REBECCA ARTHUR PHOTOGRAPHY

The Tension between Creativity and Efficiency

3/14/2019

It has been slightly more than a month since my last blog post. Oops! That was not the plan! I had anticipated a break while I was visiting Canada since my parents live completely off the grid. (This includes no internet access.) However, I had hoped to hit the ground running upon my return to Japan. Instead, I came down with a wicked case of bronchitis and am only now feeling like I'm back in the land of the living. Whew!

One good thing about this break, however, was that I had a lot of time to catch up on podcasts and web articles that I had tucked away. Several were exceptional and today I'd like to introduce a podcast that I've been mulling over ever since I first heard it.

I often listen to Jocelyn K. Glei's podcast, Hurry Slowly. Her aim is to help her listeners "find more creativity and meaning in their daily work". I always find her interviews and monologues to be thoughtful and stimulating but a recent podcast about the tension between creativity and efficiency was particularly insightful.

In this busy world, it's easy to think that creativity can be manipulated and made to conform to our ideas of productivity and how things get done. Not true, Jocelyn reminds us. That's not how creativity works.

Favorite quotes:

There is no technology, no time-saving device that can alter the rhythms of creative labor.
Remarkable creative projects don’t come from efficiency. If anything, they come from inefficiency. From doggedly ignoring all the rules and saying I am going to devote an ungodly amount of time to this thing that no one else thinks is important but that I think is important.

I've been struggling with a bit of a creative dry spell and so her words were a great reminder to give the creative process the time and space it needs. (Which is not to say the one doesn't need discipline as well, of course!)

I will most certainly be listening to this podcast again. In fact, I highly recommend it for anyone who does creative work or any kind. So, if that's you, off you go! (^.~)/

Link:Jocelyn K. Glei: Creativity vs Efficiency

By the way, if you do listen to the podcast, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Just leave a comment below.

(Completely unrelated but here's a photo of overgrown asparagus in my mother's garden.)

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A Walk in the Park

2/10/2019

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This time of year always makes me a bit stir crazy. The days are short, it tends to be cold, and opportunities to go out are few and far between. Thankfully there is a huge park nearby so when an opportunity does arrive, we can be surrounded by greenery in as little as 20 minutes. These photos are from our last visit. It had just stopped raining and was threatening to do so again, and it was rather cold and windy. No worries! That didn't dampen our enthusiasm at all and the upside was having the park almost all to ourselves. Ah, it's one of my favourite places...

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January Blues - Garden Cheer

1/25/2019

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I've been feeling a little blue. Okay, maybe grumpy is a more appropriate word. I enjoyed the holidays but they weren't exactly restful and January has been pretty demanding. My computer is also playing with me and although now would be a perfect time to be editing photos from the past, it's not cooperating. Grrrr... Computer, your days are numbered!

Thankfully, in the midst of a cranky January my garden still manages to cheer me up. I have little time to give it these days, and it's cold out there besides, but despite the gloom of winter, things still continue to grow. Every morning, as I leave for work, I take a quick peek at my garden. Currently I have a few pansies and snapdragons blooming, and several camellia bushes and a jade plant that should start any day now.

However, what cheered me up most this week was this - the first plum blossom of the year. There is no real need to get excited since this is what plum trees usually do this time of year. Regardless, it is a harbinger of spring and although that may still be some time off, January, your days are numbered too!

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The Take #3: Utsukushigahara Morning

1/20/2019

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TITLE: Utsukushigahara Morning

STORY
Some time ago my husband and I started spending part of our summers up in the Kiso Fukushima area of Japan. Not far away is the city of Matsumoto and so, on occasion, we would take a day trip to the city and do some exploring. One mid-afternoon, after a lovely day bicycling about, we sat in a coffee shop and discussed what to do next. I mentioned a place I had heard of, Utsukushigahara, but I didn't know much about it other than it was up in the mountains somewhere near Matsumoto and very beautiful. The lady at the next table interrupted us at this point. Yes, she said, you must go! She then proceeded to tell us how to get there and off we went. It took over an hour of driving on very windy, narrow roads up, up and up and we finally arrived at Utsukushigahara, the highest plateau in the Japanese alps. I was completely overwhelmed! The views were spectacular and I felt I was on top of the world - which, in a manner of speaking, I guess I was! We only had about 40 minutes to explore since we wanted to be off the mountain before it got completely dark and I got a little teary when we had to leave.

All this to say, that we returned a year later and stayed overnight. We were blessed with fantastic weather and woke up at 4:30 am to catch the sunrise and go for a walk. This was when this photo was taken. It remains one of the most memorable mornings of my life - the glorious feeling of beginning a new day surrounded by mountains and a sky that goes on forever...

By the way, that faded mountain to the right of the main mountain range you see?
That's Mt. Fuji.

WHAT I WAS THINKING:

WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW!
This was so worth getting up at 4:30 am!
I need a 360 degree lens!
I'm confused... I thought Mt. Fuji was on the other side! (My sense of direction was completely off track while I was up there. I never did get it properly sorted out.)

CAMERA DETAILS
I'll be honest. My camera was on auto. I had no idea what I was doing at the time and maybe that's a good thing. Here are the camera settings regardless.

ISO 80
12.85mm
0 ev
f/4
1/250

More about "The Take" series here.

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"10 Upgrades for 2019"

1/17/2019

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I can always count on David DuChemin for encouragement and thoughtful advice regarding photography. I've been feeling a bit unfocused lately (no pun intended!) and so I especially appreciated his first blog post of the year, "10 Upgrades for 2019".

It's not what you think. David's 10 upgrades have nothing to do with gear. As he says:

Want better photographs? Of course you do. We all do. But it’s probably not our gear, or lack of it, or how old it is, that’s standing in the way: it’s our excuses and lack of creativity.

Make this the year you never once blame the camera. Make it the year you embrace whatever constraints the gear (or life) presents you with, and then get to work. Work around it or work with it. But work.

The gear you have is enough and probably will be for quite some time. Upgrade the photographer instead. It’ll be cheaper, less frustrating, and here’s what matters: it’ll be the one upgrade that changes both your experience of photographing and the photographs themselves.

Instead of talking about gear, David's 10 upgrades are about "upgrading the photographer" and making changes that will improve your photography regardless of what you are using. Ten upgrades may be a long list but the key, he says, is to pick one and enjoy the "freedom of doing that" instead of panicking about whether you need something bigger or faster or newer.

Ah, these were words I needed to hear. I'm not yet sure which upgrade I will focus on but I'm looking forward a new challenge. Thanks, David!

To read the original blog post, visit David's website (the link is below). He offers many useful resources for photographers as well.

All the best with your upgrading in 2019! (^.~)/

David DuChemin hompage: https://davidduchemin.com/
10 Upgrades for 2019: https://davidduchemin.com/2019/01/10-upgrades-for-2019/
(The image below is from David's blog post.)

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The Tension between Creativity and Efficiency

A Walk in the Park

January Blues - Garden Cheer

The Take #3: Utsukushigahara Morning

"10 Upgrades for 2019"

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