creativity

The Bob White Project /  by Michael Durr

Bob White approached me about a custom gift he wanted to create for his wife. I was very fond of his idea and agreed to take on the challenge. Bob's request was to create a photo collage of architectural images that were significant to him and his wife. Some of the shots included their old home in Little Italy, the location of the their first date, the hospital where there children were born, and the corner grocery store where they used to shop. The only direction Bob provided me with was that he wanted the front door of their old home to be the center of the collage and he really set me free on how to create the rest. Bob provided me with an image of where he wanted to hang the art work in his home and he also provided me with the dimensions. The final dimensions were 30in X 40in. I recommended he have the final piece printed on canvas because I felt it was the best medium for the location. Canvas is great because it doesn't reflect and holds up really well.

My wife and I ventured out on a beautiful Sunday afternoon to shoot the images for the collage. We biked from location to location all throughout Chicago. We even ate lunch at Rosebud's, which was one of the locations on the list. We ended at the house that was going to be the main focus of the piece. Bob also requested that we incorporate the Chicago skyline, from the vantage point of their old rooftop. We met Bob at the house on Sunday evening just as the sun was beginning to set and I got some great skyline photos from the roof.

I blended some of the select images into a seamless piece of art and the final piece turned out great. This project was a lot of fun for me to create because it was unique and there was a specific printed piece that we set out to attain. It seems these days that photos are rarely printed so I was excited to see it hanging above their fireplace.

Thanks for the experience Bob.

The Long Game /  by Michael Durr

Being someone who is in his early thirties and someone who has been working in the creative field since college I feel I can offer up some valuable insights. In my opinion, creativity is 40% passion, 30% execution, and 30% failure. What does this mean? Let me explain. Passion is what drives us, it's why we get up in the morning. It's the itch that needs to be scratched. We all have it and it's our choice to pursue it. A passion that's not pursued is simply a dream.

That's where execution comes in. Execution is the act of pursuing your passion. Educating yourself, gaining experience, laughing in the faces of the people who doubt your abilities, facing the fear and societal pressure that hinder us from pursuing our passions. It's not easy. In fact, it's extremely difficult.

Failure is certainly a big part of this trifecta. When pursuing your passion, you will fail, and success comes when you fail time and time again and continue to push forward. With each failure you learn something and each time you learn something you improve upon yourself.

I found this video essay on the creative process extremely interesting and I feel that it does a good job in helping to illustrate my point.

Video content via Delve