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I wanted to shoot something memorable. I wanted to tell a story with the shot. I wanted to convey an emotion that resonated with anyone who would view the photo in the future. I finally was able to nail down what would really make me happy to shoot. It wasn’t events and weddings, though those met all the requirements. It wasn’t photojournalism, though those are the shots history often holds in high regards. The ultimate choice in photography for me is creating a set or scene designed to tell a story, convey an emotion, and etch itself in one’s mind forever. I want to make staged photography similar in concept to the art of Gregory Crewdson. Crewdson and others who label themselves as staged photographers create their story in a single frame using elaborate sets and lighting similar in structure to film sets. The idea that I could convey an emotion or story of my choosing in a single image is very appealing.

I have not yet done this type of photography, but I think I’ll try it this fall/winter season. Now to come up with a few low budget workable ideas that I can try out.

This month, I have been studying for a certification test in a field I know little to nothing about. The work contract I signed stipulated a need for this certification, though they felt confident I would be more than capable of passing the tests involved in receiving the certification, and so contracted me prior to the test. Test taking terrifies me. The little piece of paper allows for no mistakes and is judged by an impartial machine.

I likely have ADHD but never got diagnosed as a child due to some controversy over early ADHD medication side effects. I have, therefore, never been prescribed medication for it. In college, tests were the bane of my existence. I could do the class related projects well enough, but the actual tests all indicated that I was not retaining the information as expected. At the time, I didn’t know what the problem was. After seeing my grades decline with every passing year, I began to fear that I was “turning dumb” for some unknown reason, and having been a top quality student prior to college added to my confusion. I wasn’t a drinker or “partaker” and always seemed capable of grasping the in-class concepts well enough, but the tests told a different story.Eventually I began to fear the very concept of tests, which didn’t help the situation.

Now 10 years later I’m studying for a new test, and though I should not be, I am terrified yet again. I’m reading through the material a loud, making flashcards, and even recording the notes on MP3 to listen to on the drive down to the testing facility. None of that makes me any less terrified.
At the time of my writing this, I have not yet taken the test. I hope to have a positive outcome to report prior to this posting, but right now I am illogically terrified of even taking the test, let alone finding out the outcome (pass/fail). It’s irrational, I know. If I take a step back and look at it logically it reminds me of people’s fear of bees or other insects. Simply being reminded of the fear inducing subject is enough for their mood to change drastically. I suppose that this is my irrational fear: written Scan-tron tests.

*Update*
I took the certification test and passed. Weirdly enough, I felt no relief from passing the test – having found out that in order to retain this certification the testing process is scheduled at recurring intervals. I wanted to have a neatly wrapped up post for Grasping @ Creativity, a post that oozed hope for people in a similar situation, but right now all that seems unrealistic.

The only real moral for this story is “don’t do nothing.” Don’t let fear hold you in a perpetual state of inaction. Things may get harder, they may get easier, but for creativity’s sake they must never get stagnant.

Good luck!

P.S.

At the end of October I’ll be starting a new series on in home builds and projects that I’ve been doing since the move at the beginning of September. They’ll likely be bit shorter than usual, but I’ve been told that shorter is better for blog posts. I hope you all enjoy them.

The month of August has had me off the internet for longer than expected. I’ve been on the road around the states and in the process of moving for the entire month. That said, the best creative advice I have for today is “make good friends.” I can’t emphasize enough how awesome good solid, help-you-move-during-a-hurricane friends are.

Often really good friends are actually interested in your projects, have things in common with you, and want to talk in depth about all aspects of life. All these traits are good for boosting your own creative output as well as raising your overall mood.

Be the kind of friend you want to make, and you’ll find that when the time comes there will be people who step up to the plate to help out.

Oh, and good solid friends often have really cool ideas so join up and make something together.

If you’re ever needing to sketch the reflection of an object from scratch, here’s a quick tip to keep things looking right. Sketch a “reflection guide” copy of the object on a scrap piece of tracing paper and darken the lines. Now, just flip the reflection guide and position it over the desired location. Rub your eraser on the back of the guide copy to leaving faint lines on the artwork. Then, remove the reflection guide and sketch in the details on the art.

There is a lot more that goes into creating a realistic reflection (resource for drawing reflection angles correctly), but this little tip will help you avoid blunders like the image below (as seen in “The Incredible Hulk: Season 1 – Innocent Blood) and ease the reversed drawing process.

