i gots the creative blues thread

[ivankay]

Whenever i get back from Coachella, i have a lot of pictures to review. Strangely it's at this point that i start to wonder why the fuck i even try. i see most of the mistakes and could have beens. As time settles, this changes; but at this point i got the creative blues. This thread is for expressing your frustration with self doubt, writer's block, fumble fingers, the inability to draw a fluid line, whatever.

Sigh. Why do i suck?

[algunz]

Shake it off, Mikey. :winkiss

[zenidogx]

cheer up, Ivankay! your board picture went off really well. also, i must meet you one day . . . say, Detour 2009?

[Wheres the beef?]

Whenever i get back from Coachella, i have a lot of pictures to review. Strangely it's at this point that i start to wonder why the fuck i even try. i see most of the mistakes and could have beens. As time settles, this changes; but at this point i got the creative blues. This thread is for expressing your frustration with self doubt, writer's block, fumble fingers, the inability to draw a fluid line, whatever.

Sigh. Why do i suck?

We all love you and your pictures. For now, maybe just relax and put it aside for a while?

[ivankay]

i'm gonna step away for a few hours. Thanks for all the good vibes.

Please feel free to express your own creative frustrations and hopefully support will come your way.

[TommyboyUNM]

Mike, I found my phone if that makes you feel better. Thanks for the concern on Sunday night. Sorry if I wasn't more appreciative of your suggestions, but I was a little annoyed at myself at that point.

[ivankay]

cool and no worries. Was it at Lost and Found? i hear the being annoyed at yourself bit. i'm doing that right now. Annoyed i didn't move to the right a little more, annoyed i didn't focus correctly....i'll get over it.

[Alchemy]

I always feel the exact opposite, actually. Before going to Coachella, I'm usually exhausted from school, and I don't feel like doing anything creative because it feels like I don't have the time. When I get back from Coachella, though, I feel like I have a great surge of inspiration and a new-found willingness to do some creative works. I guess I see what the artists do for Coachella and I am encouraged to take after them. Perhaps you should think of it that way. Take Coachella as a pool of ideas.

[ivankay]

i do get inspired by everyone and everything at Coachella. It makes me want to tackle the pictures and get them up to celebrate the awesomeness. Then i start to see i didn't quite get what i was trying to and get a bit bummed. Usually later i look at it with fresh eyes and wonder why i didn't see it before; but now....grrrr.

[BlackSwan]

writer's block

I'm going on four months over here. I've been working on things, but I don't feel the spark.

[feather]

Mike everytime I saw you capturing a picture...my heart filled with joy. You are doing a good mans work. You are out there scoping the scene, noticing so many things we pass up because we are too busy running around trying to create crazy scedules. Your pictures light up our life, and your passion gets us excited, like the Boardie picture for example. You also get to meet cool bands, hand out lifetime passes, and eat food from the cafeteria :) . I envy you and anyone who gets creative has these self doubts. I know I felt it with my costumes, decorations, and Candee.

[stuporfly]

Within seconds of filing my Coachella reports, I regretted the use of certain words, or noted with dismay entire passages that felt good when I wrote them ultimately had a shelf life shorter than the amount of time it took my editor to post the pieces for all the world to see.

I've found it's helpful to step away for a bit and get some perspective when I'm feeling as ivankay has described above. And once something is finally done, it's often best to not go back and review it if you're even the slightest bit self-critical. Naturally, I find myself incapable of heeding this sound advice.

ivankay is the bee's knees as a shutterbug, a phrase I find quaint, but will discontinue if it's considered an insult. In any event, I wish my writing was half as good as ivankay's photography skills. It's just that simple.

[ivankay]

I'm going on four months over here. I've been working on things, but I don't feel the spark.

brutal. Do you still write as exercise when you don't feel the inspiration?




I've found it's helpful to step away for a bit and get some perspective when I'm feeling as ivankay has described above. And once something is finally done, it's often best to not go back and review it if you're even the slightest bit self-critical. Naturally, I find myself incapable of heeding this sound advice.


yep. Sometimes you just got to throw it out there and let it go.

[HowToDisappear]

Mike, everyone loves your photographs! No self-doubt allowed. You know the greatest of the greats would shoot tens, hundreds, thousands of frames perhaps, for that one perfect photograph.

I'm guessing you shot thousands of frames. It's a long, daunting task to review all that work. That would tire anyone out. After you've rested for a bit and come at it anew, you'll have a better, happier perspective on it all, I'm sure.

[apostle2]

were you taking shots from the front at lykke li?

[ivankay]

were you taking shots from the front at lykke li?

Looking forward to reviewing those. She was pretty hot.



I'm guessing you shot thousands of frames. It's a long, daunting task to review all that work. That would tire anyone out. After you've rested for a bit and come at it anew, you'll have a better, happier perspective on it all, I'm sure.

That's a big part of it. It's not a thought when taking the pictures how many you'll end up with. Then you start going through them and it's like "Christ that's a lot! Learn some control." Got to chip away at the stone like some big lipped dude sang.

