Sean Kernan gave a talk last Monday (01-25-2010) about the pursuit of creativity and authenticity. As seen clearly from his work, he is motivated by his own personal vision, which is seriously a refreshing change. It was never about money or fame, yet interestingly enough his personal work brought him that. I enjoyed his talk because it was about going beyond one's limitations and opening one's vision to "unfiltered seeing." He emphasized that what's crucial to creativity is "what happens before you create: the days, months, years before you even pick up the camera." This is something that I strongly believe in, that nothing that we've sensed and that which has affected us deeply, is lost. Our photographs can be a reincarnated memory, a feeling, a look or even a specific color. And that is interesting because no individual experiences the same event in the exact same way.
During his talk, Sean mentioned teaching several workshops. One of them was a workshop with women dying of cancer. It made me question the idea of placing oneself in a life-altering state like that... like what kind of photographs will one create then? What sort of work will be born from someone who has X amount of time to do it. A body of work with a real dead-line. Nothing beyond that, for sure. But aren't we all dying at some point anyway? I suppose the certainty of tomorrow not coming produces an urgency that most people neglect to acknowledge.
He describes himself as "an artist on his way to work and became a photographer instead." As an artist, we constantly stumble on ideas and life-altering moments that we choose to give meaning to. Days can turn into meaningless years but somehow the yearning to be different forces us to see things beyond what's there. Although, sometimes events from our lives follow a different course, regardless of meticulous planning. It veers away from all expectations and we are surprised with the results of our work. Did I do this? Who is this person who made this? Sometimes it's about timing and luck, and whether it be a happy accident or not, the point is, we've produced something that's ours. It is an unending struggle to discover something new, original, innovative--to go back to the old light of exploring and be aware of every moment that can change us. Sean so aptly describes it, "It took me to places that I didn't know they were there and if I knew they were there, I would never imagine that I would get there."
Besides creativity, he also spoke about authenticity: "Does it look like you got it elsewhere or that you arrived at it?" Authenticity is about "keeping things in the air as long as you can." It is about the energy of the person who is committed to it, a matter of focusing on the task. This is what sets the game, the stage to something completely real. The artist has to believe in her vision for other people to see what she sees. He advised us to begin at the place where we are insecure. I love this photograph. To me, it illustrates how we contain what we want to say, make, and do. The potential lives in us like these words that have transferred their way from my mind to this page. The challenge is to see what is already within us, waiting to be discovered.
"I write to find out what I want to say."-Sean Kernan
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