Tuesday 3 July 2007

The Creative Process

The Calgary Stampede starts this Friday, and I volunteer down in Ag-tivity in the City, where I spin woolen yarn on my drop spindle and do what I jokingly refer to as "my stand-up comedy routine." It can be "interesting" weather down there -- a couple of years ago, we had snow, and this week, we're supposed to have temperatures in the mid-30s Celsius (around 95F) -- but I enjoy interacting with the visitors, and thinking about how art and craft fits into their lives as well as my own.

Part of that exploration usually involves the tools I use in producing my work. I bought a digital camera (Canon Powershot A540, no longer available) a little over a year ago and the transition period has been a long one: I was pretty good with my old Canon AE-1, then traded it in for a little Nikon point-and-shoot film number (Zoom 800AF) to use when I was writing my Masters thesis in 1999-2000. Now that I'm back to tinkering with apertures and shutter speeds, I'm having to think differently again.

Some of my friends have got me hooked on Flickr and I've been posting photos of my craft work there (as well as things in my life that aren't directly related to my "art"), and the simple act of taking the camera with me, shooting anything and everything, and then being able to delete the dross without pouring nasty chemicals into our environment is a liberating one.

I'm not sure it's changed how I approach what I do, but it definitely has given me other perspectives and, coincidentally, the more I shoot, the happier I am with the results. As an example, here's a picture of some beautiful (and, unfortunately, endangered) white pelicans.

Up, up, and away

1 comment:

  1. I love your photo of the pelicans. I, too, am learning to take my camera with me wherever I go, and am enjoying capturing daily life. Taking the camera along doesn't come naturally, though!

    Thanks for listing my blog on your site. I look at yours regularly. Thanks too for your reminders about the importance of making models. I'm an impatient sort, and sometimes skip this step, and am ALWAYS sorry I did.

    Good wishes,

    Clara

    ReplyDelete

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