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Ep 38: The Creative Process w/ Suellen Cook

The Creative Process

This was such a joyful conversation! I am mesmerized by Suellen’s art and I loved hearing about her creative process in this episode of “A Creative Affair”.

Suellen Saidee Cook, a resident of Tasmania, takes her own photos and uses them to create imaginative, impossible worlds. Listen in as Len Metcalf and I discuss Suellen’s journey to her current creative work, her creative process, the how of artistic practice (including music), and Suellen’s 3 P’s.

Mentioned in this episode:

Len’s Journal Vol. 3 Issue 1

Find out more about Suellen’s Work: https://www.suellensaideecook.com.au

Artworks mentioned: Spilt Milk, The Tree Museum, The Boardroom

ENJOY!!

The Tree Museum Suellen Cook
The Tree Museum
Morning Mist Suellen Cook
Morning Mist
The Book Shop Suellen Cook
The Book Shop

We now have a searchable transcript for this episode

Thanks for listening!

Copying, Stealing and Inspiration

Early this morning I read through a series of instagram stories from a well-known photographer friend, Matt Payne, discussing inspiration the ethics of a phenomenon known as “compstomping”. This is when someone (I won’t use artist here) basically copies another photographer’s composition by visiting the exact location and using the exact perspective of the original. In the non-photographer world we call this plagiarism. Apparently there are some “artists” that do this and do not give credit to the original composer. 

Copying has long been used in many forms of art and life as a catalyst for learning and inspiration.  I have used it myself as a means to understand the mechanics behind something I’m learning. A good example of this is in cooking. I like to exactly follow a recipe that someone else has created. I see the amounts needed of different ingredients and  learn the technique to cook them properly.  In the process I make mental notes of how I want to change anything. I’ve also done this with music, woodworking, sewing, knitting, etc. In fact, just about EVERYTHING I’ve ever created has been copied before creating anything remotely unique. 

With everything I create, I like to ask myself, what do I want? Sometimes my goal is to just learn a few technical things and I’m happy with that.  Often I want to put my own “spin” on something I’ve copied. And, a few times I have desired to really create something that is unique to me. 

Last year I made a YouTube video, “Creating Art from the Heart” that discusses the steps to take in creating art that reflects unique vision. Rarely is this done without following this formula:

  1. Absorption/Mimicking
  2. Integration
  3. Authentic Creation

If I want to create authentic work, I actually NEED to copy/mimic first. What a relief! I actually NEED to copy to end up creating unique art. So, if copying is part of the artistic process, what’s so bad about “compstomping”? 

The problem lies in the ethics of giving credit. Did I copy someone and try to pass it off as my own? Or did I credit the original artist and recognize their brilliance and work to follow the above mentioned process to create the final product? Truthfully, I would never exactly copy anyone and share it publicly in any way. That practice would be for my personal benefit on my way to integration, step 2 of the formula.

Integration is probably where I spend the most time. I consume alot of art and, because of that, I can’t help but have memories of what I have seen. This is great when it comes time to make art because I draw inspiration from a variety of sources. I integrate some copying with my own ideas inspired by others. This happens A LOT when I’m photographing in the field. If I find myself at a location where I have seen work made by other photographers, I may try out how I think they created their work.  I’ll  then combine that with my own ideas as I feel the inspiration. Eventually, if I trust the formula, I’ll create art that is authentic and unique to me. 

Back to “compstomping” without giving credit. Since these are my personal musings, I want to be clear and say that this is wrong and unethical. And, as you create and copy from the brilliance of others, I’d like to offer a simple question to ask yourself in the process: WHY? Is it to gain inspiration on your way to make art you love? Or, are you merely trying to create the appearance of authenticity without actually having it? Are you copying to make yourself look “good” without having to do the work? Or, are you mimicking on your way to integrating that knowledge to create your personal vision? 

Making “good” art takes work, passion, experimentation, practice and time. These things HAVE to be experienced and there are truly no shortcuts on our way to creating authentic art that completely represents our unique vision. 

So, next time you find yourself tempted to “compstomp” try doing a “scene glean” instead. What is it that YOU can glean from the scene around you? What is your eye drawn to? Take in your surroundings. Pause, listen to your heart and your creative intuition and then get to work. 

For more on this topic check out my podcast conversation with Len Metcalf in our episode titled “Inspiration” and “Steal Like an Artist” by Austin Kleon.

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B&W edit inspired by photographer, Huibo Hou

Practice What I Preach: Having Less Stress, Confidence, and MORE Fun!

Creatives work with me because I help them learn how to create what they want with less stress, CONFIDENCE, and tons more fun. I believe that the combination of these three makes achieving our dream much more enjoyable. I know how to do all this work because I practice what I preach coach.

