Do you struggle with creativity? In the first of this two-part series, we will look at what science and psychology have discovered about people who are creative. The good news is that they are habits that you can learn. Here are some exercises to help you with that.

Creativity is an elusive thing. It’s so easy to take a photo that is nothing more than a recording of what we see. However, research has discovered creative people’s common traits and behaviors and, with learning, practice, and exercise, we can become more creative with our photography.

1. Challenge Commonly Held Beliefs

I am a great believer that commonly held beliefs should be challenged. If we don’t challenge them, we don’t think for ourselves. Unless you live in an autocratic and oppressive society, thinking for yourself is generally considered a good thing. Challenging the world around us is an important aspect of creativity. Every human progression has resulted from people thinking differently.

Dean Keith Simonton, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of the Department of Psychology, University of California, found that the quality of creative ideas is directly related to quantity. In other words, the more ideas a creator generates, the higher the probability that they will eventually produce a masterpiece.

Those that think differently take risks and are not scared of failing. Failure is important because it means we will try repeatedly until we get it right. The more attempts we make, the more chance there is of creating something incredible.

Experimenting with different ways of photographing means you will probably make mistakes. If you expect that to happen, then it allows you not to let caution get in the way of your creativity.  

Creative Practice Exercise

Go out and take the photos that you usually shoot, but change everything about the way you do it. You could experiment with different camera positions and settings. Or, maybe, try a different lens that you would otherwise consider to be inappropriate for your subject or genre. You will be forced to approach your subject differently. Remember, if it fails, it doesn’t matter. But ask yourself, why did it fail? What are the good points? What could you do differently again?

2. Be Compassionate

Someone recently commented I was the most contentious writer at Fstoppers. I happily accepted that as a badge of honor. It meant that I was thinking differently. Moreover, writing is a form of art and if art doesn’t provoke an emotional response and debate, it becomes worthless.

However, in the comments of another article, someone referred to my response to that and said I had admitted to being a troll. That demonstrates a misunderstanding of what I said and what a troll is.

The Collins Dictionary says this about trolling:

If you troll someone, you deliberately try to upset them or start an argument with them, especially by posting offensive or unkind things on the internet.

The Oxford English Dictionary describes trolling as writing false or offensive messages on the internet to make other people angry. That is very different from offering up a point of view and challenging commonly held beliefs, especially about an inanimate object like a camera.

I’ve met hundreds of successful talented artists and musicians. The vast majority always challenge the status quo, but at the same time, are supportive of others. They exhibit compassionate behavior. That is the opposite of trolling. Compassion toward others is central to becoming creative. It is one form of sensitivity, a heightened awareness of the world around us and the people within it, something that is essential for creativity.

We’ve all met people who lack compassion and are forever trying to pick holes in others. I have yet to meet any of them that fall under the heading of talented creators. They seemed to have lost the art of conversation and debate and that it is okay to disagree with others’ opinions. Instead, they accuse anyone who has a different point of view of offending them. Absurdly, at the same time, they will not debate but abuse others and claim freedom of speech when their abusive words are challenged. Creative people are the opposite of that. They show respect for each other’s points of view and opinions, even if they disagree.

Creative Practice Exercise

Find some photography online from an unknown photographer that isn’t to your taste; you will find plenty on Instagram, Flickr, and in the galleries at Fstoppers. Ask yourself why that photo appeals to the photographer and not to you. Get in contact with the photographer and ask them to tell you about the photograph and what it means to them. Tell them you have difficulty understanding why they chose to shoot it that way, and ask them to explain. Learn to see it through their eyes.

3. The Subconscious Mind and Creativity

Although the story of Newton being hit on the head by an apple is a myth, his theory of gravity is said to have come to him by daydreaming and seeing an apple fall from a tree. J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books occurred to her when she was staring out of the window when stuck on a train. Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer came to him in a daydream too, and Paul McCartney woke from sleep with the song Yesterday in his head. Einstein is said to have allowed his mind to wander, and he came up with his Theory of Relativity.

I think people are losing the ability to daydream. So, many people I know are continuously tied to their phones, watching YouTube videos, or listening to podcasts that they don’t allow their minds to drift.

As photographers, new projects or ideas of approaching how to carry out a photo shoot can occur to us in a daydream. An ongoing project of mine is about capturing the shape of birds’ movements using longer exposures. That idea first came to me some 10 years ago. One afternoon when I had a post-lunch nap. I had previously been thinking of the two genres of artistic photography I really enjoy: long-exposure seascapes and wildlife. Sitting in my office chair, with my head starting to nod, it suddenly occurred to me that I could use an ND filter and take longer exposures of the seabirds here to examine their shapes.

I’m sure others have also done this, but it’s something I still enjoy doing once in a while. It’s especially easy now there is the Live ND filter on my OM-1, so I don’t have to screw a filter in front of the lens. I’ve also started to add other creative techniques to the images.

