Quit saying beast, epic, and fail. It isn't funny. Please for the love of God stop saying it you freaks!

A Creative Freewrite

This is a free-type, I am going to just sit and write until 1:41 and see what I come up with. You never know when something profound will hit you. On the other hand something you think has great potential as you write it, might be incoherent rambling when you look back on it later. Writing is one of the scariest things to do because you know that once you put something down it is there forever (unless you erase it I guess). It's not like speaking where if someone isn't listening then they never hear it. Once you have written something, anyone can see it at any time. For this reason you have to be fearless in your writing, you can't let other people's reception of your work deter you from continuing. If there is one thing I have learned in this class it is that you can't be afraid to just say what you think and not worry so much about what people think. Sometimes, in fact, writing isn't for other people, a lot of the time it is for yourself. You should, of course, share some writing with other people. I'm not saying to tell people every intimate secret you have, but you should show an part of yourself in your writing and not be afraid to let everyone take a look.

Freewrite Passage

Freewriting is a tool used to help get your creative juices flowing. Sometimes, however, you might put something down that you really do like. Here is one such thing.
"People say to think outside of the box, but what if you have no box? Is a box something you are born with, or do the experiences that shape our lives wall us into a box that stops our creativity from leaving our body and being shown to the world? Perhaps a box is your life and to be out of your box is to die. Maybe the creative thinkers we see are actually ghosts that have come back to show us the way to open our minds."
This is just one small part of one of my freewrites, but I liked the way it sounded and thought it was worthy of being shown to people. That's the thing, I didn't write it and say "O man I hope people like this." No, I just wrote what came to mind and didn't really think about it. When I looked back on it I thought that maybe people would like it. Sometimes the things you think about the least while doing reveal the most about who you are.

Artist Profile

Last week I interviewed a man with an ability to see art in anything; he sees it in squirrels, trees, and even in me. This man's name: Thomas Massad. I had the great pleasure of interviewing this extraordinary young man, here is that interview.
Me: What makes you want to be a photographer?
TM: I want to capture a memorable moment.
Me: What is your favourite subject to capture?
TM: I love to capture a squirrel or a tree.
Me: What do you think your subjects say about you?
TM: I think it shows how much I love nature.
Me: Where do your ideas come from, what is your inspiration?
TM: When I see something provocative I just snap it.
Me: What is your personality type?
TM: ENTJ
Me: How does your personality come out in your photos?
TM: I plan out the shots well.
Me: What do you want other people to take away from your pictures?
TM: I want them to see my metaphors in the work and apply the lessons to their lives.
Me: What do you think creativity is?
TM: Taking one thing and making it into something new.
Me: What makes one picture creative and another not?
TM: When it uses something that is taken for granted and puts it in the forefront.
Me: Would you consider your pictures creative?
TM: Most of them, but others are just for fun.
Massad obviously has some traits of creative people such as: Metaphorical Thinking, Curiosity, and Risk Taking. His creative DNA is nature, he loves pictures to be taken outside preferably by trees. He sometimes uses the whole creative process. Planning things out, then looking to see if he likes the idea, and ultimately deciding if he likes the picture when he looks at it later. Other times though he is struck with and Aha! moment and snaps a quick pic of a squirrel.

Creative Freedom

We have all experienced the feeling that what ever we are working on, an essay, a picture, etc., is not good enough and that everyone will think less of you after seeing it. Well maybe not that last part, but certainly the first. When you criticize your own work before you have made it official is known as "letting in the judge". When you let the judge in it can be crippling to your creative flow. In fact letting in the judge often times makes it so that you cannot get in any sort of flow at all.

Creative Process

The steps of the creative process: Preparation (Perspiration), Incubation, Aha!, and Verification. When doing the video project the Preparation stage began when we did our initial brainstorm of what type of video we wanted, from there we went on to planning out the details of our documentary. The Incubation stage was when we had the weekend to come up with ideas of what to put in there. There weren't any real Aha!s for me, but some people had good ideas that seemed to come out of nowhere, like Rund and Jessica's fashion show ideas. The Verification stage was really just the actual filming. We really did use the creative process in this video and also we showed some definite creative traits such as: Flexibility, Perseverance, and Risk Taking.

Creative Traits

Some creative traits that I possess are: Metaphorical Thinking, and Independence in Judgement. I believe that I have Metaphorical Thinking because I tend to be able to infer the meaning of movies and music that use metaphors more easily than other people. I have Indpendence in Judgement because I don't ever really go with the crowd. Whether it is music or clothing or anything, for that matter, I have my own distinct style.

Dreams

A common theme among my dreams while at tag has been cars and water. I do not see a real reason for dreaming abouts cars except that maybe I miss driving back home. My dreams might be about water because I am afraid of water. I don't really see how either one of those subjects is related to creativity, but I do think that dreams can be helpful in figuring out difficult questions. Potentially dreams can be in the "incubation" part of the creative process.

Creativity Rituals

Rituals are an important tool for creative people. For example German writer Friedrich Schiller always wrote with rotten apples in his desk because he needed the smell to stimulate his creativity. Friedrich also would write with his feet in a tub of ice water. Although these are some pretty crazy rituals it can be the same way for any creative person. It doesn't have to be rotten apples or ice water it can be as simple as starting at the same time every day. All that matters is if it gets you in the creative mindset.

Creativity Quote

"Your mood doesn't really matter. Some of the best creative work gets done on the days when you feel that everything you're doing is just plain junk."
- Julia Cameron

I think this is says a lot about creativity, because creativity ain't about grades and gold stars. Sometimes it is about just doing what you feel. Most people will say that creativity is thinking outside the box, but I say it is not having a box at all. In other words you have no boundaries and say what you please whether you think people will accept it or not. Creativity is not something we decide is creative, it is something made fearlessly by someone not only out of the box, but unaware of the box.