Rick Thompson
Don’t let technology and artificial intelligence (AI) hijack your creativity. Pro photographers are creatures of habit like anyone else. Growing up in the years of film, dark rooms, and smelling like developer, creativity became a well-developed skill. It was a necessity as our tools back then were limited compared to today.
Nowadays, we know that when we send a picture out into the world, we are initiating a conversation with someone we will never meet. And our work product will be immediately judged as highly creative or bland or just like everyone else, or worst yet, “highly discardable.”
New photographers truly believe that the world is waiting in breathless anticipation of our creativity. The world just can’t wait to see our photographs. This is not true. Photographers have to create that interest, and photos need to have the ability to stop the reader in his or her tracks and have them look intently at our work. The competition for attention is fierce and gaining altitude.
So you have two choices, document your family vacation in Yuma (mentioned in jest), which is OK, or get creative. How do you sharpen your creative skills? Try this as a homework assignment (I had to do this as a young cub reporter): Go into your bathroom and close the door for 30 minutes. Set the timer. Take a series of photographs of the bathroom fixtures … all of them. Then come out and review. Can you take pictures of something unremarkable and make them interesting? If not, try again and remember, failure is an integral part of the success equation. Don’t give up, keep shooting.
Rick Thompson is a SaddleBrooke Ranch resident, is a credentialed photographer for U.S. Air Force Media and is based at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Rick also serves as an international photo judge for the Society of American Travel Writers and Editors.