{"id":1302,"date":"2013-02-19T00:28:55","date_gmt":"2013-02-19T07:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beautiful-landscape.com\/Reflections\/?p=1302"},"modified":"2025-06-12T09:57:23","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T16:57:23","slug":"creativity-top-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beautiful-landscape.com\/Reflections\/creativity-top-12\/","title":{"rendered":"Creativity Top 12"},"content":{"rendered":"

Creativity Top 12
\nHow to stand out from the crowd<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Introduction
\n<\/strong>Standing out among the ever-increasing number of photographers is becoming more and more difficult. \u00a0Gear and software are getting better and better. \u00a0Prices for photography hardware, software are consumables are getting more and more affordable. \u00a0Technical training is readily available. Information about locations that were once challenging to find is now just a google click away.<\/p>\n

When everyone is photographing the same locations, knowing how to get to these locations is no longer an advantage. \u00a0When everyone has access to the same tools, and when these tools are both excellent and affordable, having these tools no longer gives us an advantage. \u00a0Mastering chemical photography involved owning gear that was expensive and \u00a0learning a process that was challenging. The large amount of time and money required to do this gave chemical photographers a significant advantage.\u00a0Not so with digital. \u00a0While still expensive, digital photography gear is much more affordable than film-based gear. \u00a0Training, while still carrying a cost, is also much more affordable. \u00a0In addition, the number of teaching venues has literally exploded.<\/p>\n

All this means that the advantage inherent in finding locations, owning equipment and knowing how to use it is no longer significant enough to create a noticeable difference between photographers. \u00a0As a result the gap between photographers is shriking and \u00a0it is becoming increasingly difficult to stand out among the crowd.\u00a0Furthermore, the number of photographers and the quality of their photographs is not only increasing, it is literally exploding.<\/p>\n

However, being different is still possible. \u00a0The question is, how do you do it? \u00a0How\u00a0do you stand out? \u00a0The answer is two folds. \u00a0First, you have to reconsider what are your true advantages. \u00a0It may be your personal experience, your background, your upbringing, a specific aspect of your training that nobody else has, a focus on art and technique rather than on technique alone, your connections, a unique expertise in a non-photographic field. \u00a0It may also be simply your attitude.<\/p>\n

Second, in order to stand out in the environment that I just described you have to do things that the other photographers are not doing. \u00a0You have to create photographs that are different from everyone else. \u00a0Not because you used different gear and software, but because you used a different approach to creativity.<\/p>\n

Creativity is the foundation that will enable you to create photographs that are different. \u00a0In turn, and over time, creativity will allow you to develop a photographic style that will be uniquely yours. \u00a0The development of a personal style and the demonstration of a personal vision are the ultimate goals. \u00a0By achieving these goals you will set yourself apart from the competition in a final manner.<\/p>\n

These are long term goals and I address them during my workshops and in my Mastery Workshops on DVD tutorials. \u00a0In this essay my goal is to teach you how to become more creative. \u00a0Because creativity is a vast subject, I decided to narrow it down by writing a ‘Creativity Top 12’, a list of what I consider to be \u00a0the 12 most important aspects of creativity. \u00a0Here it is:<\/p>\n

1 – Be interesting<\/strong>
\nCreativity is necessary to generate the interest of our audience and customers.\u00a0 We will not generate their interest if we are not creative because people have become blas\u00e9 about old ideas. \u00a0There are so many photographers out there that unless our work stands out as being interesting, different and unique we will not get much attention.<\/p>\n

2 – Think differently
\n<\/strong>Being creative is about creating new things out of old things. \u00a0Taking old ideas that have proven to be effective in the past and re-inventing them by presenting them under a new appearance is the key to doing this successfully.<\/p>\n

3 – Bring in the new
\n<\/strong>Creativity is an input-output, import-export business.\u00a0 You can’t lock yourself in a room and expect to be creative all by yourself.\u00a0 You have to be in contact with other artists and with other ways of doing things in order to foster creativity.\u00a0 Think of this as a ‘creative think tank’ . The \u2018water\u2019 in the tank is the new ideas you bring in.\u00a0 These new ideas that you bring in push out and replace the \u2018old water\u2019 that was previously in the tank.\u00a0 By doing this regularly you have a constant flow of new \u2018water,\u2019 of new ideas.<\/p>\n

4 – Get help
\n<\/strong>Learn from people who have solved problems similar to the ones you face. \u00a0Do not reinvent the wheel. \u00a0Instead, learn to use the wheel (metaphorically speaking) by studying with people who know how this is done. \u00a0The problem at hand here is how to create photographs that are different from everyone else.<\/p>\n

5 – Set yourself free
\n<\/strong>You can\u2019t be creative with your hands tied behind your back, metaphorically speaking.\u00a0 To unleash your creativity you must cut yourself some slack.\u00a0 To do so you need to decide what you are willing to do and not do in your work. Don\u2019t be overly conservative.\u00a0 Instead, push the boundaries and decide to do things you have not tried before or have hesitated doing until now.<\/p>\n

6 – Ignore criticism
\n<\/strong>Creativity is fostered by self confidence.\u00a0 You can\u2019t be creative while being concerned with potential criticism at the same time.\u00a0 In order to bring your creative ideas to life, you have to ignore criticism during the creative phase.\u00a0 Their will be time to consider criticism later on, if and when it comes your way.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Sand Waterfall, Antelope Canyon, Arizona<\/em><\/p>\n

