How Limitations Feed Creativity

Have you ever stared at a blank page wondering what to write about, with no idea of where to even begin?

Whats the problem? There are so many possibilities of topics, ideas, and thoughts to pursue! Yet, somehow, when the “sky’s the limit” in the creative process, it can easily lead to no where fast.

Any designer will tell you that they feed off client restraints. Boundaries given for style, intent, purpose, and brand can suddenly channel the most inspired creativity, simply because the possibility was not ‘endless’.

One of the best starting points for any creative project is to begin to draw up a list of your own limitations so your creativity can grow.

When I sit down to compose music at the piano, I typically start by choosing a key, a style, a mood and rhythm. These simple restraints begin to open worlds of their own for creative progress.

The same is true for any creative endeavor. The exciting part comes not only in those moments when we start from a blank canvas, but also looking at our personal limitations as a source of creativity as well.

What might be some personal limitations that are already in place?

You might have limitations of budget, time, skill, knowledge, equipment, or resources. But what if we began to look at these limitations instead as seeds of creativity?

Here are a few personal examples of how limitation has helped me grow creatively:

Limitations of Equipment:

The 50mm Lens

I remember as a young photographer being so excited to finally own the 50mm lens that seemed to carry such glorified hype from professionals. Though it wasn’t expensive in comparison to other professional lenses, it did boast a low aperture that made shooting in low light situations easier and produced extraordinary blurry depth of field photos.

What I wasn’t prepared for, was the limitation of working with a fixed focal length. The zoom capability that I was used to was gone. I awkwardly found that in order for me to compose the shot the way I wanted it usually required me to move around. I couldn’t stand/zoom/shoot like before.

In the beginning this meant my composition went downhill. I found an increase in the number of images that I inadvertently chopped a limb, cut off at the wrong place, and I often felt a little awkward when working with clients who must have thought me indecisive as they had to watch me walk closer and closer or keep walking backwards until I found the composition I liked.

As time wore on, this very limitation served to be an incredible source of creativity for me. Because I was required to move myself around to properly compose my shot, I began to naturally consider angles and perspectives that I never would have before in my lazy zoom in/out days. I also became hyper sensitive about the way I framed my images, knowing I needed to be more careful about cutting things off where I shouldn’t and thus developed the habit of paying attention to the edge of the frame.

The limitations of the 50mm lens have made me a far better photographer.

The “Starter” Camera

Like most photo enthusiasts, I started out with an entry level DSLR with limited features and capability. My Nikon D70 showed plenty noise in my images at anything above ISO 400.   I was taught from the beginning to use this point as a limitation.  Instead of resorting to simply boosting up the ISO in low light situations, I had to search for better light and learn to use my environment to look for natural reflectors of light to make it easier and cleaner to photograph.

Today I have a fancy schmancy camera that I can raise the ISO to crazy high levels and still avoid noise.   But I’m forever grateful for the years I spent working with my “starter camera” with its ISO limitation, as it taught me more about how to properly utilize light than I ever would have learned had I started with the pro-level camera right away.

Working with limited equipment is not always the burden we may think.   When approached from the right perspective, it can actually increase our creativity and photographic skills in a brilliant way.

Limitations of Budget

Starting a photography business can be a costly venture.   Websites, design, upgrading equipment, software, computers, insurance, etc. are all necessary to some extent for building a solid business, but our personal budgets don’t always have space to foot the bill.

Consider looking at the budget limitation as an opportunity for creativity as well.   You may not have money, but you might have space for sharing your time.   Here’s just a few of the major examples that trade has played in the growth of my own business:

• I worked for a pro photographer as a secretarial assistant for four months in trade for my first website.
• I traded a videographer some photography for my own promotional video on my site.
• I traded private photography lessons with a professional online educator who helped me take my local in-person classes into an online format.
• I traded several commercial shoots for a local magazine for free advertising in their magazine.
• I traded tuition in my classes for photo assistants.
• I routinely trade photographers for photographs of my own family each year.

A small budget doesn’t have to mean saying no to the things you need.  Look at it as an opportunity for other people to say yes in a win win trade that serves more than just yourself.

Limitation of Time

Most people will likely lay claim in some way to the time limitation.  Whether you work a day job and do photography in your spare time, or you’re a full time parent that fits a business or hobby into your “spare” time as well. Or maybe you have photography as a full time business and still find it a challenge to get the required tasks done all in a days work!

Lets look at the limitation of time as yet another opportunity for some creative thinking.

Since becoming a mother two years ago, my time for photography and business has squeezed itself down to a few meager hours a day. Yet, I seem to be getting as much done if not more than I was when I had all day to myself! Not only do I make my time count (knowing its the only chance I’ll have all day), but I have eagerly designed my workflow and routine to maximise my effectiveness. So often, its not until that limitation is suddenly in place that we must get creative on solutions or wither under a burden.

My favorite time saving solutions include:

1. Google. All things google. Gmail, googledocs, google reader, google calendar, google forms, and google analytics, all play a significant part of my day staying in order.

2. Wufoo.com. I use wufoo.com for all my contracts, forms, and anytime I need to collect information from the people I work with. They allow for payment integration, tracking, and some pretty amazing reports to track progress.

3. Adobe Lightroom. 99% of my post production editing now takes place in Lightroom instead of Photoshop because of the extreme amount of time it saves me editing and in my image organization.

4. Smugmug.com. I use smugmug.com as an online backup for all my images, for printing all my images, selling images, as an online viewing gallery for clients as well as personal storage of every photo I’ve ever taken. They now integrate seamlessly with Lightroom and keep my Tens of Thousands of images not only organized but instantly assessable in hi-res format from anywhere online.

Limitation can be viewed as a roadblock. It can dam our progress and put pressure and heavy burdens on our life.

Or, Limitation can be the very restraint we need to feed our creativity.

It can help us consider solutions we may never have thought of otherwise. It can build our photographic abilities. It can open doors to networking opportunities to serve others as well as ourselves.

What inspired solutions can you find to your own limitations?