The essential part of creativity is not being afraid to fail — Edwin H. Land
Edwin H. Land co-founder of The Polaroid Corporation. Yes “that” Polaroid, the one you take a picture with pull the sheet out of the camera and watch it develop before your eyes. I love reading quotes like this and then finding out about the person behind the quote.
The things we do in life are for the most part are played safe, and essential things should be handled with care. But when it comes to creativity, that thing that gives your life spark, that desire that builds inside that you want so much to succeed in. Do you still play it safe because your afraid of failure? If you knew how many times you had to fail before you succeeded would it make a difference as long as you ultimately did succeed?
Photography is a creative craft. Creativity is a mental process involving the discovery of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the existing ideas or concepts, fueled by the process of either conscious or unconscious insight. I believe most people think photography as just taking pictures and that’s true it is about taking pictures. Those few seconds or tenths of seconds that the shutter opens is all about capturing the light that lays before you. But what about all the other time that is involved in the capturing that image. One must form ideas and concepts, be able to visualize, be able to compose, frame and expose the light correctly and that’s just to name a few things involved. What about after you have created the image, what do you do next? Is it for your scrapbook or will it end up on your website or maybe hanging in a gallery? Are you creative in your approach to your photography. Are you willing to fail in order to grow and move towards your ultimate goal?
The essential part of creativity is not being afraid to fail. Is your success waiting just after the next failure? One thing is for sure, your success will come immediately after your last failure.
Rocks Of The Tallgrass Prairie. Chert & Limestone | ©Brad Mangas
