Value Based Creativity
This originally appeared as part of my Prime Lenses Newsletter. You can sign-up for a weekly update here.
I was thinking about influences this week as I prepared to submit some images to the Leica M 70 contest. I don’t really know anything about contests like this. Are they a scam? Are the company hosting them just after images to use for free? Are they really trying to celebrate artists and allow a community to share a common love of photography? Probably a bit of all of that. Either way, I want to take part because I’m an unashamed fanboy. I think I’ve made the best images I’ve ever made with this camera system and I want to join in. Who knows, I might even win a new camera :D
Anyway, influences. Everything was fine until I got to a seemingly innocent question;
“Who is your favourite Photographer?”
What an absurd question. What time is it? Who am I talking to? Did I sleep well last night? Have I had a good day so far? Am I choosing someone who’s alive or dead? These are all factors that count towards that answer. Let me know who you’d choose. Maybe I’ll pick the same answer, I’ve got until December 8th which is fortunate because for now I’m stuck.
Thinking about my influences also made me think of the things that probably influenced the creation of Prime Lenses the anniversary of which is coming up at the end of the year.
I was feeling the need to make something and watching a lot of videos by creators online that I admire. Folks like Dave, Ali, Ben and Becca are all out there just making stuff, and in some cases they’ve managed to at least make it worthwhile if not pay all the bills. A big part of me also feels it’s important not to lose sight of the idea that stuff should sometimes exist just for the sake of it. As I was having this thought I tuned into the most recent episode of The Vergecast which contains a concept which I want to remix and champion.
Image: Samar Haddad / The Verge
The episode talks about the concept of Value Based Design with the musician, app creator and educator Ge Wang.
“So why was this designed? This is what some people actually might call, you know, for perhaps lack of a better word, value-based design and value-based design is saying, well, you don't design out of necessarily a clear and present practical need, but out of something you really deeply as a person believe in. And so for something like Ocarina and perhaps for a lot of the other tools that my students and I build, perhaps one of the core values that we are trying to speak to in these design is just simply that music making is good.
And that's the belief. Music making does a person good. And it's not about getting to a product necessarily, but about actually the process of playing and sometimes and often learning an instrument.
Not unlike learning to play like a well-made, perhaps challenging video game. Because there's a great satisfaction in that if the game is well-made, it does not matter if it's difficult. In fact, you might appreciate the difficulty.“
I make something just because I believe in it every week. And every week I get messages from people talking about it and their response to it. The process matters. Pulling out a camera, learning to use it, making something, it matters. So here’s to Value based Creativity.
Have a great week. Make something and if you’re inclined to, show me, I’d really love to see it.