As a photo practice, I have been trying – with moderate success – to haul out my big camera for 10 pictures a day. Not 10 decent photos. Not a photo-a-day challenge that will be see by the rest of the world. Just 10 clicks of the shutter. I mess with buttons. I mess with ISO numbers. I take a lot of tree pictures. I take a lot of cat pictures.
How do you keep yourself creative?
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
Virtual Brush Box 
I cook. I knit. I garden. When I am not doing these things, I’m often chewing on them as brain gum. Greatest challenges: nightly chicken, reversible laprobe patterns and how to limit the ajuga without composting it all.
But my most fun activity is creating data bases. Business sales, Christmas card lists, income taxes, as long as there’s lots of data to play with, I’m happy. Computers replacing 3 x 5 cards is one of the great blessings in my life. Geek? Absolutely.
I prefer digital activity to analog. I like limits. The challenge is working within those limits: one meal, 72 stitches or too much shade.
Isn’t photography mostly working within a set of givens?
Getting out in nature keeps my creative juices flowing. Noticing light at different times of the day and training my eye to see things others miss and noting contrasts … in colors, textures sizes. I used to play with textiles. (Sewing/knitting) The paraphernalia is a constant financial drain and eventually the storage of goods becomes an issue. I try to write daily, but I’m easily distracted there.
Hmmm. I had never articulated it, but I don’t find writing to be creative. Both work writing & the blog are about finding information & organizing it. Things I greatly enjoy, but not what I would call creative. Perhaps it would be different if I wrote fiction.
Can one be creative if one is working within a pattern? Does creativity imply originality? Or am I using an overly rigid definition of creative?