Home Blah Home: Finding Creativity in Lockdown
When all you see is the same old thing… what do you photograph?
The first lockdown was actually a bit of a relief for me. I was reaching burn out with work and kids going a million places, planning a house move, keeping things going. I was desperate for a break. And the weather was perfect. We slept in and the kids ran wild.
For one year we lived in the most idyllic place - a castle-like house with a spiral staircase and beautiful stone walls. (Yes, it was cold) It sat facing a small pond with ducks and was encircled by mature trees and hills and fields. It was a creative paradise.
And oh how I took advantage of every bit of it.
And then, we moved.
To a lovely new house in a quiet estate.
(And I couldn’t be happier that we now OWN our home and it’s WARM and DRY)
Concrete walls and some grass and no trees. It was an adjustment but it was NEW and EXCITING
and I just kept taking pictures of it all, through the warm Autumn,
through Christmas.
And then.
January.
Lockdown.
Darkness.
Mental Fog.
No motivation.
No creativity.
I started to ask myself this very important question:
How can I be creative when nothing inspires me?
And this is what came to me.
Ask yourself why. Why do you need to be creative?
Get some sleep.
Look for new light.
Hand the camera to a child and follow them. What do they take pictures of?
Get very very close
Get very very far
Set the camera where you can see it
Journal about what is important to you? What’s hard? What’s easy? What do you hate? What do you love. Take a picture for each thing.
Go for a walk.
Look at art, listen to music, read a book - feed your soul.
Sit in the quiet for 30 minutes and let your mind wander.
Finally, just do it. Just pick up the camera and take a picture of something, anything. No judgement and no agenda. No need to keep what you take. Just start clicking.
Then rest again.
And so these are the images that I took. Not all good. But enough.
And right now, enough is perfect.
