This last week I went on a search for new inspiration. A long and toilsome journey it was, across broad valleys and over insurmountable hills. I fought my way through dark woods and dense underbrush, crossing rivers and scaling precipices. Braving the elements and ignoring the urge to return to the comforts of the familiar, I pressed onward, traveling further and further from reality (or what I knew of it), into a world completely unknown and unfamiliar to me.
Much of the landscape is barren, undeveloped, and unexplored. Few and far between are the footsteps of the adventurers who have traversed the winding pathways and undulated terrain. Before me lay a vast scape of novelty and adventure, a whole world of breath-taking vistas and unseen delights.
As I crested a hill and beheld one of the landscape's immense peaks, I was struck by a feeling of recognition, a slight sense of connection with reality and the familiar. The snow was falling fast, and the fog made it difficult to distinguish, but through the blanket of white I was able to make out a form that resembled something that I had seen before. Unable to quite put my finger on it, I held onto the thought until my return from my journey.
It was not until later that I realized that even the vast world of inspiration must by necessity have a connection with the known world, for it is indeed impossible to convey the unfamiliar without first comparing it to the familiar. Without a firm grounding in reality, we are incapable of comprehending that which is beyond reality. Such is proven true throughout history. For example, how could one who lived in 3926 BC envision locomotion via automobile when the wheel hadn't even been invented yet? Thus we understand that in order to depict a world that is beyond our reality (in this case, the world of inspiration), we must incorporate elements that are already familiar to our world so that the unfamiliar now has a connection with reality, thus aiding the viewer in understanding what is being conveyed.
In other words: Don't be afraid to use simple and mundane objects/elements to convey your message. Often it is these everyday objects/elements that people are familiar with that bring clarity to your message. They are what make that special connection in people's minds, evoke a thought, a memory, an emotion. This is especially true when these objects are used in a way in which your viewers are not expecting. Such is the challenge to an artist: to bring novelty out of the mundane, and to convey new messages through the old, standard mediums of communication. The wheel has already been invented, so what can you do with it?
Challenge yourself this week to look at normal, everyday objects through new eyes. See if you can't find a different way of photographing a subject or of incorporating an everyday element into your photos in a new way. I guarantee you'll be as surprised as I was when I crested that hill...
