After reading David DuChemin’s “Vision Driven Photographer” and “Vision Mongers”, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on his latest ebook “The Inspired Eye 3 – Notes on Creativity for Photographers”. The timing couldn’t be better since I have been thinking lately that I need to find a way to increase my creativity. I haven’t read volumes 1 and 2, I just dove right into his latest book.
DuChemin likens lack of creativity to a river that drains faster than it is refilled leading to dry spells and lack of imagination. That’s where I find myself. Maybe it’s all the focus on traveling and my grand adventure that allows me to depend on new places for content, rather than finding inspiration within my own imagination. I need more than just new places to fill my portfolio, I need to find my own way of expressing myself.
It is a relief to find out that I can strengthen, stretch and grow my imagination. Now I need to know exactly how to go about that. Not to worry, DuChemin always manages to provide both encouraging words of wisdom as well as practical applications.
DuChemin discusses the importance of practicing your craft, putting in the hours behind the lens, doing the work. The message sunk in when he used an analogy close to home for me: it is easier to steer a moving ship (it took me years to figure out that I was bad at docking my boat because I was going too slow – being overly cautious ultimately caused bad results). So it’s better to keep working, keep producing new material, learn through your own frames, than to try to create one perfect photograph. Keep your ship moving to discover new waters. You have to work through the frames to navigate to your perfect photograph.
The suggestions and ideas DuChemin puts forward are not only inspiring, but they help photographers learn how to create their own inspiration. One inspiring fact behind all of this is how DuChemin produced this book after a major accident that could have taken his life. While many, if not most, people would be focussed on the fact that they might not be able to practice their craft again, might not be able to even walk again, DuChemin is somehow able to write about creativity, imagination and expression. The lessons learned in this ebook go far beyond photography.
David DuChemin has a way of writing that goes beyond the theoretical and finds a way into my being, it’s like he’s talking directly to me. He makes me feel like I’m not the only photographer who worried they had nothing original to offer and makes me understand not only that that is not true but that is not the point. Expression is the point.
Click to visit the Craft and Vision bookstore and pick up a copy of The Inspired Eye 3.
The regular price is only $5 but if you use the promotional code EYETHREE4 on checkout, you can have the PDF version of The Inspired Eye III for only $4 OR you can use the code EYETHREE20 to get 20% off when you buy 5 or more PDF ebooks from the Craft & Vision collection. These codes expire at 11:59pm PST September 24th, 2011.
Thanks for your review, Anne – I’m feeling more inspired reading your review, too!
Thanks Henry, glad you found it useful. I love David DuChemin’s writing, so it must have rubbed off on me 🙂