80’s Television
The mind is a funny thing. These readings made me think of old TV shows. Broccoli instantly made me think about Thomas Magnum's little voice. A continuing theme in the monologue as Magnum drove around Hawaii in his borrowed Ferrari was him speaking as to what his little voice was telling him. Failing to follow his intuition often led to his being roughed up by the bad guys of the week or ending up on the wrong side of some authority figure. The same principle applies here. The mind process a great deal of information that never reaches the conscious level as anything but your intuition, a gut feeling. While ignoring it will probably not result in a car chase you still do so at your peril. The point remains the same if you are writing fiction or working on a journalistic project. The story will tell you what it is if you listen to it. Trying to make it what your conscious mind wants when your own little voice is expressing its displeasure will probably not end well.
WKFD of course led me to recall WKRP in Cincinnati. To be honest that is simply the similarity between the call letters and I really wanted to include the bit about Magnum PI here. It was a really great show when I was 10. I don’t have any reference for jealousy but we’re saying that everything is related to 80’s TV for the theme of this so deal with it. I wonder if Magnum PI is on Netflix?
The counterpoint to listening to the little voice in your head is that you also need to tell the chorus in your head to STFU. I’ve long joked that the internal monologue of a photojournalist goes like this: “I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck, I suck I’M THE MOST BRILLIANT MOTHERF***ER THAT EVER LIVED!!!!!! I suck, I suck...”
None of that is useful. A lot of the time it doesn't do any harm, it can even help keep you from being a pretentious asswipe, but when you need to get some sh*t done it is the worst thing you can have. It is vital to be able to learn to shut that down. Take a walk, take a breath and quiet your mind.
The same goes for being envious of other photographers. You just have ot let it go. I see friends who make brilliant work and think about how much that I’d like to create images like those, to see how they do. Then I remind myself that that’s total bull sh*t. Those are THEIR images. I don’t want to make THEIR photos, I want to make MY photos. I want MY photos to be great. That means that I need to work on how I see, not think about how others see. The best way to do that is simple. You just stop thinking, go for a walk, clear your head and then go make some f***ing pictures.
Adam–
ReplyDeleteI love your Magnum PI analogy. Although I never would have made that connection personally, it's extremely appropriate for Lamott's Broccoli chapter. Intuition is a driving force in our creative processes, so long as we don't ignore it. (Alas, I don't think Magnum is on Netflix yet.)
The internal monologue could not be more on point. That monologue has become my personal mantra over the past few years and I'm sure Lamott's was very similar. Creatives tend to be very degrading of themselves until they get something right. Then the temporary superiority complex.
As for the MY photos vs. THEIR photos in the context of jealousy, you've struck a chord that so many photographers/creatives don't see. Being envious of another's work and wishing for it to be our completely defeats the purpose of photographing/creating.
Overall, it's obvious you had a clear understanding of Lamott's chapters and were able to relate them to the work photographers do/your own life. It's quite interesting to read the thought process of a fellow photographer written out and seeing how similar it is to my own.