I have a program and a webinar that I’m launching and I recently took a break from that and my daily life to enjoy a trip to Caddo Lake in East Texas with my husband and some friends. There is so much I could have been stressed out about. I could have let self doubt creep in. And, I could have prevented myself from having the fun I really wanted. Here’s what I did to coach myself through it all:

LESS STRESS: There really is so much I could be stressed about in my life: money, my kids, launching my webinar and program, business, etc. And, 2 days before my trip I took on a new project. Making arrangements and packing for a trip can also be super stressful if I let it. And I don’t love starting a fun trip in a stressful way.

The thing about stress is that I know I show up terribly when I’m feeling it. So, when I feel my stress level rising, I do a few things. The best thing I can do is notice how stress feels in my body and that’s my cue to stop, take some deep breaths (or other exercise) and check in with my brain. I ask myself what I’m thinking that’s causing me to feel this way. I felt this while I was madly packing and discovered I was thinking 2 things:

  1. I’m not going to get this done “in time”.
  2. I should have done this earlier.

Neither of these is really helpful for me! I reminded myself that I always get my packing done and that rushing can actually make things worse. And, I also reminded myself that I made decisions to do other things instead of packing and I was ok with that (remember the last minute new project?). Whew! I felt less stressed almost instantly – even while running around packing!

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CONFIDENCE: As a nature photographer I rely on unpredictable conditions to do my work. This was absolutely the case on this trip. Caddo lake is sort of famous in my photography community for having moments of awesome morning fog/mist that makes for some pretty awesome images. When I have those conditions I know I’m going to come away with something I love and make the trip feel “worth it”.

But, what to do when the weather doesn’t cooperate? I have learned I can TRUST myself to find something interesting to photograph (without stressing about it) and/or just soak in the experience of being in a beautiful place. I literally remind myself of this every time I start a trip. I also remind myself that I’m confident I’ll come away with at least 1 image I like because I always do!

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MORE FUN: Who doesn’t want to have more fun? I know fun looks different for everyone. And it also looks different for me depending on the trip/moment, etc. On this trip I knew fun would look like enjoying my photography, not stressing about the details (like the cold weather), putting aside what I’m doing in my business (including sharing on social media), and just being present in the moment.

I know I can be cold and not complain. I know I can enjoy the process of creative experimentation without “needing” to create work that’s portfolio worthy (but I welcome it!). I know I my business will be waiting for me when I return and I know I can trust myself to make decisions about my time that will help it move forward. I know I can be present, handle any hiccups that arise while I build relationships and friendships that last. And that’s FUN!!!!

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And because of all this, I’m thrilled with how my trip turned out! I have images I love and beautiful memories untainted by stress and self doubt all created with my thoughts (and wonderful people, of course).

Remember that webinar I mentioned? It’s FREE and it’s all about building confidence as a creative. I’ll be sharing some personal experiences as I’ve created my own confidence and teach you how to do it too. Register HERE.

Raw image from Fall 2021
RAW image from Fall 2021
(this means it’s unedited)

P.S. Shout out to my husband, Taylor, for wrangling the kayaks and to my friends/photographers that joined me: Jean Barrett, Aaron Martinez, Alex Armitage and Nathan Fish. Let’s do it again!

Ep 24: Finding Beauty through Art

Finding beauty through art
Ewanrigg, The Leura Spring Garden Festival is a treasure trove of beautiful gardens. Dogwood trees feature prominently in only a few of the gardens. – Len Metcalf

Making art through photography has been a wonderful way for me to see and explore more beauty in the world. I’m pleasantly surprised by it because I thought I was already seeing “enough” beauty. I now see a larger variety of color, subtly in light and shadow and small subjects I never would have noticed before.

Listen in as Len Metcalf and I discuss finding beauty in the world today, What is beauty? and share our personal views, What is an orgasmograph?, and how looking for beauty through art helps us.

Mentioned in this episode:

Our episode on who we make art for

Brooks Jensen’s podcast

Len’s book, “Our Love Affair with Trees”

ENJOY!!

We now have a searchable transcript for this episode

Thanks for listening!

Out of My Comfort Zone

Yesterday I did something that, a year ago would have been unthinkable for me and is still definitely WAY out of my comfort zone. I submitted 11 images as an “image suite” to a well known and respected publication.

I don’t expect my work to be published but getting my work ready for submission has helped me grow mentally and creatively.

Creatively I pushed past former limitations and allowed myself to work in black and white and be more free with my editing. This is so far out of my artistic comfort zone and I love it!