Creative Practice Exercise

Next time you are trying to start a creative project, put aside some time to daydream. Keep a pen and paper to hand, and if anything comes to mind, jot it down. Daydreams can be as fleeting as those we have when we are asleep.

4. Turning Good and Bad Situations to Your Advantage

All of us have experienced loss or suffering at some point in our lives. Somehow, we find a way to grow past it, which changes us.

Suffering and loss make us re-examine our lives and think about what is important. That can be a great source of inspiration for creative thinking. Paradoxically, so can enormously happy events.

If you think of the greatest songs, poems, stories, and works of art, they are all built around emotionally charged human experiences, either good or bad. The same can be true of photography. Moments of intense feelings can motivate and inspire us to take photos. Here’s an example. I’ve recently had two major losses. One of the things that upset me was the meaningless platitudes uttered by others. “I’m sorry for your loss,” or “My thoughts and prayers are with you,” seemed crass clichés when uttered by people whom I believed couldn’t give a flying fruit bat. I’ve since taken that thought and it’s become a foundation of a personal photography project I am starting.

Creative Practice Exercise

Whether you are grieving or just met the love of your life, think about how that experience has made you notice things you didn’t before. Even if it’s painful and your life is turbulent, try to let the experience inspire you to start a short photographic project of twelve pictures.

5. Playing Imaginatively

As we become adults, we often forget to play. Children do it all the time and they are far more creative than we are. Our jobs and our responsibilities are serious. We are told we are grown up. So, it’s easy to believe that we adults have lost that ability to play.

Yet we still watch movies and read fiction, and enjoy experiencing the excitement, suspense, fright, love, and a myriad of other emotions that we feel when we do that. We put ourselves in the minds of the main characters and sympathize with them.

Even as adults, imaginative play brings joy, and that, in turn, sets our creative juices flowing. Being childlike in our imagination leads us to explore and discover new ways of doing things. We question why things are the way they are and consider different approaches. We imagine ourselves walking in the shoes of other people and thinking about how they would approach a subject.

Creative Practice Exercise

Imagine you are a character from your favorite work of fiction, as you might have done when you were a child. This could be anyone from Jane Bennet to James Bond. Think about how that character would approach your next photoshoot. I’m not suggesting you dress in clothing from the turn of the nineteenth century or a tux, nor that you should do this for a commercial shoot. Next, try a very different character. Would they do it differently?  

Let Me Know How You Get On

Those are just the first five traits that top creators have in common.

What do you do to increase your creativity? Have you tried any of these techniques before? Are you going to give any of them a go? Please let me know how you get on and whether you find your creativity improving.

The following article will look at five more attributes common to creatives, including the most important one of all.

Images from the 2022 Benjamin Mkapa Wildlife Photography Awards plainly reveal animals’ extraordinary humanity. A gorilla’s wisdom. The gentleness of an elephant. The community of wildebeest.

That’s easy to see.

Beneath the surface of each picture, no less clear when looking close, man’s inhumanity reveals itself.

Wantonness. Cruelty. Exploitation.

All of these animals are in danger from the most reckless predator the planet has ever known: man.

Be it poaching, habitat destruction or a dozen other extractive and exploitative behaviors which have caused wildlife populations to collapse around the globe, it increasingly feels like a miracle any of these wonderous creatures remain. Enjoy the miraculous while you can in Africa and through the winning entries of the 2nd Annual Benjamin Mkapa African Wildlife Photography Awards which can be seen at The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach through June 4, 2023.

“When you look into the eyes of this beautiful silverback, you see a lot of yourself looking back,” Africa Wildlife Federation Senior Vice President Craig Sholley told Forbes.com of the grand prize-winning image (pictured below). “It represents an endangered species and a conservation success story. Mountain gorillas are the only great ape in the world whose population is increasing. This success story is a result of a four-decades effort orchestrated by non-governmental organizations like AWF in direct collaboration with the Rwandan government. The product of this work is one that benefits both wildlife and people.”

People and wildlife, connection, our shared fate comes through in another crowd pleaser from the competition, an animal keeper being caressed by an elephant’s trunk in an orphanage.

“This image portrays the importance of the work of Africans who have devoted their lives to the future of threatened wildlife,” Sholley said. “These are individuals who are passionate about conservation and in many cases put their lives on the line–protecting species from poachers and the illegal wildlife trade.”

The picture recalls one of the most famous and heartbreaking wildlife-human photographs ever taken, that of the last male white rhino with his keeper in 2018 moments before the animal died. An image not simply of death, but extinction. Forever death. They both know.

Africa comes to Palm Beach

Credit for bringing the exhibition from Nairobi, Kenya to Palm Beach goes to Wilber James, Trustee Emeritus of AWF and board member of The Society of the Four Arts, along with fellow AWF Trustee Payson Coleman. They approached Director of Programs at Four Arts Sofia Maduro about showing the photographs.

