As a photographer, or any image maker, you can choose to sit around waiting for inspiration to pop up by itself. Personally, I’m a firm believer that feeling inspired is a state of mind you can teach yourself to find when you need it. So, what can we do to get started? I’m gathering and sharing my methods and favorite creators as a resource to help keeping our inspirational juices flowing. And I invite you along for this series of “INSPIRATION FOR IMAGE CREATORS”!
Inspiration for image creators can come from so many different areas. When I saw this series of Short Films, or fables, from Five Knights Productions I just couldn’t stop watching. It transported me to another time and place, but still holding me aware… Short films can just like photography tell a story but doesn’t have hours of the viewers attention to convey the feeling and message it is made to transfer. With these fables, to me it’s especially the sceneries, the tempo, and that magical emotion that draws me in, and spits me out feeling that I want… no, NEED… to go out and continue creating my images. Right away. And that is inspiration at its best.
So here it is, the first of the KIN fabels. Watch the second film, Salvage, here. And the third film, Requiem, here. It’s in this third film the story ties together.
INSPIRATION FOR IMAGE CREATORS – Digital Illustration Art
As a photographer, or any image maker, you can choose to sit around waiting for inspiration to pop up by itself. Personally, I’m a firm believer that feeling inspired is a state of mind you can teach yourself to find when you need it. So, what can we do to get started? I’m gathering and sharing my methods and favorite creators as a resource to help keeping our inspirational juices flowing. And I invite you along for this series of “INSPIRATION FOR IMAGE CREATORS”!
Photographers tend to look a lot at other photography to get inspired. Although, I’ve heard so many times from photographers that they feel trapped by comparing their images with the work of others within the same field. Thoughts like “oh, somebody else already did that” or “ah, if I only got to shoot those who Annie Leibovitz shoots” can hold you back rather than inspire. I find that by indulging in art that you simply can’t create yourself can help to open up your mind and let go of any negative thoughts.
Personally I’ve noticed that I more and more look at other art forms. Here are 3 Digital Illustration Artists who keep on rocking my world and give me a huge influx of a desire to create!
Everyone expects me as a photographer only to have photos on my walls at home, but last year we purchased this beautiful, and wonderfully quirky, art piece of Christian Schloe; “Dreaming of Spring”. And it is now inspiring me everyday with its mystique.
Christian Schloe is a digital artist who creates surreal scenes featuring bizarre moments. Realistic elements are blended together to form new possibilities. As a viewer you are transfered from reality into a dreamy, fictional world.
I found that Christian quotes Peter S. Beagle;
“Anything can happen in a world that holds such beauty.”
Other than that Christian seems to prefer to speak through his images, and not through words. So instead of reading text, dive into his very special worlds, and let his art do all the talking.
Maggie is an American artist who works with creating digital images by the use of photographs, scanners, and Photoshop. She has studied photography at Yale and University of Florida, and after more than ten years as a still life photographer, she began to use the computer to create her images in 1996.
Her collaged digital artwork is often created with help of items she finds by frequently searching flea markets, eBay, or nature and she gathers everything that seem to have a story to tell. She also take her own photos with a point-and-shoot camera or use old photos of people. In her studio she makes small pastel drawings as backgrounds and scan each element into the computer separately. In Photoshop she arranges and plays with these layers in much the same way that she earlier worked with objects in her studio as a still life photographer.
In this video you can see a lot of Maggie’s work as well as get behind the scenes of how she creates them:
“I am interested in creating a cohesive, visual, believable space that the viewer can visually enter. So, I do not use a lot of transparency or create a space that is too visually complex. Ideally, I want the images to invite the viewer to engage and recollect, almost like entering a stage set or a scene from a dream.” Maggie Taylor
Maggie, through her surrealistic montages, surely transports the viewer into dreamlike worlds. And I love being in them.
You can find more images from and also articles about Maggie Taylor at the Artsy site.
This German graphic designer lives and works in Malaysia where she creates inspiration tickling surreal digital artwork. Using mixed media Catrin takes vintage photos apart and by experimenting in Photoshop she assembles them again into creating new content and stories.
