My Daily Creative...

My Daily Creative…. What’s Your’s?

Every day I want to do something creative.

I’m a photographer, so much of my creative stuff is visual.  Photos, videos, and things that people can see.  I’m most comfortable with a camera nearby or in hand.  I photograph anything and everything.  Things can be made to look interesting and different.  Like water droplets on the hood of a car.

But there are other ways to be creative, and it is important to exercise some of them also.  

I also like to write.  I find that writing in the morning helps to organize my thoughts.  Creating this blog post helps cure that creative itch.

There are countless ways to add creativity to your life.  Cooking, crafting, pecking away at a piano keyboard, plucking away at a guitar, doodling on paper, inventing new lyrics for an old song… All of those things exercise your creativity.

Being creative takes time.  For me requires a still mind.  And a fresh mind.  Many of my creative ideas come in the morning after a good night of rest.

And some times it is impossible.  Life’s little emergencies and work often make it is very tough to put aside time for creativity.

Creativity is the process of imagining “what if” or “what would that look like” and then working to address that particular imagination.

It is important to try things to see what happens.

Lately I’ve been working with my iPhone camera and seeing how far I can push its limits. I like working with Timelapse video.  I’m curious as to what thing will look like if time is collapsed.  Thirty minutes  squashed into 15 seconds.  Can I do it creatively?  What angle can I use that looks different than everything else that I see.  Conversely, the Slo-Mo function expands time.  What will something look like, or sound like if it was stretched beyond what we normally see.

Exercising creativity daily, I’ve found, has important health benefits.  Scientific studies have backed this up.  For me, it helps to reduce the stress and anxiety that is a part of my world.

Being creative is a wellness exercise.  And, I’ve found that is more important to BE creative than to read about it or listen to a podcast about it.  I consider that to be learning, which is definitely important, but it is not creating.  

So I’m not going to tell you how to be creative.  I’m just going to say.    Go be creative….  Every day!