Creative Impasse; An Artistic Reflection
All artists experience cycles of creativity, with highs and lows shaping their journey. After a hiking injury last November, I found myself unable to lift a camera or carry a backpack for six months. As time passed, I gradually recovered from the pain in my ankle and shoulder, allowing me to return to photography. Yet, despite several local outings, I felt uninspired, and my images reflected that lack of enthusiasm. My good friend, Laurie Klein, suggested the injury might have been a message to slow down, especially after such a whirlwind year of travel and creative success.
Even before my injury, I had begun to feel frustrated with my work. I came across an article by a well-known photographer that posed an interesting question: how many of us flock to iconic locations, line up our cameras/tripods, and capture the same landscapes, saturating social media with repetitive imagery? Is that truly art? And more importantly, is that type of photography aligned with my personal vision? It’s a question I’ve reflected on deeply this past year.
“When you believe the work before you is the single piece that will forever define you, it’s difficult to let go. The urge for perfection is overwhelming. It’s too much. We are frozen, and sometimes ends up convincing ourselves that discarding the entire work is the only way to move forward.”
― Rick Rubin
This recovery period gave me a lot to reflect on, both physically and creatively. The notion of stepping back to re-evaluate your artistic path can be as important as the technical aspects of photography itself. Laurie’s suggestion to slow down, combined with my reflections on whether capturing well-known scenes aligns with my personal vision, could open new creative doors for my work. This has caused me to consider exploring more intimate or less traditional landscapes, or perhaps shifting my focus to express a deeper, more personal narrative through my infrared work? It may offer a fresh perspective and reignite that spark.
Guy Tal says this about these types of blocks…
“There’s another way to think about creative blocks: not as hindrances to creativity but as harbingers of creative renewals, as necessary breaks for the mind to replenish its creative resources, to clean house, to organize and assimilate new ideas and information.”
The fine-tuned focus and ethereal blur produced images that felt refreshingly different from those captured with traditional lenses. The Composer Pro II with Sweet 35 introduces unpredictable depth and movement at 35mm, allowing me to zero in on the most meaningful details. Its signature “sweet spot” creates a dynamic focal point, perfect for highlighting a face or isolating a key element in a landscape or environmental portrait.
His talent was as natural as the pattern that was made by the dust on a butterfly’s wings. At one time he understood it no more than the butterfly did and he did not know when it was brushed or marred. Later he became conscious of his damaged wings and of their construction and he learned to think and could not fly any more because the love of flight was gone and he could only remember when it had been effortless.
Ernest Hemingway
Here is the result of my experiment—a breakthrough in overcoming my creative block. While these images were done for fun and may not represent the exact direction I’m heading, it marks a new beginning…
History of the Benson Sculpture Garden
Benson Sculpture Garden began as a homestead and became a home for art and natural beauty. The transformation took place over a period of more than a century. The Benson family homesteaded in Loveland in 1877. Robert Benson purchased the property in 1907 from his grandfather and he farmed the land for thirty-eight years. He was influential in the Colorado Big Thompson project that developed water resources for Northern Colorado and he and his son Ralph remained active in water conservation throughout their careers. In 1961, the Benson family donated a portion of their farm to the City of Loveland for use as a wetlands area and refuge for birds. That land is now the Benson Sculpture Garden and adjacent ecosystem.
The sculpture garden was the dream of a group of Loveland citizens who saw an opportunity to make even more of the Bensons’ gift. In 1984, a group of five Loveland sculptors, George Lundeen, Dan Ostermiller, George Walbye, Fritz White, and Hollis Williford, together with representatives of the City of Loveland, the Chamber of Commerce and a few interested citizens fostered the idea of a sculpture show in Benson Park. They envisioned the outdoor art exhibition and sale as a unique environment for sculptors from across the country to showcase their work as well as a way to generate funding for a sculpture garden. The City of Loveland designated Benson Park as the site for the sculpture garden and in 1985, it became a reality. The Loveland High Plains Arts Council was formed to oversee the artistic development of the park.
The first annual Sculpture in the Park show was held in 1984, with fifty local artists participating. Two thousand people attended the show and purchased $50,000 worth of sculpture. Over the years, the Sculpture in the Park show has expanded its diversity of work to include representational, stylized, and abstract sculpture in a variety of mediums including bronze, stone, wood, ceramic, glass, metal, and mixed media. Held annually on the second weekend in August, Sculpture in the Park is now the largest outdoor juried sculpture show in the United States with sales well over $1 million.
