{"id":137,"date":"2019-11-08T19:13:17","date_gmt":"2019-11-08T19:13:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wichitawildlight.org\/wordpress\/?page_id=137"},"modified":"2020-12-28T22:06:38","modified_gmt":"2020-12-28T22:06:38","slug":"everyday-creativity","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/wichitawildlight.org\/?page_id=137","title":{"rendered":"Everyday Creativity"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Dewitt Jones<\/span><\/p>\n

Printed version of this article<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

1. Creativity is the ability to look at the ordinary and see the extraordinary-<\/span>
\n\u201cWhat is creativity? Having spent my life in one creative endeavor after another, I can tell you it\u2019s not something magical or mystical. It\u2019s something very simple. To me, it\u2019s just a moment\u2014a moment where we look at the ordinary, but we see the extraordinary. It happens all the time in my photography. Look at the ordinary. See the extraordinary. We\u2019ve all done it. We\u2019ve all had those moments when the world was extraordinary. And we all know how good it feels when it happens.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Every act can be a creative one-<\/span>
\n\u201cI think many of us were raised thinking that we couldn\u2019t be creative. When I was growing up, creativity was always related to art, and art to painting and sculpture. If you weren\u2019t an artist, forget it, you weren\u2019t creative. But, if creativity is just falling in love with the world, then everything I do can be a creative act. My life can be my art \u2014 whether I\u2019m taking a photograph, or working with a client, or raising a family, or volunteering in my community. In every act we have the potential to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Creativity is a matter or perspective-<\/span>
\n\u201cCreativity is a matter of perspective. Let me explain. The first thing I have to decide as a photographer is: What lens do I have on my camera? In other words, what perspective am I going to view a problem from to find that extraordinary view? And if I don\u2019t have the right perspective going in, I don\u2019t have a chance of finding something truly extraordinary…. The lens we choose when we view a problem is critical. Our perspective is what holds the key to whether the solution is ordinary or extraordinary.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

4. There\u2019s always more than one right answer-<\/span>
\n\u201cIn fact, that\u2019s probably the most important thing about creativity that I\u2019ve learned from my photography. There\u2019s more than one right answer….But it seems so simple, but it is the key to creativity. There are a thousand ways to come at a problem to find a creative solution. And I know that so clearly from my photography but sometimes it\u2019s just so hard to bring over into the rest of my life.<\/span>
\nYou can\u2019t stop with the first right answer. Hey, the first right answer is just doing your job. Anyone ought to be able to come up with one right answer. When we work from that perspective, then as we press out looking for the next right answer, we do so not in terror, but comfortably, knowing that it\u2019s going to be there for you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

5. Turn problems into opportunities-<\/span>
\n\u201cWhen you come at the world with a sense of abundance rather than scarcity, you get more and more comfortable reframing problems into opportunities, finding new angles, coming at the same elements from a totally different direction, and being confident that the next right answer will be there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

6. Don\u2019t be afraid to make mistakes-<\/span>
\n\u201cIf I were afraid of mistakes, this is the kind of photograph [the first picture of his daughter] that would cause me to put my cameras in the closet and never take them out again. But I don\u2019t even think about it. I\u2019m just looking for the next right answer. Do you know that the average Geographic article is shot in 400 rolls of film? That\u2019s over 14,000 images to get 30! I\u2019m not worried about making a few mistakes.<\/span>
\n\u201cIf I were afraid to make mistakes, if I never took the risk to think out of the box, to press the edge of my envelope, to search for that next right answer, I\u2019d still be back here at the beginning wondering why my didn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

7. Break the pattern-<\/span>
\n\u201cWhen we\u2019re not afraid to make mistakes and when we believe there\u2019s more than one right answer, that\u2019s when we begin to break the patterns in our lives.<\/span>
\nPatterns, systems \u2014 they\u2019re incredibly important. We can\u2019t function without them. But, we all know that if we let those patterns go too long unquestioned, they become our prisons.<\/span>
\nWhen we begin to break the patterns in our lives, then everything is always in question, even when it\u2019s going well. That\u2019s the very basis of creativity. You\u2019re always saying, \u2018Why do we do it this way? How could we do it better?\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

8. Train your technique-<\/span>
\nWe have to train our technique. That\u2019s critical, because vision without technique is blind. In photography, I want my technique honed to a razor\u2019s edge, so that when there is a decisive moment, I\u2019m not worrying about what film is in my camera. I\u2019m there, ready to capture that extraordinary view.<\/span>
\nSo I have to train my technique, then I have to put myself in the place of most potential \u2014 the place where I have the most possibilities of finding multiple right answers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

9. You have to really care-<\/span>
\n\u201cCreativity isn\u2019t just about vision and passion. It\u2019s about technique and perseverance as well; a balance of emotion and intellect that springs from really caring about what you do, really caring about the people you work with and the projects you work on.<\/span>
\nWhen the people I photograph know that they are as important to me as my pictures, they open like flowers. And, I find that the light that really illuminates my pictures is not the light from the outside \u2014 it\u2019s the light from within.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

10. Closing comments by Dewitt Jones-<\/span>
\nI\u2019ve shared with you some of the techniques that I use to access my creativity. And I<\/span>
\nhope that you can take them and apply them in your own lives. Because by being<\/span>
\ncreative, we really do fall in love with the world and in that act, we transform the<\/span>
\nordinary into the extraordinary.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I\u2019m being creative, I see that life really is all around me, all the time,<\/span>
\npresenting me with endless possibilities. Showing me a world full of light and beauty.<\/span>
\nThat perspective, that window, is always there if we\u2019re open enough to see it. And when<\/span>
\nwe see it, the world truly is … extraordinary!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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