“My images are all digital made. I collect old images and illustrations and put them new together in Photoshop. The working process is based on combining and the division of photographs, with removing, filling and retouch. Using digital medium I have far more creative possibilities and I can work much faster then on the canvas. Perhaps, my skills have been formed during the long years of working in front of my computer. Thanks to all that I can create my art best in digital.” Catrin Welz-Stein
Inspiration from the fashion show of Borås Textilhögskola – EXIT13
Yesterday the journey went to Borås for the fantastic fashion show and exhibition of the textile and fashion graduate design students of Borås Textilhögskola. Not only did I want to support and get a close look at the newest work of Emelie Arvidsson (the extraordinary designer that I shot for last year), but going to events like this is reeeeally good for inspiration for your shoots. Also, it’s a great opportunity to get to see all the amazing talent that are present in your vicinity. And who knows, maybe you’ll find a great new collaborator! I know for sure there are a couple of designers here that really spark my interest… When I got back home I just had to take out my notebook and doodle down all the ideas I got during the night. Hopefully there could be something in there for the future.
But most of all, I’m truly stoked that I’m shooting the new collection “End of line” of Emelie Arvidsson next week! So stay tuned and follow me on my social media because soon we promise to try to blow your minds!
Designers above: Saina Koohnavard, Emelie Ahlner, Johanna Andersson, Emelie Arvidsson, Abril Vergara Lozano
This is a beautiful and important documentary, made by film maker Hailey Bartholomew and photographer Sue Bryce. A film about Jill, a young woman struggling and fighting cancer, but still finds beauty in herself and in the world. Jill says on her Facebook:
“I hope you all enjoyed this beautiful doco that we all worked so hard to make. When you watch it please share it with everyone you know. I truly believe that It will be able to help women and men all around the world. I watched it tonight live with my frineds and family and there was not a dry eye in the house. I just wish that I would of been able to watch it with my mom. She has been such an amazing mom and friend to me throughout my entire life, especially going through Cancer. If you are having a bad day or you are angry with a loved one, please remember not to sweat the small stuff because you can get through anything if you have LOVE. I hope I dont sound cheesy but I am speaking from my heart. I am so blessed to have such a loving family, husband and friends. Thank you all for taking the time and watching this and writing to me telling me your stories that have already touched my soul and heart. If you are going through or know someone that is going through Cancer please dont stop fighting.”
INSPIRATION FOR IMAGE CREATORS – Photographer Rosie Hardy
As a photographer, or any image maker, you can choose to sit around waiting for inspiration to pop up by itself. Personally, I’m a firm believer that feeling inspired is a state of mind you can teach yourself to find when you need it. So, what can we do to get started? I’m gathering and sharing my methods and favorite creators as a resource to help keeping our inspirational juices flowing. And I invite you along for this series of “INSPIRATION FOR IMAGE CREATORS”!
Every photographer has a beginning. A story of how it all started. Maybe something happened that made you pick up the camera for the first time to capture it, something might have inspired you so much that you want to create something similar, or there can be tons of reasons why you start to be appealed by this amazing art form.
For me it was the first time when I came upon Flickr Explore and from there when I found the fantastic work of photographer Rosie Hardy. There was this girl, looking at me through my screen, and she was within another world. There was so much that caught me, the illusionary settings, the well balanced moods, the creative playfullness, that all got me to continue looking through that photostream. Again and again. And I had found my first photographer that truly inspired me and made me pick up my own camera.
Let Rosie inspire you as well! Have a joyful time going through her Flickr or visit her website.
I’m sure that every photographer comes to moments when the inspiration is lacking. The will is there, but no ideas come to mind. For me, and hopefully a great tip to you, the excellency of the show So You Think You Can Dance is a solution to a drought of ideas. I’m romantically involved with the show. I jump on my bed of excitement when it starts, and I sob when it’s over. Not only is it sheer entertainment. The format, the people, the stories that the art form of dance can portray, the emotions that the work of the body can stir up… everything works together to make it my favorite series.
And when you are in contact with so much emotion, you can’t help your thoughts to start rolling. Combined with the perfection of the choreographies as well as the visuality of the pieces… POP! There is an idea for a shot. POP! There, I see another scenery in front of me for my next photo session. And it keeps going. Give it a try and be inspired by everything from the glitter and joy of Bollywood, the spice and steam in salsa, the movements and grace of contemporary, the creativity and funk of hip hop…
Take a moment to enjoy this piece performed by the full crew in episode 19, season 7. “Every little thing she does is magic” by Sting.