Eating properly keeps your brain healthy and your reaction time high, both key elements in responding to your own creative bursts. There’s a great list of “Brain Foods” found at Brain Ready, but also consider looking into Chia seeds as an additive to your normal morning routine. Chia seeds have all the fun stuff like protien and omega-3, but are also super cheap and can be added to all your current food favorites without affecting the taste, though they do affect the color.

Despite my best creative efforts, exercise is still one of the top ways to encourage creativity. Physical activity exercises the mind’s adaptability and increases hand-eye coordination; it also improves your mood. One of the quickest ways to exercise both your body and your creativity is through participating in a regularly changing obstacle course. The physical activity strengthens your muscles and the varying landscape or “obstacles” help expand your brain’s ability to solve puzzles quickly and efficiently, as well as boosting your creativity. A common trial method for exercising your creativity is switching your dominant side for a day. Try tossing and catching a tennis ball with your non-dominant hand for a while. Exercising your body and mind in this way will increase neural pathways used for adaptability and creativity. Go try it.

Yes, it feels odd, but stick with it until you can catch the ball or run the course efficiently, then switch activities. Keep your mind and your body on it’s “toes” and you’ll find yourself more ready to make quick decisions or come up with new ways to do things.

 

 

Go check them out on PurePhoto: Ships in the West, Anchored in the Fog, and Fog Rolling in the West. Prints will be available within two days.

My wife just asked why Grasping @ Creativity doesn’t have a lot of photos “like it used to.”

I’m keeping two blogs updated and one is dedicated to photos only, so if you’re ever missing the photography side of things here on Grasping @ Creativity, just head on over to Jon Decker Photo and browse the constantly expanding selection. I’ll post more images here soon too, just to appease Jean.

Here’s my top list of functional Apps with as small a learning curve as possible and a low (or free) price tag.

