Finding Your Creative Identity During Lockdown

The whole world right now is in an extreme state of instability, uncertainty and irregularity. The creative professionals and those offering unique, bespoke services are some of those that have been hit the worst by the Covid-19 pandemic. All upcoming shoots have been cancelled, salons have been shut, budgets have been cut and marketing has been pulled. The challenge is beyond what it ever was before. The fear is real, and these truly are unprecedented times.

So, how do we keep progressing, or at least, stay on the right path? At the beginning of this year I gave a lecture to the Edinburgh College of Photography students and one of the biggest points I wanted to make in that lecture was how to hone in on your creative identity. Later on, I started writing an article about it, because I believe it is the steps we take and the exercises we work through that are imperative towards giving us confidence in our own unique abilities. Everyone is talented and creative in their own way, and no matter how many times someone has said to me "I'm not creative like you are" I refuse to nod my head and agree. Anything that requires some form of problem solving, a need to think differently, a path that has yet to be explored or edited is being creative, and we are all able to do this. Having something to say, and saying it out loud to the world is simply another matter.

So I figured now was as good a time as any to finish this piece, because we all need to start thinking differently, to prime our minds and our creative souls for whatever opportunities may come at the end of this. Either way, we should be ready.

Below are some exercises that have been fundamental for me to hone in on my identity as an artist, communicator and producer. With a little less to do, lets get this done now!

Your Personal Story. Your WHY.

Think about your own story. Too many of us spend our time looking at other people's journeys, and comparing ourselves to their work and achievements. As much as it is useful to know how others have made their way towards the success we dream of, it is even more important to be able to create our own pathways.

If there's one thing that directors, agents and brands are looking for in an artist when commissioning, it's authenticity. Have a think about WHY you're creating. When you produce an image or product and show it to the world, you are essentially holding up a set of words that say "This is what I think". So, if all those words end up saying "This is my favourite colour" or "I'm vaguely interested" or "I want some money" I'm afraid it is not interesting, and it will mean nothing to people you're trying to talk to. The reality is, if people don't understand why they're doing something, they won't make it. All the decisions you have to make throughout your career, regardless of the profession, have to come back to why you were doing it in the first place.

Better visual communication equals better team communication equals effective marketing.

Know What Came Before You.

I literally could not think of a better time than right now, during this lockdown, for us to research and to get our heads stuck in some books. Take a good, saturated look at all the history and important work of all the greatest leaders and influencers in your profession. This is imperative for growth. It makes your own work so much richer. Like a painter's palette, you will have the ability to pull on any era, style or element as inspiration, further giving you the skills to mix concepts together to create something entirely new. Become completely informed by their work, let them inspire you, let yourself fall in love.

As a fashion photographer, my No.1 recommendation for other photographers would be A History of Fashion Photography by Nancy Hall-Duncan.

Strengths & Weaknesses.

This sounds like a classic, doesn't it? I think if anyone were to google anything asking for some form of business, leadership or self-improvement advice, 'Identifying your strengths and weaknesses" is almost always listed. It is, however a bloody useful thing to know and constantly update as you grow and develop. You can actually use this knowledge to your advantage.

Let me give you an example, I knew pretty quickly off the bat that I was not a 'technical 'photographer'. I am, nor have I ever been, a lover of 'the tech'. My love is solely with the creation. I have always been very honest in saying that the cameras, lenses & lights are a means to an end for me. I see the end goal, and the process I take to get there will undoubtably involve some of this cumbersome stuff, so I like to keep that side as simple as possible so I can focus on what I AM good at, and what I DO love. Instead of trying to change who I was to feel like I could fit in with what I deemed at the time to be the 'proper photographers', I found a way of creating that worked for me. That allowed me to take incredibly high quality imagery for half of the faff, because what I lacked in gadgets, I sure as hell made up for in vision and execution.

Look Elsewhere for Inspiration.

It's natural to want to look at someone else's work you love and want to reproduce it, because that’s you love it, right? Try to avoid “I love this photographer’s work, they’re living the life I want, I want to do work like that”. Taking you back to the beginning of this article, I want to stop you trying to follow the path of another. That work you love so much? that's their work, and he/she does it very well because it is theirs. You can't be a second rate version of them, you can only be the best rate version of yourself. We don’t have you yet. That’s the power you have. When I wrote about how best to bring a client's vision to life, I had already written a little piece on how to start thinking differently, which is super useful if you're feeling a bit of a creative block. I'll pop the most important bit here:

We want to make our work different, we want to tread where others haven't, and to think differently, we've gotta see differently. Try using textures, tones, colour palettes, visual cues. Research into song, book or fashion references, and don't be afraid of using words instead of just visuals! Even descriptive prompts like soft, hard, earthy, bright, celestial etc can be helpful for creating a 'mood' in our minds. Check out my moodboard below showing a similar process:

Experiment.

Because now is most certainly the time! I always find that with limitations come the driver to try something new. I'm currently locked down at my parent's place, so I don't have my studio, my lights, my models or my teams to create new work with. What I do have, is all the time in the world, the landscape around me, spring colours and my own face. I also have my parents I could photograph, who's story I would love to tell. Think about all the quiet things you have been dying to try and play around with, but never had the chance because you were too busy tryna bring in the bread!

This image was taken during my shoot with Mastered, when we had the incredible opportunity to be mentored by Nick Knight. Who still, incidentally, continues to inspire me to keep pushing forwards. Retouched in Photoshop, finished off on iPad Pro.

One final, but crucial point

One last thing I want to say is this is a pandemic, not a productivity contest. I've written out some tips and ideas to make the most of this time we have that will hopefully give a little direction and progress to your work, if this is something you are craving. However we should not be beating ourselves up for any time spent doing nothing. That is essentially what we've been asked to do. If you just need some headspace and time to think, that's okay too. I'm doing a lot of that myself. You cant get into a creative or productive frame of mind when there is pressure beating down upon you.

Stay safe, keep positive.