Make A Plan For Your Creative Life

Make a plan.
Whether you’re engaged in your creative life professionally or simply as a vehicle for personal growth (an important distinction to make), I recommend you make a creative plan. If you do this, you too will find both your productivity and fulfillment will increase, in a way that’s meaningful to you. Having defined what you need to accomplish, your unconscious will go to the work of fulfilling it, generating many ideas over time. You’ll find yourself ready to make the most of unexpected opportunities as they arise. Put this all in writing using your own words. Writing increases retention 72%. If you write something down, you’ll be 75% more likely to take action on it. Remember, while other people can help you discuss and refine your plan as it develops, no one can do it for you. For you to truly understand and benefit from it, you have to do it. More importantly, for it to be right for you, it has to be yours.
Break it down into clear manageable pieces.
Set a mission (why you’re doing it), goals (what outcomes you want), projects (the big things you do)(set goals for 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, 5 years, and end of life) and actions (the small steps you take to getting your projects done)(detail your 1 year next actions list) for your creative life. You’ll have one mission, several goals, many projects, and innumerable actions.
Align your creative mission with your life’s mission.
Most people need at least two missions; one for their life in general (which includes many things – health, family, finances, etc) and one for a specific area, like their career or creative life, which may or many not be the same. Make sure that your missions share something in common – something other than yourself. The more you can align the them, the more likely you are to achieve them, increase your productivity, and be more fulfilled.
Set priorities.
Set timelines.
Chart your progress.
Be flexible.
Update your plan.
A plan is a work in progress. The best plans are flexible and can be modified. If I don’t learn something new from a process, often something that shifts my perspective significantly enough to start doing something better than before, then I feel I haven’t truly excelled at what I’m doing. I expect to improve my plans.
The time you spend clarifying why you’re doing what you’re doing and what you’d like to see come of it will save you hours, months, even years by ensuring that you’re going in the right direction – a direction of your own choosing. When you make a plan, you take control of your life.
Read the extended version in AfterCapture.
Read more in my essay Developing Personal Projects.
Read more in my Creativity lessons.
Learn more in my Creativity workshops.

Use Words To Tune Into Hidden Dimensions – Craig Colvin


In my Death Valley digital photography workshop, Craig Colvin discovered the power of words and of metaphor. When he made images he’d find the words that described the relationships in the image before making the exposures. Solitude. Community. Birth. Loss. He found that by using the power of words he saw things differently and he saw new things. A few simple words, the right words, unlocked hidden potentials within the subject and within himself.
How can words help unlock your creativity?
How many ways can you think of to integrate them into your creative process?
Read more in my creativity lessons.
Find out more about my Death Valley digital photography workshop.
Learn more in my digital photography workshops.

Loading Up Your Images – Steve Lumpkin


In my Death Valley digital photography workshop, Steve Lumpkin stumbled into a real keeper. “I looked back and realized my footsteps would soon be gone.” This was more than a magic moment; it was also a moment of personal insight. Steve made the most of his situation and invested a lot of himself in his image both literally and figuratively.
Was it the adversity of the situation, photographing in high winds on a dune field, that encouraged him to shoot from the gut? Was this a deep-seated feeling waiting to be expressed? Whatever it was the image has emotional intensity and it’s loaded; it works on many levels both formally and thematically.
What does or would it take for you to make loaded images?
Read more in my creativity lessons.
Find out more about my Death Valley digital photography workshop.
Learn more in my digital photography workshops.
 

Find The Courage To Reveal Yourself – Justin Hartford


In my Death Valley digital photography workshop, Justin Hartford consistently found a quiet corner to pursue his nude self-portraiture using his quiet gestures in the surrounding landscape as a way describing varying psychological states. His style was immediately recognizable, so much so that when another participant presented a nude of him everyone in the group thought it was his work. His approach was so different it stimulated a lot of dialog. His presence prompted us to ask how we could make our photographs more personal.
How many ways can you think of to make your images more personal?
Read more in my creativity lessons.
Find out more about my Death Valley digital photography workshop.
Learn more in my digital photography workshops.

The Symphony of Science


The Symphony of Science is a musical project headed by John Boswell, designed to deliver scientific knowledge and philosophy in musical form. Here you can watch music videos, download songs, read lyrics and find links relating to the messages conveyed by the music. The project owes its existence in large measure to the classic PBS Series Cosmos, by Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan, and Steve Soter, as well as all the other featured figures and visuals.
See more of the Symphony of Science here.
Find more creativity videos here.
Learn more in my digital photography workshops.

Try New Tools – Fani Cortes


In my Death Valley digital photography workshop, Fani Cortes shot with a DSLR modified to make infrared images. She’d go to specific locations and make specific images that would highlight the strengths of this effect. On occasion, she made full-spectrum images that looked identical to her infrared images. The tool gave her a new way of seeing and her images a new look.
How would your photography benefit from exploring non-standard tools?
Which tools would benefit you most?
Read more in my creativity lessons.
Find out more about my Death Valley digital photography workshop.
Learn more in my digital photography workshops.
 

When Two Images Are Better Than One – Tom Barry


In my Death Valley digital photography workshop, Tom Barry tried something new. He began shooting images to present side-by-side in diptychs. This formal device gave his images a smart new cinematic quality. This planned experiment opened up a whole new way of thinking and looking for him. Now he’s got new experiments to try – combinations with more than two images. He’s not sure just how far he can or should take it and still be successful. He’s got a mystery on his hands – and this excites him! How will it work out? Only more images will tell.
How could you use two or more images in combination?
What planned experiments would help you most?

Read more in my creativity lessons.
Find out more about my Death Valley digital photography workshop.
Learn more in my digital photography workshops.
 

Following Up On Break Throughs – Danielle Vick


In my Death Valley digital photography workshop, Danielle Vick made a break through in her composition skills and found a whole new way of looking. Instead of looking for the next new thing, she stayed focused, went back and repeated her success, went deeper with it, and made this new way of seeing a habit, not just a one time stroke of luck. Her productivity soared. She created a small body of work of related images the following morning. She found a new confidence in her vision and her craft.
Which of your successes would it benefit you to repeat?
Read more in my creativity lessons.
Find out more about my Death Valley digital photography workshop.
Learn more in my digital photography workshops.