Begin With an Open Mind
by Adrian Barnett
“The solution to each new problem or challenge should begin with a blank canvas and an open mind, not with the nervous borrowings of other people’s mediocrities.” — George Lois (American Advertising Legend)
I want to think that we are all creative people who are capable of great ideas. But I think sometimes we don’t explore it fully or create the right conditions for creativity to thrive. When someone compliments Bergit or myself on our creativity, I begin thinking about what inspires us to make original, different, eye-catching, and thought-provoking images… something other than your ordinary run-of-the-mill photography. That’s when I realized that Begit and myself are creating an environment where we get a real kick out of coming up with innovative ideas, not just in photography but in other areas of our lives as well.
For a start, many research articles recommend embracing learning. They point out that curiosity is the foundation of creativity and recommend cultivating a mind-set of continuous learning and exploration. At the start of 2024, we graduated from Truro & Penwith College and University Centre after spending six months intensively studying digital marketing, content creation, copyrighting, and marketing planning. We loved every minute of it, and it made us hungry for more courses! We’ve been like children in a sweet shop in their extensive business library, and the ideas have been flowing ever since. Surrounding ourselves with like-minded people, many of whom are younger, has given us a real energy boost!
Another piece of advice we’ve picked up is to diversify your interests. Engage in a variety of activities, hobbies, and subjects. Apart from our photography and filmmaking, few people are aware of all the other “creative” things we enjoy. For example, I love being creative in the kitchen and experimenting with Master Chef inspired cooking. It’s relaxation for me. So is my music. Bergit had no idea about my musical interests until a couple of years ago, but she wanted to learn on my synthesizer keyboard. She started with zero knowledge but, in less than two years, she’s learned the notes and how to read music. Not satisfied with this, she expressed an interest in learning the guitar, so we bought a secondhand acoustic.
Buoyed on by this, we then bought an electric guitar and an electric piano and turned a spare room into a music room where we can play, improvise, jam, and get our creative muscles exercised. What does this have to do with photography? Nothing and everything. It keeps the unconscious part of our minds active and open to new ideas. Bergit also knits, crochets, sews, and designs her own knitwear. Again, it is part of being creative that we often take for granted but it keeps the brain active and open.
Being creative is NOT holding your camera at an odd angle and saying you are being creative by using a “Dutch Tilt.” You are simply not holding the camera straight! If, however, you are taking your inspiration from Robert Krasker’s cinematography in “The Third Man” and using the angles to emphasize parts of the image, then that would be considered creative. There has to be some thought and intention behind your actions. Tilts can be used to create “Lines of Tension” and “Lines of Ease” in your compositions. Lines falling over into an image can be quite dramatic and unsettling, and gentle slopes down to a focal point in a composition can be quite restful. That’s just one example.
Have you ever bought a pack of color presets for Lightroom or LUTs for Photoshop or Premiere Pro? They may look great in the samples shown on the advertisement, but simply applying them all to your own images wouldn’t be creative. Just copying what others have produced is not being creative. Instead, why not try your own color grading to suit the mood of your images? There are numerous ways of doing this, but I still love Adobe Speed Grade and use it for both stills and video.
So, being “creative” is not merely doing things differently. It is finding new ways of doing things and always in an effort to do things better. The attempts may not always pay off, but it will be a learning process nonetheless. The intention should be to build on what has gone before and to improve and create something new and better — not merely different for the sake of it.
When I worked in London creating photography for advertising campaigns, I was always included in the original discussions for generating ideas. These were never at set times because you can never simply sit down in a room and switch on creativity. Ideas come when we least expected them. Reportedly, Keith Richards had the riff to “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” come to him in a dream. He woke up, recorded it on a tape player by his bed, and went back to sleep.
In the London office, I was involved in bringing ideas to life and was included in the brainstorming process. There was something to advertise — and we all had to write down our initial ideas of approach.
Brands have to be memorable. It is very difficult to buy into something if you can’t remember what it is! It has to occupy the very specific spaces in the hearts and minds of the customers who want what you offer. This is fundamental for all photographers — and so often we forget and just believe people will come to us even if we don’t offer what they want!
As a result, the photographer complains they are not getting the business. Is that the customer’s fault, or are we not creating something that is loved and desired?