Most of the angst surrounding pushing past my beautiful bubble of mental comfort has to do with confidence. Confidence to believe that my work could be considered for publication. Confidence to create the body of work with almost no feedback from external sources. Confidence to put it all together and press submit while embracing imperfect art. I know I don’t need to have 100% confidence but I can move forward if I can get to 30% and allow myself to feel uncomfortable while still doing the work.

This all reminds me of my journey to complete an impossible goal of hosting my own gallery show as a beginner and the confidence I’ve created for myself along the way. I had no idea how it would turn out so I just started with the belief that it was possible for me to overcome any obstacles along the way.

I write this post mostly as a reminder to myself that I can create the confidence to push myself out of my comfort zone but also to encourage you to do the same. We CAN do hard things!!

brie impossible goal gallery show

Finding My Creative Vision

Recently I listened to a conversation on a podcast, F-stop Collaborate and Listen, and had an idea come to me (as I often do). From my brain: “Might be an interesting idea to go through all our images and see an overall view of what we are creating.” Then my mind started thinking about all the places I’ve been and the combined collection of the past 2 years.

It’s been just about 2 years since I started my deep dive into photography and I’ve basically made images of everything and anything that has looked remotely interesting to me. Sometimes I made images of subjects that might not have been that interesting but I wanted the practice of creating something like it. I KNOW my work up until now is a pretty eclectic collection and I’m totally great with it! But, I’ve recently been asking myself if I have a creative vision and, if so, what that looks like. Maybe acting on this new idea will help me discover that (if it exists).

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Santa Monica, CA
I don’t remember making this one but I love it’s simplicity.

My plan is to start at the beginning of my recent photography journey (Dec. 2019) and work my way through the present. I’ll do some basic reorganization (check out this course from Chrissy Donadi) including keywording and flagging. My main focus will be to create a “Creative Vision” collection by really listening to my inner creative voice (artistic intuition) and only add those images that are resonating with me. I may make several passes at a particular folder on different days in different moods so I don’t miss anything. I’m also wondering if multiple projects will present themselves during this exercise. (see my current favorite project here)

I know that, during this process, all my negative thoughts and judgement of my work will creep up on me. This kind of thinking might cause me to feel so terrible that I don’t actually do what I set out to do. Since I know this will happen, it’s important for me to be intentional in my thinking and tell my brain what to do (I’m the boss!). Here’s what that looks like:

  1. Acknowledge that the negative judgement will most likely appear.
  2. Make a plan to think ON PURPOSE. In this case I currently like: “I love my work anyway, and all its “imperfections”.”
  3. Show myself some love when the judgement does show up. I don’t trick myself into thinking I won’t have some “judge-y” thoughts about my images.
  4. Decide to think my intentional thought: “I love my work anyway, and all it’s “imperfections”.” Let myself feel all the love for my work.
  5. Remind myself of my goal and keep going!

Telling myself to love my work probably sounds a little “woo woo” but I really do want to love all the images that I create. After all, they came from ME! I don’t actually have to like them though and can make a judgement call about them with a critical, but not negative, eye.

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Santa Monica, CA
Some fun camera work I played around with. I’ll probably play this way again.

What do I hope the outcome of all this will be?

  1. To see the overview of my journey.
  2. To better understand who I am as an artist.
  3. To decide if I have a more solid creative vision.
  4. To discover if I have a preference for specific subjects.
  5. To see if I want to use all of this to shape my future work.

I’d like to set myself up for more success without forcing myself to constrain to any genre or making a particular type of image. I think that would actually hinder my growth as a photographer. And a bonus, I get to practice loving my work and telling my brain what to do like the boss of me that I am!

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Self “Reflection”
Self portrait in Santa Monica, CA. Pondering my unique creative vision.

Photography Conferences & Mindset

I recently attended the Out of Chicago Photography Conference in Death Valley. It was incredibly fun and rewarding and filled with new relationships and photography adventures. While I do my best to work through my thoughts before going on any kind of trip, this one was an interesting one to navigate mentally.

On a typical photo trip, I’m solo most of the time so I knew heading into a conference with 100+ other people would be much different that what I’m used to. I’m also a pretty social person but I was expecting that being in the field with more than 1 other person might be a little challenging. Some other possible challenges were: sticking to a schedule, not being able to choose locations or instructors and being with people I didn’t know. Here are some thoughts I CHOSE to think:

  1. Meeting new people will be rewarding as I’m naturally curious and look forward to new connections.
  2. There are more than enough subjects in the field for everyone, including me, to make photographs of what we are interested in. Death Valley is an awesome location!
  3. I can quiet my mind and be creative no matter how many people are around me.
  4. I’ve been to Death Valley before and am open to seeing the same locations with a new perspective, no matter what time of day it is.
  5. ALL the invited instructors are amazing and, if I’m open, I can learn from any of them that lead my group.

