Where I found inspiration for photos I’ve never created.

Dana Point, California beach on 620 film with the Mark IV toy camera

Our world is a noisy place. There is a constant stream of information coming towards us at lightening speed and sometimes, most of the time really, I just can’t keep up.

I was out for what I call a walk/run recently. This is where I am probably mostly walking but trying to slow jog myself down the sidewalk in the effort to find the long lost runner inside of me.

Sometimes I listen to podcasts or YouTube but on this day, I was listening to a random playlist Spotify had recommended to me called One Hit Wonders (or something like that, I’m not always great at the details of my memory). The song Fight Song came on and while I’ve heard this song many times before, there was something fresh in it on this particular day in this particular moment that hit in just the right way. I picked up my slow jog speed to a faster jog speed and had all these amazing visuals of self portraits I could create related to the feelings arising from listening to this song. Photos that even a month later, I haven’t given any planning towards actually creating.

Historically, having ideas and inspirations like this but not having the time, the skill, the gear to bring them to life has given me a sort of anxiety and feeling like I’m not moving the needle forward fast enough. What if I’m left behind as all my photographer friends continue to push their skills forward? What if the idea finds itself coming to life with a new artist as Elizabeth Gilbert says in Big Magic (I strongly disagree with this sentiment by the way)?

BUT what if it’s okay to have sparks, fire even, of inspiration and let it simmer for a time. What if there is value in the creative process of dreaming of projects and art to create even if you can’t create it right then at that point in time?

These ideas are still swirling in my head and I can see those sparks seep out in other ways with the photos that I am creating right now. I can see how that fire is still a part of me and I know it’s there even if the world can’t see it. Yet. Maybe I bring those ideas to life at other time. Maybe I never bring them to life. Either way, the inspiration I felt listening to the song as a trudged in my slow jog down the sidewalk is propelling me forward at just the right speed for my journey.

What are your thoughts? Do the ideas float away on a cloud to the next person because you don’t stop right then, drop everything you’re currently working on to bring them to life?