surfing the web…

Surfer Girl

What I love about surfing the web is that it’s so absorbing. You type your search or address and before you know it, hours have gone by. What I don’t like about web surfing is that it’s kind of like eating that fourth or fifth chocolate. I glance at the clock, it’s midnight. I know I should go to bed, but continue anyway. I get pulled in, something draws me further and further into the unknown vastness of the water, until alas, the Internet has swallowed me up. The saving grace is the wonderful things we learn (hopefully). Sometimes I get up from the computer thinking,  “What a waste of valuable time!” Lately I’ve been looking at this whole web thing as a creative act. So why is it that when I create something, sometimes it sucks and I’m frustrated…and other times the planets align and voila, it’s magic.  Lo and behold, art is made.

To answer this question I did some analytical investigating into my own creative process.

When I’m tired or low energy, it usually is expressed in whatever I’m doing.  It’s tepid, it’s lifeless, half asleep. If I’m not focused and uninspired about what I’m doing, it will most likely flop. As an artist we have to live with failure.– even expect failure–because how can we be in a constant state of excitement and inspiration? It’s kind of like sex on demand; it just doesn’t hold the same passion. Then again, if we wait for this state of heightened awareness we would never get dinner on the table, let alone compelling works of art. Yet, even within failures there can be sparks of brilliance. Well, maybe not brilliance, but maybe a great color (almost) or shape, or a slight beginning of an intriguing idea. My optimum state for creating is never and always at the same time. I keep my eyes open, pushing myself out the door to attend lectures, exhibits, perusing the periodicals at Borders, daydreaming, pulling out old work. Where do I find inspiration? I find it through actively engaging then letting go and discovering what turns up in my strange little brain. So I’d like to put this out there to everyone, all you creative people, how, where, what, when and why do you find inspiration? Let’s commit right here and now to inspire each other.

Search for Inspiration

I’d like to share with you where my search for inspiration led me this month.

First and foremost I went to California for the Palm Springs Photo Festival.  There were seminars all day on everything from digital photography, marketing your work, archiving, and shooting; and presentations from some of the best photographers in the country. How can one possibly not be inspired?

Some links to pass along from the Festival:

If you are a nature photographer or just love animals and nature, check out the International League of Conservation Photographers (http://www.ilcp.com), a group of photographers who are not only saving endangered species but making gorgeous images. Here you will see social transformation attached to a body of photographic work. These artists are empowering others through their image-making.

Another site to see some amazing photography is Photo-eye.com. Click on the Gallery button to see the “Photographers Showcase.” Then you can do a key word search to look for portraits, landscape, etc. You will see some of the best photography being made today.

One of my favorite (and among the best) marketing people in photography was at the festival to review portfolios and give a workshop. Her name is Mary Virginia Swanson (www.mvswanson.com). If you are a photographer wanting to better understand marketing, the industry and your own personal work Mary Virginia is a MUST! She has a blog where she writes about everything and anything related to photography, including juried shows, portfolio reviews, events and more. Her book, “The Business of Photography: Principles and Practices” is invaluable; you will not find anything more relevant to photographers, anywhere.

Coming to Terms with Beauty

During and after the Palm Springs Photo Festival, I could not help but rethink my own work. The experience forced me to clarify what I am really interested in and what statements I am making with my work.

The first word that comes to mind is beauty; I realize I’m asking how three generations of women, my grandmothers through my daughters, have come to terms with notions of beauty in our culture. It goes deeper than just looking at models in fashion magazines. How we confront beauty and identity at all life stages is something each woman has to come to terms with in her own way.

I hear so often from friends in the middle passages of their life that they feel a sense of gratitude to be alive and healthy, enjoying their families. Many of us, myself included, encounter a newfound peace with those parts of ourselves we just couldn’t quite accept as our own earlier in life. That nose that was a tad too big, those freckles that marred our skin. In our wisdom we’ve broken through the stereotypes that have held back women, and have begun to formulate new definitions of what is beautiful.

Several years ago I was fortunate enough to photograph a friend and colleague of Korean descent. She was truly committed to exploring ideas of beauty, sexuality and identity through these images. We both came through this collaboration with a new understanding of how the camera and, most of all, how our own cultures create concepts of what it means to be and look like a woman.

On a lighter note as women most of us share a love of fashion, if you want to have an online blast with fashion go to www.polyvore.com. Immediately!

In Brief

It’s evident from a recent show at the Cranbrook Art Museum that women aren’t the only ones with issues. The show’s title, “Mixed Signals Artists Consider Masculinity in Sports,” left me…detached. So I was not prepared for the strong emotions I experienced as I walked through the work. One photograph in particular by Hank Willis Thomas called “Scarred Chest” sent an overwhelming message of the physical and emotional pain that claim athletes involved in male dominated sports.

The show has closed, but the catalogue is still available in the Cranbrook Museum store for 40 percent off the regular price.  It’s interesting reading, with good reproductions of the work in the exhibit.

Men, women and anyone who’s a little of both…please send me your stories, your tips, tricks, trips, anything that moves you, that inspires you to go back to your pads of paper, paints, computers, cameras, dressing rooms, kitchens, or backyards and create things that are close to your hearts.

http://www.DaleSparage.com/dalesparage@msn.com