How To Find The Inspiration To Be Unique

If you’re inspired by a photo, what does that mean? What do you do with those feelings? In this post, I want to explore those feelings and what we do with them.

Let’s dive in!

When we see a photo we’re captivated by, touched, moved and inspired by, we have these huge feelings. On many occasions, we’re jolted into some kind of action.

I’m using inspiration in the positive. So that action is usually to create our own work of art.

So my question is, how do you use feelings of inspiration to create your own work of art? If you’re inspired, does that mean you then go ahead and copy or intimidate that work to satisfy those feelings?

How do we use inspiration to motivate us into creating unique work, while still satisfying that connection to the work we’re inspired by?

RELATED: Creative Momentum – The Force We Need To Create Our Best Work.

That Feeling.

You probably know it well. We see a work of art and we feel this urge, this excitement of pleasure to create something.

This connection usually makes us want to create similar art.

Let me break it down.

I posted a repetition of Oreo Cookies shot in dramatic lighting on Instagram. For me this shot was unique, I’d never seen it before, (that’s to my knowledge, and this alone doesn’t give me the right to claim this work as my idea. It’s very unlikely anyone truly has an original idea).

It was well-received. One photographer exclaimed ‘they wish they took that shot’. I bring this up because many of us have felt that way about a photo too. This person was just brave enough to state it out loud.

So if you have these feelings of inspiration and you wish you ‘took that photo’…what do we do with these feelings?

I think these feelings and connection to that work can be dangerous. Many times these feelings make us want to create that same work.

But in order to be unique, I think we need to dig deeper into what inspired us and to use *that feeling* as motivation to create, rather than imitate.

PODCAST EPISODE: How to Get Inspired, Be Unique and Harness Creative Momentum.

Inspiration to be Unique

Using inspiration as motivation to create can be easy. But at times we all feel conflicted. Deep down, we all want to create unique work and we know to be cautious with copying (noticed how I didn’t say ‘wrong to copy’?).

The question I posted earlier was, how can we use inspiration to motivate us into creating unique work?

The way to the answer is simple, although the answer may not be so.

We can be so in love with a photo, that we want to create the general feeling or connection. Which is not a bad thing, but it doesn’t always lead us to create our own unique art.

Instead, the question to ask yourself is:

What inspired me to the most about this image?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Toronto Food Photographer | Diana Muresan (@craft_and_muse)

You could break it down into the most important element for you. Or perhaps there are really three elements that you connected with.

Even perhaps it’s the type of food you’re dying to shoot.

It’s harder to create an original idea, and even harder to create without influence.

I’m not here to talk right or wrong about copying or imitation, because it’s such a grey area. I’m here to help you uncover the first step to more unique work.

Which I think is what we are all searching for. We want to be original and unique to our style. Because I think that’s one of the most fulfilling parts of being an artist.

In the next post, I am going to show you how I use inspiration to create my own work.

So remember:

Use inspiration as motivation to create, not imitate.

If you enjoyed this post, listen to my interview on the Eat Blog Talk Podcast: How to Get Inspired, Be Unique and Harness Creative Momentum.