“Payson and I have been involved in African wildlife conservation for over 50 years and knew that a number of our friends in Palm Beach shared our enthusiasm for the preservation of the animals and habitat in Africa as well as the well-being of the people,” James told Forbes.com. “We felt that an exhibition of the Mkapa Awards at the Four Arts would be a powerful way to highlight the majesty of Africa’s animals and also educate the public about the challenges they face. Sofia was in complete agreement about the importance of the exhibition and felt that the Four Arts could also reach out to the schools in Palm Beach and West Palm Beach to invite students to tour the exhibition for a powerful learning experience.”

The competition was co-created by AWF and Nature’s Best Photography to celebrate AWF’s 60-year anniversary as the only African global conservation organization protecting wildlife and its ecosystems as an essential part of a modern and prosperous Africa.

“Craig Sholley and I are equally passionate about African wildlife and the creative skills our Mkapa Awards entrants have shared since its launch in 2021,” Steve Freligh, President and CEO of Nature’s Best Photography Fund, told Forbes.com. “These talented photographers, of all ages and backgrounds, are as interesting and diverse as the photographs they submit, delivering immediate and long-lasting impact that will motivate change.”

Forty-eight award-winning prints from the competition are on view.

“There are those photographs that immediately stop you in your tracks, but also ones where new perspectives are revealed as you examine their details,” Freligh said. “Each image shares an extraordinary moment in Africa, a single experience that may be enjoyed personally as well as collectively.”

The winning images were selected from over 9,500 entries representing 57 countries, chosen by a panel of judges including accomplished wildlife photographers, leading conservation professionals, highly regarded safari guides, and youth conservation activists.

“Through the art of photography and video, the primary goal was to attract, inspire, and involve photographers from Africa and around the world at all levels of camera experience so that they may share stories from the field and encourage new advocates for conservation change,” Sholley said. “Effectively, AWF wanted to ‘Bring Africa to the World, and the World to Africa.’”

Benjamin Mkapa

H.E. Benjamin Mkapa (1938–2020) was president of Tanzania in east Africa, south of Kenya bordering the Indian Ocean, from 1995 to 2005. The astounding “Great Migration” begins in Tanzania.

More than a million wildebeest along with hundreds of thousands of zebra, topi and other gazelle start their annual journey in the Serengeti National Park creating the largest herd movement of animals on the planet. Over the course of the year, the animals move north and clockwise, up into Kenya and the Masai Mara National Reserve, back down through the Serengeti and then to Ngorongoro Conservation Area, famed for the Ngorongoro Crater.

“Mkapa began his career as a journalist, understanding the importance of educating the public on important conservation topics,” Sholly explains. “Today, Mkapa’s name remains widely respected for his legacy of principled leadership and protecting Africa’s wild heritage.”

As one example, during his time on AWF’s Board of Trustees, Mkapa played a critical role in the establishment of Manyara Ranch Conservancy in northern Tanzania, an important 45,000-acre wildlife corridor connecting several of the country’s national parks.

Throughout much of the 20^th century, visitors to Africa went primarily to shoot animals, not pictures. Limited legal hunting on the continent persists, in part due to the United States’ continued allowance of trophy hunters to import animals killed in Africa.

Fortunately, photographic safaris have mostly replaced their bloodthirsty predecessors.

“During the launch of the Four Arts exhibition, attendees posed many questions about ‘organizing their first or next safari’ and how to get involved in helping to secure the future of the wildlife and wilderness areas they saw represented in the photos of the competition,” Sholley said. “My greatest thrill has been watching people’s reactions as they view the exhibition images for the first time. When the subject matter revolves around Africa’s iconic wildlife and remote wilderness areas, the impact is clear and visible.”

Africa: Closer than you Think

Americans, by and large, are daunted by the idea of travel to Africa. Many even frequent, life-long, world travelers from the States have never seen southern Africa with their own eyes. Never spent a morning game drive 10-feet from a feeding pride of lions. Never stared eye-to-eye with a cape buffalo.

Too far. Too expensive.

Once in a lifetime.

That needn’t be the case.

While there are undeniably super-expensive and difficult to reach locales and experiences such as the water safaris around the Okavango Delta in Botswana or gorilla trekking in Rwanda or Uganda, visiting Kruger National Park or Greater Kruger in South Africa via flight to Johannesburg and car or bus to the wildlife can accommodate many non-luxe budgets.

Kenya safaris and Tanzania safaris are good middle-ground choices with a non-stop flight from JFK airport in New York direct to Nairobi now an option, shortening travel time to east Africa dramatically.

Africa, particularly when traveling from the eastern half of the U.S., proves no more arduous to reach or expensive to enjoy than Hawai’i, Australia, Asia or India–oftentimes less so. And the rewards are unmatched.

As wonderful as the pictures are, they don’t compare to real thing.