CHAPTER 24
Working through
Creative Blocks
The experience of developing your talent is often exhila-
rating, exciting, and demanding. Photographers invested in
visual development thrive on the opportunity to create new
images and move onto a new artistic path.
There are times, however, in every photographer’s career
when the experience of changing direction or creating new
images feels almost impossible. This temporary lull in
creative thought may quickly pass or it may not. If the
moments turn into days and the days into weeks, talent may
be indeed be stuck, caught in a place where movement is
temporarily impossible. The well for ideas has dried up,
concepts for images are nonexistent, and the desire to push
feels very far away. While this is not a fun time, it can be an
incredible opportunity to learn about yourself, your talent,
and your spirit.
Many photographers will experience moments like this. It
can happen when attempting to solve a client’s problems or
when you feel the need to break out and go in a new creative
direction. While it’s clearly more exciting to quickly and easily
find the flow for your creativity, being stuck is a very real place
to be. It is all a part of the process of creativity and as such it
needs to be acknowledged and, yes, appreciated. Appreciated
because there is always a message when we are stuck. Your
creative block can be the messenger you need but did not askChapter 24.qxd 6/25/07 7:24 AM Page 153