Thinking all of this kept my mind free of distractions (including complaining) and helped me to keep my curiosity for new experiences in my photography. Overall it was an amazing conference and I believe I came away with some new work I’m proud of. I even had a chance to experiment with some black & white photography (more on that to come). The good news is that I can now apply this thinking to all kinds of adventures I might have in the future!

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Pearl
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Out of Chicago Group 2 with Cole Thompson & John Barclay

Entering Competitions: Process & Mindset

Last year I entered 3 photography competitions, the Natural Landscape Photography Awards, the Paper Arts Collective Photographic Print Competition, and New Mexico Magazine’s Annual Photo Contest, all for different reasons. Allow me to go through my process, mindset and which ones I may not enter submissions again.

The NLPA, was in its first year and created by some well-respected landscape photographers. Their rules were very clear and the judging followed a “golden rule” to adhere to “capturing the beauty of the landscape in a realistic manner”, one I can fully support. The choice of judges was excellent. The prizes were nice but I was indifferent to the because I didn’t enter to win. Say what??? Yep. I entered purely to go through the process and experience the growth of preparing images for judging. Before deciding to enter I checked in with myself about my reasons for going through the process. I wanted to grow in new ways AND support a new competition with values I respect. Since I was only 1.5 years into my photo journey, I knew having any expectations of winning would be hard to manage so I gave them up completely (and that felt good).

My process: 1. choose images, 2. cull them to 14 (and ultimately 12), 3. edit to the best of my abilities, 4. get outside feedback and help, 5. make my own decisions about final images and editing, 6. submit with no regrets or expectations! I loved this process and learned a ton! I learned how to be more discerning in choosing my “best” work. And, yes, I submitted images that I personally enjoyed vs. entering images that I thought the judges would like. Ultimately, this process was for me and not for someone else. I learned how to accept critical feedback – not making about me as a person was huge part of the mindset work. I learned more editing skills and what to look for in composition, color and light. I learned how to make these decisions for ME and be happy with my choices. Check out my gallery of these images here and see my results of the competition at the end of this blog.

Neopolitan
Neopolitan – One of my entries in the NLPA awards
Red Rock Morning
Rock Rock Morning – Another entry

I also entered a print competition. I didn’t put as much effort into my submissions for this but, like my first competition experience, I did check in with myself that I was doing it for reasons I was happy with. I thought it might be fun to submit actual printed images since so many competitions are all digital. I enjoyed exercising my new printing skills which include choosing the right paper for certain images and actually getting a quality print. I didn’t win but my friend, Micheal, did with an amazing image – check it out! Ultimately I decided I won’t do this one again. The actual winning exhibition is on the East Coast and I didn’t like not getting any feedback on my prints. I believe this is normal for competitions but I’ll save myself the trouble in the future.

The last one I entered was the one from New Mexico Magazine last October. I did it on a whim on the very last day with no image preparation. I submitted 5 images, all from White Sands National Park. I’ve been working on creating a White Sands gallery (see it here) so I had some I was happy to share with the world. Even though this one was last minute (literally!) I actually did have hope that I could possibly win BUT also no expectations that might cause some major disappointment. Obviously my process was more simple that my first competition but I attribute that to consistently editing and making decisions about “good” work. I was notified in November that I was a “finalist” with no hint at what that might mean and had to wait until the magazine came out in early January to find out. And….I WON THE WHOLE THING!!! I’m still in a little shock and for someone with no exceptions, I’m really thrilled! See the article here along with the other winning images. I’m currently undecided if I will enter this one again.

Sand Spirits
Spirits of the Sand – My Grand Prize winning image!

If you are considering entering a competition, here are some process and mindset questions that may be helpful for you to consider:

  • What are your reasons for entering? And, do you like them? If gaining fame is one of them, I encourage you to reconsider or find alternate reasons that actually improve your skills as an artist.
  • What work will you submit and how will you decide this? Is it to please the judges or yourself? If its to please judges, do your entries fall in line with your own creative voice? Would you want to be recognized for work that you thought was not completely representative of YOU as an artist?
  • Will you get feedback on your work and, if so, how will you get it? Who do you trust to see the best in your work AND show you where you are lacking?
  • What are your expections, if any, for the outcome of the competition? Trust me, you can have zero expectations AND submit your best work ever.

Entering competitions can be a wonderful tool for personal improvement with the possibility of some nice recognition. A word of caution, do your research on motives behind the contest, judges and especially what happens to your image. I’ve enjoyed seeing the results from all the competitions. There are truly some amazing artists out there!

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