On Constraints and Creativity

[campo]

In the absence of project-driven constraints, I don't feel any pressure or incentive to try again

Bravo to Jim for his post and this sentence from Rob. I could not agree more with both posts.

For me, one the one hand, having project-driven constraints has informed careful studio work; and on the other hand, not having them has negated my desire for casual photography.

 

[briggart]

Answers don't usually arrive while I'm staring at a whiteboard or framing up a shot. They come while I'm walking the dog. Or driving. Or, quite often, at 3:00 a.m. when I sit bolt upright with a half-formed idea that feels like it came from somewhere else entirely.

Because it did.

Same similar happened to Issac Newton only after he took extended break from his strenuous studies work.

Newton's accredited third law of motion "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction" is a limited understanding by Newton of a thing that's been known for thousands of years prior for instance in Hinduism : the Universe is in Dynamic Balance.

Except that it is not in balance. At least not in any meaningful physical sense.

 

[ampimagedotcom]

For the most part, I would say time & money are the main two constraints.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be Annie Leibovitz, for example - and know that you have got 500,000+ to play with, for example, to produce one or two images!

For her, I reckon money isn't really the issue most of the time (which is actually quite scary because then you don't have any excuses), it's time - because she may only have the subject for a few minutes.

No constraints = No excuses... which is actually a scary thought.

 

[DavidMillier]

For the most part, I would say time & money are the main two constraints.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be Annie Leibovitz, for example - and know that you have got 500,000+ to play with, for example, to produce one or two images!

For her, I reckon money isn't really the issue most of the time (which is actually quite scary because then you don't have any excuses), it's time - because she may only have the subject for a few minutes.

No constraints = No excuses... which is actually a scary thought.

There are only a handful of people in this position world wide. And those people are in that position, not because they are necessarily and exclusively great artistic photographers, but because they are great managers and organisers and leaders who have demonstrated time and time again that they can deliver the Big Money Shoot under intense pressure.

Fortunately for most of us, we are not in that position. Instead, photography is not our profession, but our passion and we are not driven by time and money and accountability constraints, but by other constraints.

I agree with Jim that constraints of one kind of another, including self-imposed constraints (one lens photography, photography within the boundaries of a self-created project) can be a great driver to produce better work.

This is because as human beings we have the tendency to take the easy option, make the obvious shots, go for the low hanging fruit. Tough constraints remove the obvious options and prevent us from being lazy. Suddenly there are no obvious shots. Oh no, what am I to do!

Look, think, stretch, create.

Constraints can help us by forcing us to dig deeper.

Where I somewhat disagree with Jim is that casually wandering around can't yield good returns.

I think (for some people at least, it can). It's all about getting into the zone of concentration and observation.

I find that working in this way produces images that I could never have planned or imagined or worked out in advance. Unexpected opportunities present: they may be something as simple as a crack in a wall, a serendipitous patch of dirt you can turn into an image, a fleeting arrangement of shadows - impossible to predict, but which you can take advantage of if you can get into that hallowed state of focused observation. "In the zone", some people call it.

I think both approaches have their place.

--
2024: Awarded Royal Photographic Society LRPS Distinction
Photo of the day: https://www.whisperingcat.co.uk/wp/photo-of-the-day-2025/
Website: https://www.whisperingcat.co.uk/wp/
DPReview gallery: https://www.dpreview.com/galleries/0286305481
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidmillier/ (very old!)

 

[ampimagedotcom]

There are only a handful of people in this position world wide. And those people are in that position, not because they are necessarily and exclusively great artistic photographers, but because they are great managers and organisers and leaders who have demonstrated time and time again that they can deliver the Big Money Shoot under intense pressure.

Chicken or Egg?

If you want to stay in that position, then yes, you need to be good at all of those things - but first you have got to produce some images that will get you to that position.

Which may mean having to shoot stuff on spec to start with.

"One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do." - Henry Ford.

-
Creating images to tell a story... just for you!
Cheers,
Ashley.

 

[ampimagedotcom]

.. this often plays out across a series. You spend months inside a set of constraints (location, lighting, subject, technique), and nothing quite clicks. Then one day, without ceremony, you start seeing things differently. Patterns emerge. Relationships cohere. You find the thread, and start pulling. That’s the kind of magic I’m talking about.

Most of the time I would only get one shot at it...


(Bride standing on the balcony of Penthouse suite at the Hodson Bay Hotel which is situated on the shores of Lough Ree near Athlone in Ireland)

.. which in a way, is what makes each image unique.

But it’s good to also have a back-up plan too, especially if it’s your own money that you are gambling with and time isn't on your side.

-
Creating images to tell a story... just for you!
Cheers,
Ashley.

 

[dbateman]

This is the exact point I was trying to make in my response to your other post.

When you said this?

Outstanding post.

I just wanted to add if you're new to a style, genre or photography in general, than constraints and boundaries are good to hold your variation on your variables. To allow things to be easier to comprehend and visualize.

Once you're established, than you must remember that the variables are variable and not constants and should be explored.

That's actually a different point than I'm making in this thread, although I don't disagree. Constraints are valuable to photographers at all levels.

But this is more detailed and complete. Too bad it wasn't the second post after the start of that thread.

Why is it too bad? The two posts are not at all in disagreement.

 

[PeterD33]

I work in projects but I have never thought of that as "constraints" or "boxes" or "limitations". I see it more as having a goal; a purpose. I aim toward the goal like an arrow, trying to create a series; to solve a question; unravel an artistic riddle. Similarly, I don't think a musician, say a jazz musician, sees himself as constrained because he has chosen to "play jazz". Instead, he is seeking to attain greatness in Jazz. He is seeking that great riff, that great feeling.

 

[GonnaSnap]

I work in projects but I have never thought of that as "constraints" or "boxes" or "limitations". I see it more as having a goal; a purpose. I aim toward the goal like an arrow, trying to create a series; to solve a question; unravel an artistic riddle. Similarly, I don't think a musician, say a jazz musician, sees himself as constrained because he has chosen to "play jazz". Instead, he is seeking to attain greatness in Jazz. He is seeking that great riff, that great feeling.

One person's constraints are another's joie de vivre!

 

[PeterD33]

I work in projects but I have never thought of that as "constraints" or "boxes" or "limitations". I see it more as having a goal; a purpose. I aim toward the goal like an arrow, trying to create a series; to solve a question; unravel an artistic riddle. Similarly, I don't think a musician, say a jazz musician, sees himself as constrained because he has chosen to "play jazz". Instead, he is seeking to attain greatness in Jazz. He is seeking that great riff, that great feeling.

One person's constraints are another's joie de vivre!

I couldn't have said it better!

 

[JimKasson]

I work in projects but I have never thought of that as "constraints" or "boxes" or "limitations". I see it more as having a goal; a purpose. I aim toward the goal like an arrow, trying to create a series; to solve a question; unravel an artistic riddle. Similarly, I don't think a musician, say a jazz musician, sees himself as constrained because he has chosen to "play jazz". Instead, he is seeking to attain greatness in Jazz. He is seeking that great riff, that great feeling.

One person's constraints are another's joie de vivre!

Constraints and joy (or joie) are not inherently antithetical.

--
https://blog.kasson.com