Creative Expression

Creativity takes many different forms. My best creative talent is photography. It is expressed by seeing an image, knowing what to include and what to exclude from the frame, choosing the right shutter speed to show the action with, knowing which aperture will include the objects I want in focus, and which to blur. Often, there's a decisive moment in which the peak action will occur, and that's when I shoot. Sometimes the background is distracting and I need to change my physical location in order to positively affect the background. Occasionally, a tilt of the camera is required to add a dynamic element. Choice of focal length is also very important; that helps include/exclude visual elements from the scene and either compress the subject or expand the depth perceived by the viewer. I also have to consider the viewers of my images, and how they'll see what I captured. Though it sounds like a lot to process and remember, it's all second nature and an extension of me. Fifteen years and a quarter of a million exposures later, I know what I'm doing and can explain how I get the results I have, and am happy to share with others. By no means do I think I know it all, but I know enough to be aware of so much more. As I learn one genre of photography, another becomes interesting, and the supply of genres is endless.

I also admire other artists and creative talents. One of which is my wife. She has been creating art since before we met. Her talents have evolved and she also finds new ways of expressing them. Listing them would be very time consuming, and I'm sure I'd miss more than I'd remember. One of my recent images shows her art nicely. She has been making Easel-backed cards by stamping, drawing, painting, coloring, embossing, die-cutting, embellishing, and then layering them into this three-dimensional result:
There are plenty more examples, and will continue to be. I look forward to those we mentor, especially our children and what they do with inherited talents and new ones developed on their own. We can be inspired by creativity across genres, mediums, disciplines and cultures, as long as we remain open to all sources. What talents do you have, and how are you sharing them?