For this blog post, I’d like to talk about my own experience incorporating creativity into my corporate analyst day job by first becoming a fashion photographer.
Becoming a photographer
In my
previous life (no, not in the Shirley MacLaine sense), I worked for WD-40
Company. I was based in our supply chain as an analyst. It was my job to watch
costs and hunt for efficiency. I was good at it, but I quickly realized that I
wanted more out of my career than just crunching numbers. I had been into film
and video in high school and college and really felt like my professional life
was missing a creative element.
During a
trip to Japan a few years earlier, I had developed a love for photography. I
purchased a good camera and began developing my skills. My photos were average,
but I had fun and I soon reached a good level of comfort with my camera. I may have
called what I was doing “creative” at the time, but it wasn’t until later, with
true inspiration, that I feel I was truly on my creativity frontier.
It was
on my honeymoon in Milan that I finally found out what I was meant to do with a
camera. My wife and I got married in Italy and she had bought all new clothes
for our wedding and honeymoon. I’m probably biased, but she is a fantastically
good looking woman. As we walked the streets of the fashion capital of the
world, I realized how much I liked taking pictures of her. I could have taken
thousands of pictures of ancient buildings and tourist attractions, but
instead, I had too much fun playing street fashion photographer with her as my
muse.
I
returned home more inspired than I ever had been before. I began studying great
fashion and portrait photographers’ work and enrolled in tons of local
workshops, practice shoots and pro photographer hangouts. Before I knew it, I
had business cards, a website and actual paying customers. I was upgrading my
equipment and really getting good. I soon started shooting for local models and
designers as well as companies looking to improve their brand image.
My creative process
I
learned a lot about inspiration and creativity while behind the camera. I learned very early on that call yourself a fashion photographer does not automatically make you produce creative and great work. I found that there were two key elements that needed to fall into place before I could really unleash my most creative work.
Consistently good fashion photography requires a substantial skill set. You have to know your camera and lenses. You have to know your lights and how light works. You have to know how to work with people. You have to be able to instantly figure out what someone's best angle is. You have to know about clothing, hair, emotion and story. You have to have a critical eye as to how well a shot works. All of these skills roll up together into someone who can turn almost any situation into workable pictures.
This is the much less predictable side of the creativity equation. Here, I define inspiration as anything that compelled me to break out of my mold in a new and exciting way. In Italy, it was my wife. Now as a pro photographer, inspiration came in many forms. It could be a beautiful model, an article of clothing, a new location, a song on my iPod, or even a competing photographer's work. Some of my best shoots were inspired by a combination of these.
For me, combining a fluency in photography with the right combination of inspirations was really where my creativity took off.
The shots on the left were from one of my most memorable and creative shoots. I was invited up to LA as part of a small group of pro photographers to shoot some model portfolios in a warehouse. I was the youngest and least experienced photographer there, but I was invited based on my reputation for having a unique perspective and style in my photos. When I arrived, I realized that all the other photographers there simply set up their own backdrops and recreated their own studios in the warehouse and were shooting very boring and predictable images. Boring has never inspired me. I've always liked to push boundaries and go against the grain with my images. So instead of joining them, I dragged my gear outside and found a big junk pile made of shipping containers and pallets. It was hot, dirty, abandoned and perfect for edgy, gritty shots. I used the unexpectedness of the location to my advantage and got the most acclaimed shots of the day. My images were so well received that I was invited back for a second shoot where I was asked to teach other pros my techniques.
Had I lacked a substantial skill set or an inspiring location, the shots above wouldn't have been possible. I needed to know instantly what lens and settings I would use, where to position my lights and how to modify them, and how best to shoot the models' features and styling. I also needed that jolt of energy that comes from the realization that something new and unexpected is possible. These two aspects combined turned into real creativity, allowing me to out-shoot the much more seasoned photographers there.
As my photography career progressed in my evenings and weekends, I began to find ways to be more creative in my day job by using the same principle of skills intersecting with opportunities. Once I had built a meaningful skill set, I looked for opportunities to apply it in unexpected and inspiring ways. With my boss's encouragement, I branched out from my department and got involved in marketing, new product development, finance and a host of other projects across the company. Not only did these new experiences allow me to expand my skill set, I was genuinely being creative at work! I realized that I could quite literally create opportunities for creativity if given the option to metaphorically wander outside the warehouse and shoot in the dumpster.
1. Skill Set
Consistently good fashion photography requires a substantial skill set. You have to know your camera and lenses. You have to know your lights and how light works. You have to know how to work with people. You have to be able to instantly figure out what someone's best angle is. You have to know about clothing, hair, emotion and story. You have to have a critical eye as to how well a shot works. All of these skills roll up together into someone who can turn almost any situation into workable pictures.
2. Inspiration
This is the much less predictable side of the creativity equation. Here, I define inspiration as anything that compelled me to break out of my mold in a new and exciting way. In Italy, it was my wife. Now as a pro photographer, inspiration came in many forms. It could be a beautiful model, an article of clothing, a new location, a song on my iPod, or even a competing photographer's work. Some of my best shoots were inspired by a combination of these.
Pulling the two together
For me, combining a fluency in photography with the right combination of inspirations was really where my creativity took off.
Had I lacked a substantial skill set or an inspiring location, the shots above wouldn't have been possible. I needed to know instantly what lens and settings I would use, where to position my lights and how to modify them, and how best to shoot the models' features and styling. I also needed that jolt of energy that comes from the realization that something new and unexpected is possible. These two aspects combined turned into real creativity, allowing me to out-shoot the much more seasoned photographers there.
Bringing it back to my day job
As my photography career progressed in my evenings and weekends, I began to find ways to be more creative in my day job by using the same principle of skills intersecting with opportunities. Once I had built a meaningful skill set, I looked for opportunities to apply it in unexpected and inspiring ways. With my boss's encouragement, I branched out from my department and got involved in marketing, new product development, finance and a host of other projects across the company. Not only did these new experiences allow me to expand my skill set, I was genuinely being creative at work! I realized that I could quite literally create opportunities for creativity if given the option to metaphorically wander outside the warehouse and shoot in the dumpster.
