As you read this i should be somewhere between my home in western Germany & Aix-en-Provence in the south of France. Am spending a week with one of my closest friends & her sister-in-law before she moves back to the states. This is a girls only, fun filled action packed vacation full of food, history & shopping. Oh & yes the camera came along too!
To keep you occupied when i'm gone i have a series of posts lined up, by some wonderful people (more about them later) on the subject of "Inspiration", starting with me!
& i have absolutly no clue where to start with this topic ... i mean to me it's just a thing that i get randomly (in the shower, driving the car, eating dinner & often at moments when the camera isn't handy). It's funny that i'm trying to find inspiration to write about inspiration! Anyways i did what i do when i get stuck ... search the internet (which we could possible add to my list of things that give me inspiration). I learnt that the word "inspiration" literally means "breathed upon" (how cool is that). Poets such as Shelley & Coleridge believe inspiration came to them in the wind or in visions ... I'll tell you Freud's ideas or Marxist theory but they are really not as pretty (& i am an "artist" after all). The internet also lets me look at pretty pictures which i am a big fan on (go figure).
To keep you occupied when i'm gone i have a series of posts lined up, by some wonderful people (more about them later) on the subject of "Inspiration", starting with me!
& i have absolutly no clue where to start with this topic ... i mean to me it's just a thing that i get randomly (in the shower, driving the car, eating dinner & often at moments when the camera isn't handy). It's funny that i'm trying to find inspiration to write about inspiration! Anyways i did what i do when i get stuck ... search the internet (which we could possible add to my list of things that give me inspiration). I learnt that the word "inspiration" literally means "breathed upon" (how cool is that). Poets such as Shelley & Coleridge believe inspiration came to them in the wind or in visions ... I'll tell you Freud's ideas or Marxist theory but they are really not as pretty (& i am an "artist" after all). The internet also lets me look at pretty pictures which i am a big fan on (go figure).
So now we get down to the nitty gritty ... what inspires me?
1. Women such as Dickie Chapelle who was fearless, a one of a kind & incredible lady. She opened up doors for women in combat photography & she did it with guts & in style (pearl earrings in Vietnam ...).
2. World renouned photographers such as William Eggleston & Martin Parr who introduced me to photographing the random things we see every day, bold colours, simple composition & interesting angles. Ansel Adams for the sheer beauty of his work, & Richard Avedon for putting the sole focus on the subject, no distracting from the people in front of his lens.
1. Women such as Dickie Chapelle who was fearless, a one of a kind & incredible lady. She opened up doors for women in combat photography & she did it with guts & in style (pearl earrings in Vietnam ...).
2. World renouned photographers such as William Eggleston & Martin Parr who introduced me to photographing the random things we see every day, bold colours, simple composition & interesting angles. Ansel Adams for the sheer beauty of his work, & Richard Avedon for putting the sole focus on the subject, no distracting from the people in front of his lens.
3. & more recently the work i am seeing on etsy, fine art photography that flows over into all kinds of genres, pictures that don't stay in the box. & the people who go along side them who are kind, & smart & looking to succeed in a an unforgiving industry. You see a photograph & you know what you like or don't like & sometimes you walk away with an idea, maybe it was the angle they shot out or the way the light falls but it's calling out to you to try it & not copy but make it your own.
4. i am also inspired by other artists around me working in different mediums ... graphics, screen printing, textiles ... the list in endless, & their skills amazing. Also a little envious of this one, taking classes is on my list of things to do.
So maybe the answer to the question is that everything around me inspires me. The small, simple, hidden, delicate & tourist inspire me ... random, unique & interesting things inspire me. Everything & anything inspires me to take pretty pictures, achieve my dreams & be the best i can (well try to).
ps. this bowl of ice cream inspired me (not to mention tasting really really good)!
You were right darling, we did write similar posts... I guess great minds do think alike :)
ReplyDeleteHave a great time in the South of France. I am not jealous at all... AT ALL... (just a little... a lot!)