So, back in London, we came up with ideas for the advertising. We compared notes, and they were usually all very similar and predictable. We then had another think to produce something more diverse. We called this the “overnight test.” Often it was several nights. Ideas take time to germinate. By the time we had performed the exercise three times, all of us had gone into different and unexpected directions with our thoughts. This is where creative originality took shape.
When playing music, there is a theory of “muscle memory.” The brain creates pathways that allow for almost automatic playing of certain passages or chord changes. They become little inbuilt “subroutines.” When your performance is practiced and polished you can play certain pieces of music almost instinctively, and without thinking, that allows you to focus on the subtle nuances of your playing. It frees you to allow expression and creativity. I can get up in the morning and begin playing some of my favorite pieces of music almost intuitively. I don’t think about what chords I am playing, but my fingers move over the piano keys of their own accord — they just know where to go! Then I can put my creative expression into the music. It may be some thoughtful classical music that I can get lost in or maybe some Rhythm & Blues where I just start rocking. When I have the fundamentals locked down, it frees me to concentrate on emotions.
When starting in photography, it is easy to get hooked up on concentrating on where to frame your subject, thinking about Rules of Thirds or Golden Ratios. We can get bogged down in getting our lights at a particular angle because we are following some tutorial or diagram. The resulting images can be competent, but lacking in flair. It becomes that unremarkable meal in a restaurant that is perfectly cooked, by the book, but lacking in surprise and excitement.
Bergit and I often find ourselves going into auto-mode when creating sets and putting up lights for each other. We do a lot without thinking and that frees our minds to concentrate on the special elements that can make an image stand out. Remember that just doing something quickly does not mean it is done well. Research and practicing your craft thoroughly is one of the rules of success. Don’t just get a new camera with 50,000 focus points and the ability to recognize 1,000 faces in fractions of a second — they are gimmicks and won’t make you more creative!
Neither should you be shooting hundreds of frames every hour — it simply wears your shutter out! You should be asking yourself, “Is it creative? Is it improving on something that has gone before? Is it going to connect and be memorable? Is it going to fundamentally change the way someone feels? Is it going to ‘Wow’ them?”
If your images are to stand out, they need to have a “Big Idea.” Of course they should be technically competent, but those skills should be second nature. Your idea should fly right into the soul of the person who you are aiming at. These could be beautiful portraits or wedding images that reduce the recipients to emotional wrecks (in a joyous way). They shouldn’t be saying “nice photo” — that’s not enough. The same with brand photography. It’s got to grab the viewer and force them to feel something and get the message firmly and unforgettably implanted in their soul. That’s an example of Advertising Overdrive!
Ask Questions and Challenge assumptions – Curiosity thrives on questions. As children, we asked questions… sensible questions to us… because we wanted to know things and discover things. We made suggestions for improvements and asked, “What if…?” with our inquiring minds. As we grew older, it seemed somehow inappropriate to ask such things. Adults would say, “Don’t ask stupid questions.” We should already know the answers, the elders told us. In response, we gradually stopped asking and enquiring and we settled for the norm because “That’s just the way things are.” …for some of us anyway.
Many years ago, before he became very famous and went to Hollywood, novelist, artist, and filmmaker Clive Barker (“Hellraiser,” “Nightbreed,” “Candyman”) and I were chatting on a phone call, and I asked him about the existence of the monsters in his books. He said his beliefs were very Freudian: If the monsters exist in your mind, then they exist… somewhere… anywhere… They exist. If you can think of these things, they come from somewhere and exist somewhere. Clive was already a hero of mine, and I remember his words to this day. It was inspiring for me to chat with someone with so many creative thoughts. He never stopped believing in Puff The Magic Dragon or Father Christmas – his creativity kept asking questions. This is yet another great lesson for us creatives.
Adrian I Barnett is the son of Film Producer & Director G Ivan Barnett. His experiences with his father have influenced his styles and approaches to photography. Adrian worked in advertising in London providing photographic input for a wide range of campaigns and has worked in many countries, including Germany, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, and the Czech Republic. He holds a Licentiateship with the Society of Photographers, UK. He also writes short fiction stories as well as business articles on photography, branding and advertising and is passionate about the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships and Formula One motor racing.
