quit something that you didn’t feel you could be as good at as you thought you could be. You could always hope to get better equipment without giving up the dream. You’re a perfectionist, so it’s easy to see where you might quit when you aren’t progressing as quickly as you thought you should. Photography is an area where somebody with an artistic vision can more quickly realize a vision without a large early investment in time and effort.
The nice thing about photography is that it is fairly easy to master the mechanics behind the basics of taking a photograph. Point, frame, and push a button. There are many more technical aspects of lighting and exposure, but the basics process of taking a photo is much less involved than in most other artistic fields. The best photographers are not recognized for their technical skills (which they certainly have), but for their artistic vision. You certainly have that. Two different photographers can have the same technical skills, but still have very different artistic abilities and one with a better artistic eye will take a better photograph than the other.
It almost seems as if photography was a better artistic medium for you than the other areas that you tried. You could quickly see the results of what you shot and figure out how to do the same shots better. That’s probably why you kept up with it longer.
Creativity does need to be nurtured, but it also requires a drive to continue with it even if the envisioned results aren’t immediately achieved. A person who quickly gives up in an artistic medium is not going to succeed in that medium. It would be hard to imagine that they ever could if they could so readily abandon it. A common story for many successful artists is that they practiced for long periods of time and persevered against great odds and often many rejections. It’s unusual to find a good artist that never had to struggle or face rejection in their chosen field. As much as external nurturing may encourage an individual, it’s not likely that they could achieve what they did without the internal drive to continue pursuing their artistic dream.
I’m sure that everybody here is glad that you found an artistic medium that you could excel in.