Creative work is a chicken-and-the-egg dilemma.
You need experience to get hired in a creative role. You need a portfolio of work that looks like your ideal client before that client will hire you to make it.
You have to make something with nothing before you can make something with something.
When starting out, the first thing you make will suck, because you’re making it with no experience.
And the second and third things you make will likely frustrate you even more than they suck too, because you’ll have a little experience but no learned skill.
The fourth, fifth, sixth things you make will suck even harder, because now you’ll bump up against the limitations of your resources vs. your skill- one always outpaces the other rapidly.
For some, the challenge to make something with nothing is too great a challenge- mentally, physically, literally- to even get started. But for those who are serious about creating lasting things, it’s an invitation.
“Getting creative” doesn’t always mean What you’re making; concept, idea, vision. In fact, it almost never means that. Actually getting creative means How you make the thing:
How would you paint a painting with no paint?
How can you make a photo with no subject?
How would you make a song with no instruments?
How could you make a meal with no recipe?
When we challenge ourselves to make something with nothing, we move from the imaginative into the operative. The prompt invites a new perspective.
The limitation is the opportunity. Make something out of nothing.
Links I like:
For insight into the commercial photo space, I’ve been really enjoying this podcast from LA-based photographers Ren Fuller and Jennifer Chong.
AI strikes again, and this time it’s coming for UI design’s bag.
Ethan Hawke speaks on giving yourself permission to be creative.