The work of it
Gordon McGregor has been reading some interesting books. I follow his reading list somewhat surreptitiously. The other day he wrote a short post about resistance. After following the link to the book, The War of Art, I decided to pick up a copy. Actually, I asked my wife to pick up a copy for me as a birthday present. What can I say, I’m a cheap date. 
Also, worthy of a read or two, is Anita’s post about SoFoBoMo 2009 and the things that she fast last year and this year. It’s certainly worth the read.
The War of Art is a pretty small book, 165 pages, consisting of many very small essays about resistance and procrastination. In my opinion, others have done it much better, but this book is decent. My two favorite books about creativity are:
Mind you, all three books talk about work. In The War of Art, Steven Pressfield talks about being a professional. A professional is not necessarily someone who does his or her art for pay, but one who faces their fear, shows up, and does the job every day. A professional is one who is there 7 days a week practicing their craft with no expectation of the outcome. An amateur is the weekend warrior. The professional is the one who sets aside some amount of time each day to practice the craft. Steven King mentions, in his book, that this is how he writes. That time is inviolable. He must park his butt in that chair for so many hours per day and do the work, even if it is pure crap. The work must be done.
The professional knows that the Muse shows up only when she is working. The professional knows about Resistance (Notice the capital R) and, therefore, excepts no excuses. No matter how they feel. No matter how badly the day went. No matter what, the work must be done. If one procrastinates today, it’s twice as likely that one will do the same thing tomorrow, etc. Soon, weeks, months, years have passed.
Oh, how many times have I seen this in my own work. As much as I love photography, I can distract myself from the work of it. Sometime last year, probably 8 – 10 months ago, I decided that I was going to learn about lighting. I had it planned. I was going to start with one light, then two, then three. I purchased a couple of stands, shoot-through umbrellas, and Nikon SB600 units. I took them out the first day, played with them a bit, then put them back into the boxes. As a matter of fact, one of the SB600 remains unopened. Still factory packed.
Mind you, I could give you a host of excuses and tell you that I lost my job, had to go to Charleston, family members got sick, my dog pooped on the carpet, Tony had too many games, etc. Even though this might garner a bit of sympathy from you, I’d be standing right and the mirror and lying to myself. For certainly, I could look back and ask myself: How many episodes of House did you watch during that time? How many fiction books did you read? Are you trying to tell yourself that your day was so busy that you didn’t have an hour to play with the lights? For those of you who may decide not to participate in this year’s SoFoBoMo because of time constraints, ask yourself, honestly, is that true? Are you really so busy as all that? OR are you letting the fear win? Are you not showing up because it is more comfortable that way? If you don’t try, you cannot fail! Well, you cannot overcome, either.
This is not to say that I should have no leisure activities and that I should be productive 100% of the time, but it is to say that this thing, photography, that I enjoy so much, should be at the top of my list of things to do even when I’m feeling highly resistant!
Back to the light. I love subtly lit scenes, especially portraits. There’s something appealing to them. I wanted to learn how to light like that. Yesterday, I dragged out one umbrella, stand, and flash unit. I created a makeshift studio, if you will, in my living room, and started taking pictures. I took about 110 photos, of which I deleted about 105. Of the remaining 5, I found one that I really liked. It captured the type of lighting that I dreamed of. That’s success. I didn’t even think that I would be able to pull it off, but, somehow, I did.
The light setup is still there. I’m staring at it from the couch. it’s time to put in more work right now. Believe it or not, even after writing about this, the resistance is still there telling me that I can do it later. Resistance does not like to be faced, at all. It prefers to bask in the imagined light of ‘tomorrow’, for today, we need to relax.
OK. Enough distractions, time to get to work!
Cruel, but true. And it could be my story as well. Especially with the light stand…
It’s the main reason why I decided to register *now* for this year’s sofobomo, not later. I *want* to do it, but I have to conquer this Resistance of mine. And I’ll do.
Sigh, I identify…
I think all the good books I’ve read on creativity boil down to that – shut up, get on with it, see what happens, do the work.
There is no magic bullet.
In fact, I have a nagging feeling that SoFoBoMo is just an advanced form of procrastination for many people. I should do that, I should do a project, I need to do something like that. Oh, I can put it off until May – excellent! Sign me up!
