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Acclaimed wildlife photographer Moose Peterson speaks in this in depth conversation.
“Our travels and experiences translates into having one of the largest collection of images of threatened and endangered critters on the planet. While we’re very proud of our own efforts that have made this possible, we’re sadden to think that six species can only be seen in our files. That’s because they are now extinct.”
“Very early on it was obvious we couldn’t go this task alone, of saving our natural world through our photography. We needed to enlist the help of other photographers. While some won’t see it this way, I fight for photographers nearly as much as I fight for the critters. My sharing of what I’ve learned is a desire for other photographers to get out and make a difference sooner, faster and better than I by taking what I’ve learned and moving forward and not having to waste time reinventing the wheel. Finding solutions to problems comes from what my students want to learn as my own desire to improve my photography. In some aspects, they are as much a driving force to my learning as my own needs.”
Read more here …
Welcome to the official blog of John Paul Caponigro. You’ll find a lot of unique content here in the coming days.
How is my Blog different than my enews Insights? Insights is broadcast periodically (usually monthly). Insights subscribers get access to free resources and special discounts. Insights let’s you know what new content is posted on johnpaulcaponigro.com. Members can get over 100 free downloads. New content is added every month.
My blog will be updated much more frequently – sometimes daily. My blog will have very different kinds of content. You’ll find Events, Product News, New Work, What’s on Press at Caponigro Arts, Artist’s Statements, Artist’s On Art excerpts and follow ups, Interview excerpts, Reading Reflections, Viewing Reflections, Artist Review excerpts, Workshop Highlights, Workshop Participant Profiles, Seminar Highlights, Destinations Highlights, Technique, Creativity, Special Guest Appearances, and much, much more. While my blog will also alert you to some of the useful resources on my website, my enews Insights will be comprehensive. Many of the discounts I’m able to offer you are only available to Insights members.
So sign up for both! They’re free! And, if you like them, tell a friend!
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How do you sign up for my blog? Subscribe to the RSS feed. You can use software like Google Reader to track activity on all of the blogs that interest you in one place. Log onto that page and you’ll find lists of posts on all the blogs you add to your customized Google Reader page. Or, you can bookmark this page in your browser and check it periodically.
Be Open to New Opportunities to Learn
Receptivity is an essential quality necessary for creative success. There are many kinds of receptivity and many ways to become more receptive. Versatility increases the number of opportunities available to you. Practice makes success more likely.
While you can prepare for success and increase the chances that success will happen, you can’t force a breakthrough. Breakthroughs are often unexpected and come in unexpected forms.
Highly creative people are open to new opportunities. They understand that being open minded means being open to different opportunities to learn.
Don’t pass up opportunities to learn. Be open to new opportunities. And realize, they may come from unexpected sources at unexpected times.
Rule Your Tools, Don’t Let Your Tools Rule You
“When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” Beware of tools driving your process. Relying on the same tools is predictable and can be efficient; but it can also be limiting. Be aware that introducing new tools into your process can be creatively stimulating. The challenge is to know when to rely on the tried and true and when to try something new. To further your growth and still be productive in your chosen areas of concern you need to do both. Major corporations allocate resources to research and development. You should too. Make an action plan to consistently try new things, making sure that you don’t allot so much time to exploration that you become scattered and end up not producing work or producing nothing but novelty. You’ll see benefits from your time spent if you select experiments that have a higher likelihood of success and are aligned with your personal goals. Make a list of possibilities. Rank them. And get started with the highest priority you’ve identified.
Make a Bucket List
Currently in theaters there’s a movie entitled The Bucket List. A bucket list is a list of all the things you’d like to do before you die. Have you ever made a “bucket list”?
How many people do? Those who do, usually do it far to late. It’s not macabre; it’s actually enjoyable and extremely useful.
How many people actually follow through and do one or more items on the list? There are several things you can do to make the list more useful. 1 – Prioritize it. Find the most important things on the list. Find the things you can accomplish readily and with the least amount of effort. 2 – Make a plan. List the steps necessary to accomplish specific items. (You might do this for all of the items, but just doing it for the most important and easiest will get you started.) 3 – Act on it. 4 – Repeat the process.
How does this apply to creativity? You can make a bucket list with a specific theme – your creative life.
So what’s stopping you? After all, it’s your life. Take an active hand in living it your way.
Passive and Active States Are Equally Important
The origin of ideas is one of the great mysteries of the mind. Though they can identify many of the processes involved, classic patterns, and mechanisms for triggering them, modern psychology and even the great spiritual traditions cannot fully explain them. It’s said that Mozart and Shakespeare wrote their masterpieces fully formed without editing. Their art was in them already. All they had to do was listen. And write. This was as much a mystery to them as it is to us.
If mystery isn’t present your process isn’t inspired – a living breathing thing. Mystery opens the way for discovery, insight, and breakthroughs.
So, how do you develop what you can’t define? Celebrate it. Cultivating curiosity will help you become ready for discovery.
Attention reveals. Non-judgementally, be aware of your process as it unfolds. You may even want to make note of essential components and processes as you become aware of them. Become aware of and develop your awareness of your creative process. Make a lifelong study of this profound mystery that you are a part of.
“Being” receptive may not seem like “doing” anything but there are times when the most important part of your creative process.
Identify the Core
“If you had to eliminate all of your images save one, which one image would you keep?” This is a question I frequently ask my students and myself. It’s not something I recommend you actually do, but answering the question, hard as it is, is always very revealing. Identifying one image that most embodies your vision helps clarify your visual identity. List the strengths of this image. It’s likely these strengths will be present in a majority of your work. These core strengths often provide a foundation you can rely upon and develop further to make your work even stronger. These qualities can also be used to identify your particular passions and concerns. After you identify the image, ask yourself why you chose it. Did you choose an image because it fits other people’s criteria of success? Did you choose an image that has a particular relevance to your personal history? Did you choose an image that evokes a powerful emotion? Did you choose an image that symbolically represents something important to you? Strike up a dialog with your work. You’ll get to know your work and yourself even better.
Continuing Education
Education never stops. Every one of us learns every day. Don’t wait for understanding to come to you. Learn even more by actively seek out opportunities to expand your knowledge. Target your search into areas that are most likely to be productive and personally relevant. You’ll find that you’ll not only be able to accomplish more and improve the quality of your work, you’ll also find that new ideas will come to you along the way.
Spend Time With Other Creative People
Seek community with other creative people. You can gain extremely valuable insights into the creative process by spending time with and carefully observing other creative people practicing in any discipline.
Enjoy this process! Simply observe. Your time is better spent observing. Secondarily, you may also observe yourself and note what you tend to react to and how you tend to react.
Resist the temptation to be analytical or critical. Time evaluating the information you collect is best spent later, when you no longer have access to such an information rich environment and when you’ve had a little time to gain some distance and perspective, letting things sink in.
Without putting others on the spot, it’s useful to ask appropriate questions of others. You’ll learn even more. It’s likely that you’ll both learn from what you exchange.