Toeing the Line Between Creativity and Execution

I was trading war stories with a fellow photographer who told me about a recent job that she’d shot. Her client had been quite difficult to work with, and during the entire job, the client stood right behind the photographer, telling her what and how to photograph the subject, what angles to use, how close to shoot, and so forth. Any efforts of original creativity on the part of the photographer were stifled by the client, who apparently already knew what he wanted and just didn’t have the knowledge and equipment to actually take the photos himself.

It’s a familiar story, and I’m sure that many of you have had to deal with clients like this. However, hearing it got me thinking about what it is exactly that we do as photographers. Are we hired for our creativity or our execution? Or both? Is it our job to recreate exactly what the art director shows us in the comp, or are we hired to take those ideas, apply our own creativity and produce final images that present those ideas with original quality separate from the what the client may have envisioned?

Yes, it’s true that photographers have certainly lost jobs to corporate art departments who feel that they can achieve adequate results by simply buying their own digital camera. It’s also true that some shoots require much less creativity than others.

However, I’m sure that most of us would agree that it’s our creative vision and original ideas that get us the jobs and keep our careers alive. It’s obviously what drives us, and even though it isn’t always valued by paying clients, in the end, it’s what counts. Sure, our camera and lighting skills and our ability to create perfectly exposed images matters, in fact it matters alot, but it’s not everything.

Back when I went to music college, I had a friend from Japan who used to remark about the difference between playing and creating. “Very technical, but no feeling,” he’d often say about players who could perfectly play through fast musical passages, but who couldn’t write a good tune to save their lives. Music, just like photography is an artistic field, and as with any art, it’s not just about how well you do something, it’s the fact that you came up with the idea to do it first that defines a great artist.

That said, photography is also a craft, just like being a studio musician. Sometimes a paying job might involve more execution than creation. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but what if you have ten jobs in a row like that? Your creative side will no doubt become frustrated and long to come out. That’s when you might need to complete some self assignments or take on a long term project that you can pick away at when the jobs get a little boring.

I hate that word, though. If you’re a creative type, the word boring shouldn’t even exist in your vocabulary. Although sometimes you’ll have to work for overbearing or stifling clients, every job is what you make it, and even if you have to work extra hard to navigate around a difficult art director, you can still apply an element of your own creativity to the task.

That’s where your own personality comes in, because ultimately, if you’re easy to work with, chances are you can break through to the client and give them imagery that they might not have even imagined possible.

Ok, enough rambling for today- now get out there and be creative!

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Dan Bailey is a professional adventure, outdoor and travel photographer based in Anchorage, Alaska. Follow his own blog at danbaileyphoto.com/blog and see his daily updates at facebook.com/danbaileyphoto.

Tagged as: creative inspiration, creativity, Photographer, Photography, photography business