创造力

 

Hong Kong, January 2020.

One of the last few moments of creative euphoria I’d experienced was during my travels to this city in 2020. Hong Kong’s stance as a labyrinthian metropolis offered abundant visual spectacles, so much so that it was almost an artistic assault. In this way it was a city that was easy to capture, to immortalise within a 6720x4480 px frame, all of its manifold details, layers and textures. I was also in a state of mind that was fairly open to being inspired by the sights around me. The combination of all this led to a visual series that was luscious and interesting, one that flowed from my eyes and out of my lens with ease. 

Frankly, I have not felt that confidence and charge in a while. I suppose the beginning of this pause was the abrupt commencement of Covid shortly after that trip. Enter 2020, with its enforced lockdown, and an unprecedented period of uncertainty. Two years later in 2022, after a harrowingly chilly Winter Mission in Syria, my trusted Canon RF 24-105mm lens cracked as it fell onto the concrete floor of a deli in Istanbul. I fixed the lens (instead of incurring the additional costs of buying a new one), but it was never quite the same (the IS was unfixable). Additionally, that same year I moved to London, and the ensuing charade of navigating adulthood abroad, plus the stalking issue, put a dampener on any inclination or capacity to create something inspiring.

Now it's October 2024, and I'm yearning for the satisfying elation of finding that Perfect Shot again; one that I’m able to create more purposefully, more serendipitously, and make uniquely mine. I’m on a career high with a mountainous accolade this year (Malaysia Airlines), so I am ravenous for more deliciously fulfilling work. It could be argued that to be a natural creative you should be in a rested and safe headspace, free to explore, experiment and be playful. I'm in the process of identifying what makes my passions click, the processes I thrive in, and the kind of work that I am drawn to. It's an attempt that requires an examination into conditions of ideal creativity, my zone of genius so to speak, while also being critical of the obstacles of my mind.