I purposely chose this week’s subject as a follow up to my last blog post. I am in an amazing space currently working intently on my personal growth journey. I am pushing and challenging myself. Putting myself in situations where I will learn new things. When I started my photography journey, I truly had no idea of how novice I was. I was unaware of all of the details that went into taking an artful photograph. It seemed so easy, to pick up a camera and snap a picture. Little did I know, 14 years later I would still be learning.

When we are young, we create artwork without thinking about it. We sit and just allow ourselves to create. We are in a space that allows us to create without fear. We don’t think about if mom or dad won’t like our artwork. We just do it for our own enjoyment. We don’t fear failure if it doesn’t turn out perfect. Perfection isn’t what we are trying to achieve, at least not at that time. So, what happens? Why do we stop creating just for the mere satisfaction of creating? I believe it’s because we don’t have a safe space to continue creating within ourselves, but I believe we develop the perception that we have to create within the confinement of other people’s expectations.

When we color, we have to stay within the lines. When we draw a line, it needs to be straight. When we aren’t allowed freedom in making mistakes, it inhibits us from learning from those mistakes. The safest place in my opinion to learn from your mistakes is with creating art. Not only can you learn from your mistakes but learn that you can improve and build on those failures to create successes. You can learn that mistakes are not detrimental, they are merely learning milestones.

In the picture above, I used negative space to accentuate the landing of the duck. I took 3 consecutive photos and I loved the progression so much that I created a composite of the 3 photos into one….I had never done a composite image like this, and it took several attempts to get the ducks where I wanted to in the image. I failed a few times, but never gave up on the image I had in my head. I wanted to create this image for my father-in-law, the avid duck hunter. He always talked about watching ducks come in for a landing, and how interesting it is. I allowed myself to fail, and even started from scratch again after working on the image for over an hour.

Negative space can feel freeing, like there is room to grow into. It can also make your subject look small, or make the image have a minimalistic style.

Negative space around a pair of ducks can enhance an intimate feeling, making it feel like these two have the whole lake to themselves.

Negative space can also instill a sense of peace for me. As an introvert I truly enjoy the above photo.. a duck enjoying his solitude.

Let’s talk about safe creative space. Allow yourself to be a kid again! Create out of the mere enjoyment of creating. Create a space for yourself that is open for growth. If you are afraid of failure or criticism, you are not in the right space. Be kind to yourself, be kind to that inner child that is coloring outside the lines. Give yourself enough space to make mistakes and learn to bounce back and grow from them. Do not take criticism personally, use it as a propellor to hasten your growth.

When I am learning a new skill in photography, I research it then I attempt it. It may take me multiple attempts until I am satisfied with the results, but each time I go back to the drawing board and figure out where it was that I was lacking. Maybe it was a camera or light setting. Maybe it was my composition, or my editing. I will sometimes ask for constructive criticism from trusted sources (I could probably write a whole blogpost about what a trusted source is). Regardless, I never give up and I continue trying to learn and improve on that skill. I allow myself some “negative space” for room to grow.

What do you do to create a safe creative space? Join me next week with the theme “Spring.”