What Is Inspiration?

Inspiration: 1) inspiring; 2) an inspiring influence; 3) a sudden brilliant idea

Inspire: 1) to stimulate (a person) to creative or other activity or to express creative ideas; 2) to fill with or instill a certain feeling; 3) to communicate ideas etc. by a divine agency – both definitions from the Oxford American Dictionary

What is inspiration?  What is it to be inspired?  Is it tangible?  Can you put a finger on it, does it have a pulse?  Is it something out in the ether, something intangible, a spark, a flash, a bolt of divine intervention?  Is it something you can prepare for?  Is it a culmination of years of study and practice until the mechanics of the craft become second nature and true unconscious energy begins to flow out of you?  Is it being so familiar with the process and the medium that “it” flows forth in a stream of consciousness?  And, where does Keith Richards hearing the riff from “Satisfaction” in a dream fit it?

Like many people I’ve had varied interests in my life.  I’ve always been fascinated by people with a singular talent, artists who manage to push beyond the ordinary and excel at their craft.  Painters, writers, musicians, all I have admired and been moved by the beauty of their work.  Over the years I’ve painted, written, strummed a guitar – badly.  I’ve spent years picking up and tossing aside various things, trying to find something that moves me, something that inspires me, something that pushes me and causes me not to give up but to redouble my efforts and become better. ..

I honestly don’t know if photography is going to be “it” for me, the one thing that I follow wherever it may lead.  I do know that – for the first time – I’ve taken up a “hobby” and felt like I’ve made that first step, that step from A to B.  A small step, with the long journey from (hopefully) B to Z (and beyond?) to follow.  But, for me, that AHA!, that flicker of a moment when I got my first image that I was truly happy with, was the first step…

I’ve read that, as an aspiring photographer, you have to get the first 10,000 frames out of the way before you make any real progress.  I looked, and I’ve taken 9,700 photos with my Nikon since May 2008, and I realize two things: 1) that not nearly enough in that time span if I’m going to truly learn anything, and 2) I can’t wait to take the next 9,700…

"You have to put in the hours and log the time.  These dreams are not going to chase themselves."  - David duChemin