I’d like to start this blog with a wonderful quote from Sean Tucker:
“No matter how great a painter, singer, writer, or filmmaker you are, you are fundamentally no better than anyone else, and this gift you have to give was meant to elevate others, not yourself.”
I've always questioned why I create, photography and writing, do I create for others or for myself, I know I've never been alone in questioning the why and that others must ask themselves the same questions.
A person that I admire greatly wrote a book that made for one of the most interesting and inspiring reads I've had in a long time. The book is called “ The meaning in the making….the why and how behind our human need to create” and it was written by Sean Tucker, Sean is one of the most honest and truthful people I have the honour of knowing. Not only does he produce the most inspiring videos via his YouTube channel, but he is also a wonderful photographer that has a real passion for the art and now he has written what is without a doubt the most open and honest book on why humans create. I could write 20 blogs about Sean’s book breaking down each chapter and who knows I might just do that! In this blog, I will cover how the book resonated with my own values and experiences.
Sean takes us on a biographical and more general journey in the pursuit of not only the genesis of his creativity but also the reasons that drives all of us to create and be inspired by creation. He draws upon many of his own experiences and shares insight into his own creative origins, inviting us all to ask those searching questions as to why we feel the need to create.
Sean looks at the motivations and desired outcomes for our creative endeavours. Is it for personal growth or wider appreciation and fame? He argues that being able to know your own motivations can greatly benefit your work and help you to realise your creative potential. This resonates greatly with me, when I reflect upon the times when I have felt most lost in my work it is due to a lack of direction in what I'm hoping to achieve. Knowing that even a creative giant such as Sean requires a level of direction, helps me in understanding my own creative blockages.
Creative drivers are very powerful, but if you're only looking for fame, this will usually be a long and frustrating journey, so just the act of creating needs to sustain you along the way. I fell into the trap of looking for fame and wider recognition and ended up falling out of love with my work and lost sight of the reason why I started creating in the first place this is something that I’m still struggling with today.
Sean talks about the need to take time for yourself and self-healing in his chapter "Breath" he explains that his personal coping strategies are to take micro-holidays, which can be as simple as taking a few hours to yourself. These act as a rejuvenation period and recharge the creative muscle. I wasn't familiar with the terminology before, however, I was aware of this truth as I do this regularly by going to a coffee house, meditating or reading a good book. The point is to identify something that you can do to take time out and when you’re in a creative funk, ask yourself do you just need to recharge.
Reading Sean’s book was relaxing I found myself going to my favourite coffee house ordering an oat milk latte getting comfortable on the old red sofa, my noise-cancelling headphones at the ready, now to find the perfect companion for Sean’s book this didn’t take long and I found the pairing with the music of Jean Michel Jarre, the albums Rendezvous and Oxygene helped me focus on the perfectly written words, I found myself on the most peaceful micro holiday happily relaxed and totally focused.
Most books I read leave me feeling detached from the writer, I didn't feel as if I was detached from Sean, in fact, I felt as if he was sitting next to me, reading his book out loud.
Sean’s book has left me questioning so much about my own work and which of my photos I connect with the most and why do I connect so much with them. I’ve been noticing the photos I connect with are the ones with just one person having some alone time, I love having my own personal time to enjoy the peace and quiet, being alone with my own thoughts it’s not because I’m antisocial or at least I don’t think it is, its more about having the time to recharge. Having the time to enjoy my own creativity is something I cherish and when I take the time to do this I find it’s when I write the blogs that are the most honest and open, looking back through my own work helps me focus when I’m out with my camera.
"for your own sake, and sanity Stop Chasing online attention"
Sean talks about how artists search for perfection in their own work and how we question whether we should share our work or is it ready to share with the world and then we start to think about the response our work will receive, should or shouldn’t I share it will not only raise our anxiety but can stop us from sharing or even finishing our work, I go through this every time I think of sharing a photo or even when writing a blog. this very blog has taken me months to write, I’ve written it over 10 times just trying to do Sean’s book justice. It took a while to realize that even though the blog was about Sean’s book it was more about what I took from it and how much the book meant to me.
Sean talks about the simple art of making and not being concerned about what others think, this has got me thinking about this very blog and why I started it, I'm no writer and being dyslexic I never thought I would create something like this. The truth behind the blog is simple, it helps me relax, I get a lot of pleasure sitting with my iPad Pro and the Apple pen writing, never in a million years did I think that someone else would read it and being honest here if I’d thought for one second that others would’ve taken the time to read my writing I probably never would’ve started the blog.
Another chapter that spoke to me was critique, Sean writes "Many of us tolerable this negatively because we've come to expect on the internet. However, we would never put up with it in real life" and he’s right and I’m always finding myself asking why that it is, Sean goes on to explain why he thinks this is the case and he talks about people being anonymous and online helping them hide and not have to be face to face with the people they are being nasty towards, easier right…of course it can make it easy for us to just ignore and block said person (I struggled to do this).
He also talks about welcoming criticism in the right form, most criticism we receive isn’t real, it’s from people that are just jealous about what we’re doing and I’ve been faced with this more times than I can remember and I’ve always had a problem dealing with it, Sean has even reached out a few times to have a chat and tell me not to worry about these hateful people, but I just felt the right decision for me was to come offline. When I made the decision to come offline I was finding it hard to deal with all the negativity I was faced with day after day and now I use meditation and micro-holidays (loving this terminology) I’m finding it so easy to just focus all the positivity I have in my life and I just wish I’d found meditation and Sean’s book years ago, I could’ve saved myself so much pain.
Sean’s book has really inspired me to focus on my own creativity its going to help me move forward in my photography journey, I’ve highlighted so many passages in the book and I want to write more about them in future blogs, but right now I’ll say pick up a copy, find your happy place and settle in for a truly inspiring read.
Thank you, Sean.
Check out more of Sean’s work via his website here
