It’s become an even more costly exercise these days - whether you’re filling up at the traditional garage - or paying an increased electricity bill by re-charging your car battery.
I’m not going to go into the why’s and wherefore’s as that would lead me into an entirely non-creative / non-photography rant…
The reality is - filling the “tank” costs.
Whether it’s petrol, diesel (in my case - Ouch!), or personal energy - none of it is free.
Many of you may have heard of the personal energy tank which according to some other blog I came across recently is a metaphor for “your daily capacity to function across four core dimensions:- physical, mental, emotional & spiritual”.
Personally I’ve always regarded my personal energy tank as referring to the last 3 - i.e. not the physical aspect. And it’s on that vein that I’m writing about today.
Taken with my iPhone late last Autumn of leaves still hanging on being reflected by a low rising full moon…
How do we put more into our “tank” than we expend from it?
Aside from the last couple of cars I’ve owned, I’ve had the dubious record of having run out of fuel in every single car I’ve had - and that’s a lot. In all sorts of countries and contexts. In fact the second to last car I had, I put petrol into my diesel tank. Not a good one.
So you get the idea that I can absolutely talk with a lot of credibility when it comes to running dry.
You could conjure up all sorts of metaphors about running out of petrol - and believe me - I’ve done it! The funny thing is that when it comes to our personal energy tanks, we seem to have a lot in reserve. Sort of a hidden tank - like when your car display says you have 75km left to go, but in reality it’s more like 200. We can feel utterly depleted yet somehow we keep going and giving.
Only to crash and burnup (out?) at a later stage. Then it’s not just a quick matter of putting another tenner into the tank and off you go. Refilling the tank after a crash, can take months. More even, depending…
I thought this was a blog related to photography?
Thanks for holding on - I’m getting there. Because I want to talk about not how we get re-started after a crash, but what can fill our tanks so we don’t even get to that stage.
Specifically, how can creativity help, not just keep us going, but actually give us life, purpose and hope?
A few days ago I was in London at an event which celebrated the 10yr anniversary of a small creative company that focusses on contracting rural, low-income Afghani women to make high quality Afghan carpet, rugs and tapestries. All under the watchful eye of the Taliban.
Their story is remarkable, but what I found most interesting was a discussion regarding the power of beauty and the impulse to make something beautiful even in hardship.
The conversation reminded me of a blog piece I wrote about last March entitled Creativity in Chaos.
There I talked about whether chaos and conflict stymie artistic creativity or generate it? Can it alter the visual impact of what is produced? And - ultimately - does art have any impact on the duration of the conflict? Like can it stop a war?
All big questions that can be discussed separately, but in terms of personal energy tanks, there are enough blogs, studies and individual testimonies (mine included) out there that confirm the positive power of creativity. Whether its pottery, sketching, woodturning or photography, being creative actually does positive things for the soul.
And given that we’re talking here about filling the tank - maybe not up to the brim - but enough to more than keep going, it seems a no-brainer that we all engage in a creative action regularly.
Make it a practice or habit - well before you might start to notice the depletion of your emotional and spiritual reserves.
And this is just for yourself right! It’s not about getting a hundred or a thousand “likes”, or winning a competition in your local (enter your craft here) club. It’s about you choosing to create (photographically in this case) something that speaks to you, to what you were feeling at the time you created, and what beauty and wonder of it all resonates with you.
Experimenting with F2 setting to see Depth of Field…
You may ask - how is this costly which you talk about at the outset of this piece? I think being prepared to fail - at least in your own eyes. You question how really creative is this piece? How do you seek validation - and handle the response?
There are books on this type of thing. But by then you’re already creating. You’re doing what your inner heart is crying out for - and without getting too heavy - one of the things you’re on this planet for!
