i have been away from the blog for a few weeks due to some illness and being extra busy, however i have a few ideas of some upcoming posts so be sure to stay tuned over the next few days.

today, i was reading 'the inspired eye'by david duchemin, read this section david calls "be open to serendipity" and just had to share it.

I read an article once about the connection between Jazz and comedy, specifically the element of improvisation. It got me thinking that there are strong connections to the world of photography. If what we do most of the time is unlike improv theatre, I don’t know what is.

The first rule of improv is this: Say Yes. Saying No blocks possibilities, prevents the others that are complicit in the process from playing their hand. It’s a move made by the heavy-handed and the control-freak, and improv - as well as photography and any creative process - is not the place for the closed-minded. Anyone with a death-grip on the steering wheel of the creative process forgets that there are a mulitplicity of elements beyond his control. At best you control the way in which you react to all the constraints that come your way, trying to control them removes you from the creative process, the act of making something.

But saying yes to what comes your way, allowing to be what it is, and moving with it, that’s an act of grace you bring to the situation in which you are photographing. Saying yes to chance happenings and seeing where they lead opens you to ideas and possibilities larger than yourself, to collaborate with forces and events bigger than you, and in turn to create images that are unexpected even to yourself, to create photographs that are bigger than your initial plans and concepts.

Call it an act of grace on the part of the muses, or a conspiracy of the angels, time or just dumb luck, it’s the way in which you respond to this that creates the exceptional image, poem, or concept. Luck, as they say, favours the prepared. It also favours the open-minded and the creative soul willing to roll with what comes instead of fighting it.

what is your reaction to this, do you agree, do you want to read more? david and the folks over at craft and visionhave a bunch of short ebooks that speak directly to creative people. mostly to photographers, however any creative art would really apply.