For assignment 6 we had to find a creative genius and probe into their creative side...
This is what happened when I emailed Donald Higgins, a nature photographer...
Fist off a quote from Ansel Adams that pretty much sums it up, and then I will go on to the questions and try to be as honest as possible.
“Most creative people are strongly humanistic. Artists must be free to create and offer the products of their imagination and emotion to the world. They resent the restrictions of the unimaginative-the impulse to take, consume, and produce little except material things, and to profit thereby.”
Q:How would you define creativity? Please explain how you go about deciding that something is creative.
1. Freedom! I find the next part hard to answer, as creativity is not a “something”, it just happens. The question is, it’s not what you look at, but what you see.
Q:How or why were you drawn to this career instead of to a job that might offer more stability and security?
2. I do not like a structured atmosphere, or bosses. I don’t think we as creative people chose this as our career, it chooses us. Those that do consciously make the choice and choose to pursue a creative field generally do so for the financial benefits they believe are there for the taking, and will unfortunately, not last very long.
Q:At what age or time in your life did you realize that you were creative?
3. I can’t answer this as I have always been on the wacky side. J
Q:Who is the most creative person that you have ever known?
4. I don’t know…I have never thought about it.
Q: How did you choose your creative outlet? What inspires you?
5.) Again, I think it chose me. I have for as long as I can remember had a camera. Something about the perception of the world when I look into the viewfinder that really stimulates me.
Q: What kind of things do you do to get your "creative juices" flowing?
6.) I don’t have to do much. All I really need to do is to get to a place such as Glacier, and things just start to happen. I get into a zone type of mental frame and everything starts to look like a picture. I then work it like a ball of clay until I finally see what my mind has in it. Sometimes I never get to that point, but when I do, I know.
Q: What obstacles, if any, have you had to deal with in your life or career? What are the biggest challenges you have had in the realm of your art?
7.) Relationships. For me this career comes with a price.
Q: . Do you create your works for yourself or to share with others?
8.) I do it for myself because I love to be in the locations I work within, but ultimately, it is the smiles I see on others faces as they look at my images that make it all worth while.
Q: What is the ultimate message in your creative expressions?
9.) Follow your dreams…they do come true.
Q: What advise could you give me?
10.) Don’t marry an artist!
I hope I have been of some help, and good luck with everything in front of you.
Don