[apostle2]

did you lean into the crowd, thank the guy who you were standing in front of, and then take a nice picture of him in return?

[ivankay]

Cool. That was you?

[apostle2]

haha yeah, I didn't get a good look until you were walking away and I realized I knew you from your stuff on here. I did my best to mug for the shot.

[suprefan]

Mike, I cut down a bit this year even with all my gear and a new camera. But I ended up with an extra 17 gigs on my desktop staring me in the face yesterday afternoon. Kinda rough, I took less video though which kind of upset some people cause they keep asking if I filmed so and so, and I didnt.

[ivankay]

haha yeah, I didn't get a good look until you were walking away and I realized I knew you from your stuff on here. I did my best to mug for the shot.

pm me your email and i'll try to send it to you tomorrow.


Mike, I cut down a bit this year even with all my gear and a new camera. But I ended up with an extra 17 gigs on my desktop staring me in the face yesterday afternoon.

i was telling people at werk around 20GB when they asked. They were lke "daaaaaamnn." i was like "That's being conservative". i feel you pain.

[suprefan]

The HD video took up a chunk of it, like 10 Gigs, regular video was like 3 maybe, so yeah I only have 5 gigs tops of photos, thats nothing for me. Last year I did like 10 with 8 being photos and 2 video.

[Monklish]

I'm actually contemplating giving up writing altogether, Ivan, so I feel you.

[ivankay]

I'm actually contemplating giving up writing altogether, Ivan, so I feel you.

Man with certain skills should not. Do things in the meantime to enhance those skills.

[Monklish]

The skills are fine. I just don't know what to do with them. I spent half my life studying to become an expert at screenwriting and now I'm realizing that the only possible fucking thing you can do with such an expertise is write screenplays. It's a terribly unfulfilling talent to possess. It's like being a composer who can only write sheet music, never actually play it. In this economy it ain't exactly easy to find venture capital investors for something as risky as highly controversial indie films made by untested filmmakers. So... I dunno.

[greghead]

Whenever i get back from Coachella, i have a lot of pictures to review. Strangely it's at this point that i start to wonder why the fuck i even try. i see most of the mistakes and could have beens. As time settles, this changes; but at this point i got the creative blues. This thread is for expressing your frustration with self doubt, writer's block, fumble fingers, the inability to draw a fluid line, whatever.

Sigh. Why do i suck?

Don't get down on yourself, Mike, your pictures are THE SHIT; my day brightens exponentially when I see you post your work in a thread. I look forward to spending exorbitant amounts of time looking at the new ones when you get them posted.

[apostle2]

I went to four years of film school focused entirely on screen writing. I moved out to LA, and now I'm moving away. shit is terrible right now for anyone who hasn't already been here for years.

[Monklish]

I went to four years of film school focused entirely on screen writing. I moved out to LA, and now I'm moving away. shit is terrible right now for anyone who hasn't already been here for years.

Pretty much. There ain't really shit you can do. If the odds of hitting were one in a million 10 years ago, they're a lot fucking worse now.

[apostle2]

Pretty much. There ain't really shit you can do. If the odds of hitting were one in a million 10 years ago, they're a lot fucking worse now.

It's true. and it's not like a writer's life style can work at this point either. working a cheap day job to facilitate writing in your off time doesn't afford a Los Angeles rent.

[Aurgasm]

Ever hear of SoundSlides?

You can DL it for free. Put music to your photos and stream it here!

it's soooo easy, and so much fun. I think it would really satisfy someone with a bunch of photos and music to put to it. Just cut your mp3s into a single stream with something like Audacity and sync it with you awesome photos. It would take an hour to do a SoundSlide worthy of the "Ivankay" title.

DO IT!

[BlackSwan]

brutal. Do you still write as exercise when you don't feel the inspiration?


It's actually musical writer's block, but yeah, I dabble with new ideas and work of editing incomplete work even when I don't feel the inspiration, but I find I loose interest or motivation quickly. I used to be able to sit down and work on a composition for up to 6 hours without moving, or thinking about anything else. That has majorly changed over the last couple months.

[ivankay]

did you lean into the crowd, thank the guy who you were standing in front of, and then take a nice picture of him in return?


Cool. That was you?


haha yeah, I didn't get a good look until you were walking away and I realized I knew you from your stuff on here. I did my best to mug for the shot.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3633/3467150149_39bbeb40c3.jpg



It's actually musical writer's block, but yeah, I dabble with new ideas and work of editing incomplete work even when I don't feel the inspiration, but I find I loose interest or motivation quickly. I used to be able to sit down and work on a composition for up to 6 hours without moving, or thinking about anything else. That has majorly changed over the last couple months.

One of the things that kills being able to concentrate for an extended period of time are the obligations in life. They creep into your mind and say things like "Got to stop so you can get ready to sleep for werk". And those obligations make you tired. The distractions in life (tv, this board, etc) also hurt the creative process (well, there is definite creativity going on here, just not for the main focus). i was doing what you wrote about. i was just dabbling here and there (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ivankay/sets/72157617132719706/). It helped.