"Choose your tools carefully, but not so carefully that you get uptight or spend more time at the stationery store than at your writing table."
Natalie Goldberg
My thoughts this week are about my history of discovering and pursuing activities and interests for pleasure and creativity throughout my life. Interests and activities that I began chasing with over-enthusiasm and carelessness. These are just a handful that all bring to mind a familiar hunt for new tools and equipment, sometimes known as "gear lust” or GAS, “gear acquisition syndrome.”
Electronic Music: A couple of decades ago, I bought a small Yamaha synthesizer, because of my love of ambient music and sound effects used in cinema. I thought it would be fun to make the same kind of music and sounds. I did not sensibly work to refresh my basic music composition and music reading skills from school. I gave up after a few years of spending money and never really learning or mastering the new hardware and software music creation tools, frustrated and creating little musical art.
Jigsaw Puzzling: A couple of years ago, during winter, I picked up a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle to occupy my time, remembering that I enjoyed the activity in years past. I loved it! Looking for edge pieces, matching patterns, and shapes, feeling that dopamine hit every time I found a "fit". I immediately brought a 1000-piece puzzle of Parisian cafes and the Eiffel Tower. This one kept me deeply engaged for almost two days. Then I found myself drawn to puzzles at bookstores and gift shops, purchasing for a "rainy day". I have reined in this hobby, with one in process, and four more on a shelf, one being a 1500-piece monster.
Photography: I never had any real interest in photography growing up or while raising a family, letting my wife worry about things like family portraits and annual Santa photos with the kids. After divorcing, I was wandering a Costco one day and saw a pallet of basic Nikon DSLR camera kits in the electronics section. I bought one. After a few months of play, not satisfied with the quality of the images, I did not recognize my lack of skills and motivation to learn. I developed a case of "Gear Lust"! I thought just one more piece added to my equipment puzzle would have everything fall into place and that I would be able to take better pictures. Another lens, another camera body, another tripod, another software photo editor, another thing, would do it. Finally, an awareness of my limitations, and focusing on my skills instead of gear capability, has given me more freedom in my efforts.
These have been some of my experiences. I've wasted a lot of time and money in pursuit of pastimes. I've followed the excitement of the chase for new gear and items, listening to experts describe the latest technology, and reading reviews about the "must-have" gear, like a zombie after brains. Fortunately, I have grown wiser about my behaviors. Thinking more carefully about my true passions leads me to better decisions and more pleasure in creating.
Let me give a simple analogy using crayons. How many crayons does one need to color a book or draw an image? Crayons cover the essentials of the color spectrum with just a box of eight crayons. Crayons also come in larger sets, with additional colors to give a more granular selection across the color spectrum. Currently, crayons come in sets of 8, 24, 48, and 96. They come in standard colors, neon, metallic, skin tones, scented, confetti, and other categories. I ask again: How many and what kind do you need to make your art?
I have also seen others in my life behaving in the same way with new interests and hobbies, buying the most expensive gear and tools to start a creative journey, before knowing with certainty and passion that this was the journey they wanted to travel. It's not for me to judge anyone in this matter, but I hope I can provide some wisdom, my own experience serving as a caution to others.
My Main Points For This Week:
⦁ Start with essential tools: Explore your interest in new creative activities or your desire to return to a dormant creative time with only essential tools to realize if your interest leads to passion or abandonment.
⦁ Improve your skills before improving your tools: Don't think that the next new lens, more megapixels, brush set, expanded color palette, or software synthesizer will advance your productivity or product. Does your current gear hold you back or are you holding yourself back? Do learn the capabilities and limitations of your tools and equipment. Recognize when you have outgrown a tool and need an upgrade to continue advancing your skills and creations.
⦁ Use educational resources wisely and frugally: By all means, learn as much as you can from everyone you can. Just remember that instructional magazine articles, YouTube videos, and other sources will sometimes post "How To's" with gear promotion being evident. Craft and trade magazines are filled with glossy, glowing reviews of the newest and latest tools. Don't let the marketing ads and dopamine hits lead you to unwise and unnecessary purchases.
Creativity belongs to all of us and is unique to each of us. Finding the spur or the spark for a new creative interest, reaching a higher skill level, or discovering a new direction for an existing creative interest can guide us on the creative path.
Discover your creative passions, enter your creative zones, and take pride in your efforts and results. Listen and learn with an open mind from valuable critique. Above all, give yourself the freedom to create and then create with freedom!
I invite feedback from readers for different perspectives on creativity.
If my writings in this photography project can benefit anyone on their creative journey, I am proud to be of service!
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