Sep 01 2009
Am I creative? 1/x
Am I creative? Thats the question thats been kicking around my head for a while now. Trust me its not fun to doubt yourself even if it is only a matter of hobby.
Sure I know my f-stops, shutterspeeds, whitebalance corrections. I can even throw a few layers on top of a photograph and it does not scream “photoshop!” Hell, I can do some lighting and get it right. Knowing mechanical inputs in the process is something I just know, but operating the camera fluently does not mean I create anything.
In the finnish copyright law there is a section called ‘threshold of originality.’ What this means is that if you take a picture that is more than likely just like the one I took our pictures are not necceseraly protected by the copyrigh law. This ‘threshold of orginality’ is of course a line drawn in to sand, but line never the less. I don’t know if someone has ever pushed it too far. Has anyone taken GettyImages to court for stealing their daisy pictures?
So am I creative? I copy ideas from others, I shoot like many kids out in the strobist flickr pool, but I do think that my work overcomes the threshold. How do you mesure creativness anyways? I can not draw,nore do I always have strong concepts in my head. I don’t have a real understanding of the art history… What do I create when I press the shutter? There has to be more than just ones and zeros.
I went to the library yesterday to find ispiration. Instead of cool photos and stories behind the images I found.. art? Old photos, very old photos, and lots of wierd words about photos and their meaning. C’moon! Picked up this book and could not understand a single word of it. Pictures arent just pictures? When my only goal is to make pretty pictures without any heavy message behind them, does it automaticly make me less creative photog?
Do I fall on my ass here? Yes, badly too but I am on way up also.. more to come..
The pic below is a direct copy of some pic…
hyvä pätkä!