Comments on: Words of wisdom on creativity

By: Herb

Herb — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:24:50 +0000

Thse videos where very good. I had never heard of Ira Glass before but I found them really good. He was really motivating.

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:52:09 +0000

Hi John, thanks for the comment. I would tend to agree with Mr. Shaw. Your comments about masters of their art goes along with my comments in my “Embracing failure” post – because you never see all the throwaways of many photographers.

Think of how interesting it would be if all the top photographers of the world had to publish their keeper vs. throwaways vs. time in the field figures. No doubt someone like John develops a higher percentage after so many years, but I am sure he has those days as well where he comes home with nothing that thrills him.

By: John-in-Maine

John-in-Maine — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 03:14:36 +0000

Mark, I enjoy visiting your blog. This is my first comment. A few weeks ago I was at a workshop with John Shaw and I was surprised to hear him say “If you go out for a day and work hard and can show one good image that you’re proud of, you’re doing fine.” (I may not have remembered his words exactly.) Anyway, he seemed to be saying, Don’t feel like you failed if you shot all day and did your best and all you’ve got is one really image (the rest didn’t succeed for various reasons), because most days are like that. I thought that was quite surprising to hear, coming from someone who could justly be called a master of his art.

On this whole subject, I have to recommend a book called “Art and Fear” by David Bayles and Ted Orland. It’s a true gem.