{"id":14113,"date":"2014-10-27T11:55:04","date_gmt":"2014-10-27T15:55:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/?p=14113"},"modified":"2014-10-27T11:55:04","modified_gmt":"2014-10-27T15:55:04","slug":"unlocking-the-secrets-of-the-creative-process-part-3-a-conversation-with-photographer-eric-meola","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/14113\/unlocking-the-secrets-of-the-creative-process-part-3-a-conversation-with-photographer-eric-meola\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cUnlocking The Secrets Of The Creative Process \u2013 Part 3\u201d A Conversation With Photographer Eric Meola"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ProcessionII_1999_425\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Photographer Eric Meola<\/a> and I share our insights on the creative process in this three-part conversation. In the third\u00a0installment\u00a0we discuss the role of chance and surprise in creativity.<\/p>\n

EM:\u00a0<\/b>In describing how he wrote “Like a Rolling Stone,” Bob Dylan said that he found himself writing what he called “this long piece of vomit, 20 pages long.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd out of it,\u201d he recalled, \u201cI took ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ and made it as a single. And I’d never written anything like that before and it suddenly\u00a0came to me.”<\/p>\n

If nothing else, Dylan has always been incredibly prolific. “Practice, practice, practice,” says Bruce Springsteen. And then one day there’s your father’s image \u201cGalaxy Apple.\u201d\u00a0<\/i>Is that part of what process is about \u2026 the yin and yang between chaos and discipline?<\/p>\n

JP:\u00a0<\/b>Process is how you get there. It doesn\u2019t just happen. And it unfolds through time. The final results may have come quickly, but it took a long time for Dylan to get into the specific state of flow that would produce his song. The same is true for everyone, including photographers.<\/p>\n

This reminds me of a time when I introduced a friend of mine to my father. He said, \u201cOh, you\u2019re that photographer. Gosh I\u2019d like to have your career. All those 1\/125ths of a second. What\u2019s that add up to? A 20-minute career?\u201d<\/p>\n

Dylan\u2019s statement, \u201cI was so much older then, I\u2019m younger than that now,\u201d seems related to Picasso\u2019s \u201cIt takes a long time to grow young.\u201d<\/p>\n

EM:\u00a0<\/i><\/b>And Dylan as a teenager in Hibbing, Minnesota, used to listen all night to Hank Williams and Little Richard on the radio\u2014it was all part of the \u201cprocess\u201d of gearing up for \u201cBringin\u2019 It All Back Home.\u201d<\/p>\n

You mention using a\u00a0Spirograph<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0as a child to make circles, ellipses and various radiating designs. And some of these patterns continue to show up in your latest imagery. How important is a sense of wonder to photography, or any art form?<\/i><\/p>\n

JP:\u00a0<\/b>How important is a sense of wonder to a life well lived? I think it\u2019s essential. Keeping our sense of wonder alive and well increases our openness, curiosity, sensitivity, perception, playfulness, passion, pleasure, and many other positive benefits. This is related to keeping our inner child or the childlike (not childish) aspects of ourselves active and vibrant.<\/p>\n

EM:\u00a0<\/b>We\u2019ve discussed chaos versus discipline in art. What about a happy accident\u2014serendipity? What role does \u201cchance\u201d play in process? In the film\u00a0Pollock<\/i>, Ed Harris shows Jackson Pollock stumbling onto the process for his drip paintings. Do you ever look at something you\u2019ve done or have been thinking about and suddenly make a leap to a concept that had not occurred to you before? I\u2019m also thinking of Kubrick\u2019s famous visual metaphor early in\u00a02001: A Space Odyssey,<\/i>\u00a0where the ape throws a bone that morphs into a rotating space station.<\/p>\n

JP:\u00a0<\/b>There are two questions here. My answer to both is yes …<\/p>\n

Read the rest of Part 3 here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Read Part 2 here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Read Part 1 here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Read my conversation with Eric Meola about Eric Meola here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Preview my ebook Process here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Find out about my\u00a0exhibit Process here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photographer Eric Meola and I share our insights on the creative process in this three-part conversation. In the third\u00a0installment\u00a0we discuss the role of chance and surprise in creativity. 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