Resisting Creative Block

Recently I had stumbled upon Sean Tucker on Youtube, Sean is a well-established photographer and filmmaker located in the UK. I was searching out vlogs from other photographers on the subject of creative block and how to deal with it and the ways to overcome and escape its grip. The video that caught my interest was titled “ How to create when you're just not 'feeling it'; with Sean’s permission I have added the video below

I would like to touch on the things in his video that I, as a creative can relate to and at times have been demonized by this shadow of my own despair and uncertainty in my creative process.

Sean Tucker touches on 3 things that can weigh him down and I relate to all 3 perfectly; perfectionism, rationalization, and fear.

I agree with Sean, “nothing we ever do is ever going to be perfect” and “ think of every project instead, as a draft along a longer journey of creativity that will span my lifetime” I like to think that the work we create is like adding layer upon layer to the last idea we had, the end piece is more of a coalition of those ideas along the way. I know I have done this, and within the last year alone I have struggled (again) with “I Don’t have the right gear to start or finish a project”, and yes, again this has plagued me for quite some time for years, I’ve had a few self-projects on the back burners for way too long. why? Because I used this as an excuse almost every time.

It wasn’t until recently that I had realized what I was doing to myself. It started in the winter of 2016, I put in my head that I wanted to trade up my current strobes for better and more portable strobes than what I was currently using, I made myself feel justified in that, then I needed to add that one lens to my gear bag, I bargained with myself and gave in, then I needed a few more modifiers, the list goes on and on, and once 1 had gotten that each thing fulfilled from my list, another “must have” item appears and it now takes that much longer to get started and finish a project.

Lastly, Sean suggests the book “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield at the beginning of his video, Sean quotes from his book " Resistance- anything that keeps us from creating, he speaks about it like an internal voice that never sleeps, but always whispers"  I have since ordered this book. 

Video used by permission:

Website: http://www.seantucker.photography/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seantuck/

Purchase book or prints: http://www.seantucker.photography/store/ Book training sessions:

http://www.seantucker.photography/bookings/

"After reading 'The War of Art' by Steven Pressfield, I'm sharing some thoughts on my own resistance and how I push through to create regardless." - Sean Tucker

““Rule of thumb: The more important a call or action is to our soul’s evolution, the resistance we will feel toward pursuing it” - Steven Pressfield”