@Gordon: Ah yes, but then in May it comes time to put up or shut up! I’m thinking of really challenging myself this year. I know that I can do the book, because I did it before, but I’m thinking of going all out this year with a book AND a story to get with it. Not quite sure what that small work of fiction will look like but, it will certainly be a challenge … combination of SoFoBoMo and solo book month, or whatever. It’s still a thought, bubbling around in my head. I’ll have to get my creativity box and start putting slips of paper in it and see what comes of it in May.
Ouch, I hurt all over from the blows. Everything here is hitting hard and pounding tender spots that were already throbbing.
No matter how many times I learn these lessons, I have to keep repeating them. I’m shaking my head and wondering.
@Anita: No blows were intended for you. All of the them were directly squarely at that guy in the mirror, Paul!
Oh, goodness, that came out wrong. I only meant that I could see all my weaknesses and doubts in everyone’s observations. I never felt anyone was picking on me.
Interesting.just the other day I was photographing a couple of pewter pots similar to these…Huh? Great minds think alike!!!
I have various lights from “hot” lights to 2 large 1500W/ (750W/s each) Bogen studio lights and a 750W/s Photogenic, 3 pocket wizards and 3 small strobes, 2 SB800′s and one old vivitar 285 HV which I use as a hair light with an IR slave. Various umbrellas, stands, softboxes, and other light modifiers.
I think you handle the strobes well here…don’t be afraid of them…I think that is what happens a lot…I know I was afraid. Also it helps to have a place set up so that the “work” of dragging all the stuff out and setting it up and taking it down is not as daunting. To do small things like this you don’t need a large space…my little product studio is set up all the time in a room that is about 11 X 9…and I have a couple of cabinets, a treadmill which I use that folds up too, so it really doesn’t require a lot of space. You will be more likely to use it when it is easily accessed. You can see the little set up here. (I hope the link is formatted right and works…Still don’t get HTML!!!)
I like the depth of shadows and gentle light here which is what I was shooting the other day too…like I said, great minds…
Oh yeah…that’s right I just remembered we are also both Pisces! That explains it!
The ones I use most are my very portable strobes which I use off camera except when shooting certain more “journalistic” type events that require flash, which is fairly infrequent. I like to use the Nikon CLS whenever possible and set the built-in flash to control it with it set to only trigger the other units. When I use the Vivitar though I have to use the pocket wizards and trigger the Vivitar with the attached IR slave. The pocket wizards are also more reliable than the CLS which cannot always produce the results I need…I do get a lot of misfires using the CLS under certain conditions like when using my shooting tent, or shooting through umbrellas and at greater distances from the camera, so using the pocket wizards yields more consistent results. What I really like about the CLS though is shooting with the high speed sync…cool!
There is another issue that I think needs to be kept in mind and allowances made. This issue is mental health. Pushing ourselves in certain ways, may not be in our best interest. There are many theories and best practice guidelines out there and it is difficult to know what is best for each individual. Here is one that I think works.
Find a way to enjoy your activities and stop before you wear out your enjoyment. In other words, stop before it becomes a grind.
I suspect that resistance to starting a project or activity is a psychological reaction to having pushed your self into the grind pattern in times gone by. If this is true, then the grind is something to be avoided or at least dealt with in some manner.
I think we have all heard of “burn out”. You don’t want this to happen for those things that you enjoy.
@Laurie: Excellent idea about having the lights available. I’ll have to carve out a small area in my domicile to keep the lights set up.
I am so delighted that Laurie brought us back to noticing the photo accompanying your thoughts, Paul. The light is indeed lovely. One reason I talked about feeling pummeled (I was throwing all the blows at myself) was your admission of playing with lighting equipment one day, then putting it away. I did the exact same thing a while back. You and Laurie have inspired me to set it up and learn more about light.
Bob’s comment also hit a nerve. I have been pushing myself lately and I think I need to shake things up a bit while I continue “just doing the work.” Drat, balance is demanding. And, so darn tricky.
One of the best advantages of having the lights ready to go is when that the moment of inspiration hits and an idea for a photo like that pops into my head all I have to do is go into that little room and turn on the strobes, adjust the settings, arrange the items, maybe change the background paper, and shoot, it could be 50 shots or just one or two. It is always worth it. I don’t have to think about the trouble of spending 30 minutes dragging out the equipment from a closet and setting up all the stands, yadda, yadda. The shot I have posted today was one of those spontaneous I have an idea moments that had I not had the stuff set up, I might have second guessed and said in my head “Nah…not worth it, maybe some other time.” As it turns out it is probably one of my favorite photos this year.