1. Evernote – If you’ve not added this to your everyday cross-platform usage then browse on over to their webpage to read the overview. I’ve been using it for several months now and am wondering what I did before. I use their web-clipper and software interface on all my associated devices and, of course, the mobile version. “Capture all of your thoughts, ideas, and inspirations, into a single place. Access everything whenever you need it from your PC, even when offline.” – evernote.com
2. Dropbox - Like Evernote, except not notes. This is the cloud storage you’ve been hearing about everywhere since the dawn of the internet. I only use the free version currently, so I view it more as the thumb-drive in the sky, but either way it’s a great place to store files you need to access on multiple devices. It also works as a file transfer service that allows invited people to use a link to download your shared file (great for mobile client approval situations). It auto syncs to all your devices at once, so uploading a file from your laptop or smart phone will give you full offline access on all devices. prior version backups are configurable too.
3. Read it Later – This handy tool syncs your Read-it-later selections in all your browsers (that you’ve installed the plugin) and allows you to save the article text to your device for offline reading. I definitely recommend this one if you’ve got a long train commute like me. This is not an RSS feed reader and can be more readily categorized as a content clipper, though it’s clipping full web articles not selected text like Evernote.
4. Thinking Space Pro – This is a great little mind mapping program that I recommend to anyone looking to develop a creative Idea. Honestly, I wish there was an exact copy of this for the PC. There are similar programs, but this was super easy for me to learn and just start implementing right away.
5. Circle Launcher – I’m a widget whore and this one is brilliant. Basically it’s a configurable shortcut menu that flies out the tap of an icon. If you’re looking for a way to speed up your app usage, this may help.
6. Tripit – I fly around a lot for work and this little tool is awesome for keeping track of and updating travel plans. I’ve only just started using it, but my wife swears by it. I need to check and see if they have a Google calendar sync option ’cause that would be brilliant.
7. Documents to Go – This is the first app I ever bought and it’s totally worth it. I use and update excel files on the road and this is totally worth it just for that function. It also can edit Word documents, PowerPoint, etc.
8. K-9 Mail – This email app is the best email UI for the android. It has loads of features that aren’t found in the standard email app, like cache to SD card instead of filling up your on-board memory. I have mine set to not check the mail unless I ask (saves battery), but there are hundreds of options for personal configure-ability.
9. Feedly – This is a well designed smooth RSS feed reader with a Firefox one-click plugin and syncing with Google reader. Its magazine style interface is intuitive and easy to use. It also integrates with social networks for sharing, and Read-it-Later for offline full article reading.
10. Yelp – Besides being a great way to check out local shops by patron rating, it also features a layered reality function that allows you to see the shops and their ratings overlaying the live view camera, for easy directional choice. This is great when I’m home in Brooklyn as well as when I’m on the road. I’m trying to be a good contributing member and add my own reviews for the masses too. They also advertise local shop’s coupons which can be nifty too.
11. HootSuite – This handy app is a scheduled social network updater that syncs between multiple platforms. It doesn’t have a widget for Android yet, but that keeps the battery usage a lot lower than the standard twitter widget. A must-have for people trying to keeping up with all the new social networks demanding interactions to seem “with-it” on the interwebs.
12. Google Maps – I know this is a loaded topic with some do to the large file size of this app, but buried in one of the recent updates was the option to download 10mile area maps directly to your device for offline use. This is awesome for when I still need to access the map, but am underground in the subway. Hopefully, the area map feature sticks.
13. Google Voice – I don’t use this for calling but for voice-mail. It keeps voice-mail like Gmail and tries to automatically transcribe the message into a textual email too. Sometimes, it’s enough to get the gist of the topic before calling back or even listening to the message, which can also be done from any HTML browser or your phone. This is great if you can’t answer your cellphone while at work, but do have access to your email.
14. Picasa Tool – This handy little tool puts your Picasa albums into your android gallery and allows uploading to them too. I’m fond of this feature as it keeps the pictures off my device until I want them and also backs up the devices photos as needed. I know a lot of people don’t use Picasa, but this is something I’ve had for a couple years and not regretted.
15. Audible – Books on tape service, like Netflix only you can download and listen to books and newspapers offline; plus it has multiple platform syncing. It is a monthly service, but worth it if you like listening to books while doing other creative things, like sculpting, etc.
16. MyPod – despite the goofy name and unapologetic UI, this is the most powerful podcast/vidcast downloader for the Android operating system. I have used it for years now. It has had a few quirks along the way, but is something I use nearly every day for listening to favorites like The Moth, TWIP, and Photofocus. There is no computer interfacing necessary to find and download the podcasts, so it frees me up to download and listen to stuff when and wherever I want; great road-trip app.
17. Netflix – Fresh-out-the-box with video streaming support on Android, this is an app that can only get better. It syncs your player position to the Watch-Instantly section on Netflix and has full browsing and playing capabilities like other Netflix platforms.
18. Picsay Pro – The Photoshop of Android. Yes, Adobe released a photo editor for Android not long after Picsay came out, but PicSay has more functions and is just a lot more fun. Layering sticker features and color manipulation aside, this app will tweak any picture you want to basically any way you desire and save it to a separate copy leaving your original photo unaltered. That’s a great non-destructive feature in my mind as some of the photos I have on my phone will be edited later via real Photoshop or Lightroom.
19. ES File Explorer - Now with root capabilities and network interfacing, this is Windows Explorer for your phone. Their task manager is a battery hog, but the explorer is top notch.
20. Titanium Backup – This one is only really helpful if your device is rooted, but among other things it backups up your apps and their associated data files and syncs them to Dropbox. It’s a great little tool for me and my tweaking habit should I crash my phone. This allows me to restore apps and their settings to exactly the same way they were at the time of the backup.

Speaking of Games… Here are the two games currently on my phone.

1. Majesty – Like Warcraft 1 with a few interface differences that auto syncs to an online server and never loses my progress. Yay!
2. Pocket Legends – Basically it’s World of Warcraft on your phone. If you’re not into full 3D MMORPG games then skip this one as it can be extremely addictive. Following the theme, this one also syncs with the server to save game progress.

I was going to skip the gaming thing all together, but decided to go ahead with the restore as I sometimes play them while watching movies at home with my wife. I’m a media multitasker.

That’s most of the current list of my installed Android Apps not including the music apps, like Caustic, or the photography calculator and GPS logging apps. Hopefully, the list will help someone else out in their search for useful Android apps that can stimulate creativity and aid in developing cohesive workflows.

Oh, and I wrote most of this in Evernote on my Droid. Cheers.