7 – Get what you need
\n<\/strong>You need specific resources to give birth to your ideas.\u00a0 These include classes, tutorials, tools and supplies.<\/p>\n

8 – Engage your audience
\n<\/strong>You can\u2019t be successful in a vacuum.\u00a0 While your ideas don\u2019t need to be interesting to everyone, they need to be interesting to your specific audience.\u00a0 Engage in a dialogue with your audience.\u00a0 Social media, blogging, live presentations, shows and personal conversations work well for this.<\/p>\n

9 – Think simple
\n<\/strong>Simple ideas are easier to implement than complicated ideas. \u00a0Doing ‘simple’ is more difficult than doing ‘complicated.’ \u00a0This is why most people do things complicated way. Learning to simplify takes time, but in the end it will save you massive amounts of time. \u00a0Saving time is the goal because we can’t make more time. \u00a0Therefore we need to learn how to use our time in the most efficient manner possible.<\/p>\n

10 – Try it
\n<\/strong>Trying creative ideas is the key to success. \u00a0This is because there is other effective way of finding out which ideas will work and which ideas will not work. Only by trying new ideas will we find out which ideas work and which ideas do not work.<\/p>\n

11 – Do it
\n<\/strong>Creativity means creating something, not just thinking of creating something! \u00a0This means that eventually you have to step up to the plate and get things done. \u00a0Create photographs, make prints, show your work to other people, write essays explaining\u00a0why and how you do what you do and more.<\/p>\n

12 – Defy authority
\n<\/strong>There\u2019s \u2018gurus\u2019 out there that have been around and have achieved more than you have.\u00a0 Just keep in mind that when they started these \u2018gurus\u2019 were in the same position you are in.\u00a0 They were intimidated by \u00a0their own, older, \u2018gurus.\u2019 \u00a0They hesitated to do things that had not been proven yet. \u00a0However, they succeeded because they did not let those ‘gurus’ intimidate them. \u00a0They defied authority and decided to do things their way. Do the same.<\/p>\n

About Alain Briot<\/strong>
\nAlain Briot creates fine art photographs, teaches workshops and offers DVD tutorials on composition, image conversion, optimization, printing and marketing. Alain is the author of Mastering Landscape Photography. Mastering Photographic Composition, Creativity and Personal Style and Marketing Fine Art Photography. All 3 books are available on as printed books Amazon.com and as eBooks on Alain\u2019s website at this link:\u00a0http:\/\/beautiful-landscape.com\/Ebooks-Books-1-2-3.html<\/a><\/p>\n

You can find more information about Alain’s work, writings and tutorials as well as subscribe to Alain\u2019s Free Monthly Newsletter on his website at http:\/\/www.beautiful-landscape.com To subscribe simply go to\u00a0http:\/\/www.beautiful-landscape.com<\/a>\u00a0and click on the Subscribe link at the top of the page. You will receive information on downloading the table of contents, plus over 40 free essays by Alain, immediately after subscribing. Alain welcomes your comments on this essay as well as on his other essays available. You can reach Alain directly by emailing him at\u00a0alain@beautiful-landscape.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Alain Briot
\nFebruary 2013<\/p>\n

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Creativity Top 12 How to stand out from the crowd\u00a0 Introduction Standing out among the ever-increasing number of photographers is becoming more and more difficult. \u00a0Gear and software are getting better and better. \u00a0Prices for photography hardware, software are consumables are getting more and more affordable. \u00a0Technical training is readily available. Information about locations that…Continue reading Creativity Top 12<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16704,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[88,27,54,84,43,67,28,79,78,75,83,29,85,81,72,26,32,45,89,76,35,56,33,38,55,77,52,37,47,40,73,48,39,30,59,36,44,31,86,87,34,42,50,41,74,65,49,58,53,46,51,57],"class_list":["post-1302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","tag-adobe","tag-alain-briot","tag-alainbeautiful-landscape-com","tag-antelope","tag-antelope-canyon","tag-arizona","tag-art-2","tag-auction","tag-barrett-jackson","tag-bentley","tag-briot","tag-canon","tag-canyon","tag-car-collection","tag-cars-2","tag-composition","tag-digital-photography","tag-dvd","tag-ebook","tag-ferrari","tag-fine-art","tag-fine-art-photograph","tag-fine-art-photography","tag-grand-canyon","tag-grand-canyon-bright-angel-trail-poster","tag-lamborghini","tag-landscape-photography","tag-landscapes","tag-leica","tag-lightroom","tag-lotus","tag-marketing-2","tag-navajoland","tag-nikon","tag-olympus","tag-painting","tag-personal-style","tag-phase-one","tag-photo","tag-photo-poster","tag-photography","tag-photography-ebook","tag-photography-workshop","tag-photoshop","tag-porsche","tag-poster","tag-selling-photographs","tag-seminar","tag-sketching","tag-sony","tag-workshop","tag-workshops-3"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beautiful-landscape.com\/Reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beautiful-landscape.com\/Reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beautiful-landscape.com\/Reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beautiful-landscape.com\/Reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beautiful-landscape.com\/Reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1302"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/beautiful-landscape.com\/Reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16705,"href":"https:\/\/beautiful-landscape.com\/Reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1302\/revisions\/16705"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beautiful-landscape.com\/Reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beautiful-landscape.com\/Reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beautiful-landscape.com\/Reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beautiful-landscape.com\/Reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}