Happy Friday everyone, I wish you an awesome weekend.

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Here’s a special little treat for my Croatian readers. I’ve been getting some pretty funny spam comments lately, written in “most fabulous” Croatian  that made me laugh and I wanted to share them with you :

Tko ne voli posrnuti na svoj blog s vremena na vrijeme?

So, there you go, a bit of bright red and some greenery captured on one of my walks:

More weeds I find pretty:

I hope you all have colorful week

I never get bored of taking typical tourist pics of Zagreb even though I’m clearly not one.

When I rediscovered my love for drawing in 2008. I wasn’t concerned with what it may result in. I didn’t think of becoming an illustrator or choosing a genre I want to work in or finding my own style. I just felt like drawing and sharing my creations online. After a short period of time, a style of illustration I still work in emerged. It happened spontaneously and effortlessly without me thinking about it or putting  any conscientious effort into it. My style grew out organically out of many things I was exposed to over the years (studying animation, character design), things that I liked , that inspired me ( mid-century art and design, abstract art, nature, animals) and my own interests and beliefs (self-development, finding joy and happiness in everyday life etc). It all came together so  easily, I never even thought about  developing or finding a style, it just happened.

But, ever since I got into photography, a notion of finding my own style has been one of the main concerns, sometimes even bordering on obsession. And I found out I wasn’t  the only one, many fellow photographers were totally preoccupied with developing their style, especially young photographers or passionate amateurs.So it made me wonder: “Why is it so important to find your own photography style in the first place?“

The only way you can really benefit from having a distinctive photography style is if you want to  market and monetize your work. It’s easier to promote (and sell) a consisted body of work done in specific style and genre. But if you’re not interested in commercial side of photography, then it shouldn’t be so crucial to find your own style. Yet, I noticed so many people who have no interest in selling their photos still actively try to “find their own style“.

Why is that so? And why have I  been wanting  to find my own style even though I’m not particularly interested in selling my photos? Well, I have a theory. I think that a lot of people concerned with finding their own photography style are actually subconsciously  trying to find out who they are, trying to get to know themselves and they are projecting that quest on their creative work. Sometimes by trying to figure out what your unique style is, you’re trying to figure out who you really are as a person .That idea doesn’t sound so strange when you think of society we live in.

We live in a society that encourages us to find out own identity, our own self, not by looking within  but by identifying  with  things and ideas from outer world. We are encouraged to look for our identity through clothes we wear, products we buy, food we eat,  music we listen to, friends we have, ideologies and philosophies of others, religious ideas, political movements etc. The truth the only way we can genuinely  connect to our selves is from within, though introspection, through asking ourselves what do we want to do regardless of everyone and everything else, thorough listening to our intuition etc.

So, to get back to photography, it wouldn’t be unusual to project a need for self-knowledge onto a  need to develop a photography style. It was definitely case with me. All the while I was eagerly trying to find my style I was actually trying to figure out who I really am and to connect with myself.  My photos were only mirrors of that process. I believed if I find my style (my unique voice, my authentic way of expression) I would somehow feel complete, my work would become more meaningful, somehow everything would  have more sense etc. But basically I was projecting my desire for self-knowledge and self-development onto my hobby. I subconsciously believed that by solving “an issue” of  what I wanted to do with my photography I would somehow magically also find out who I am.

But my efforts were misplaced. Even though making art (or taking photos)  can be incredibly usefully tool for self discovery and can be very therapeutic it is only a tool. As soon as I fully realized that , I felt relieved. I realized that I don’t need to focus on “finding my photography style” but on my on finding out who I am  and that knowledge will help me  to grow and progress in every area of my life (including  creative work such as photography). That  comprehension made me feel  much better, empowered and relaxed.

A true progress always comes from within us. And photography style isn’t something you find ,actually,  it grows out from your heart and soul, it’s a product of all of your experiences, knowledge, preferences etc. It happens naturally and it’s not something that should be forced. And, the best thing I came to realize? As someone who is not so interested in commercial side of photography in this moment in life, I really don’t have to bother  with having a definite style or working in one particular genre. I can happily continue to play and experiment and enjoy in every photo I take

]]> http://asjaboros.com/2012/05/10/on-finding-a-photography-style/feed/ 6 http://asjaboros.com/2012/05/07/chubby-bird/ http://asjaboros.com/2012/05/07/chubby-bird/#comments Mon, 07 May 2012 14:08:05 +0000 Asja http://asjaboros.com/?p=3334 [...]]]>

Happy Monday! How was your weekend? Mine was wonderful, I finally got to do some things I’ve been postponing for a  while. Also, in the spirit of “utilizing everything” decision I finally finished shooting a roll of film that’s been in one of my cameras for almost 4.5 years! Hopefully I won’t wait for another 4.5 years to get it developed

And, the drawing you can see above? Well, it’s just one of many drawings I’ve done recently but most of them still need to be scanned or photographed and shared with  world. This one in particular is called Chubby bird for obvious reasons, it’s drawn on A4 format paper and colored with watercolors.

When we don’t feel particularly inspired  it’s easy to get caught in a certain mindset. We become more focused on  things we believe we need in order to create something  instead on utilizing resources we already have. We think “In order to create this or that I need: new art supplies/better camera/faster computer/graphic tablet etc” . Or, “If I only had bigger work space/models to work with/bigger budget/more inspiration I could achieve what I desire“. I myself am often guilty of such mindset that leads straight down procrastination and frustration lane.

We very often believe that by acquiring more things we’ll become more creative and motivated to produce all the while forgetting the very definition of creativity. (Creativity is defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems…). And, really one of the most
obvious ways to exercise creativity is by trying to solve some sort of problem, challenge or work within limitations. Seemingly the bigger the problem or limitation is the more imagination you need to apply to solve it, the more creative you’ll need to get.

In other words, it’s not that having the best work conditions or limitless resources that makes us creative or makes our imagination soar.  It’ s the lack of resources that makes us look for alternative, out of the box solutions.

Having said all that I made a decision to utilize all art supplies I have before acquiring any new ones. I decide to limit myself on purpose in order to get my brain cells and intuition working and come up with new, original and unconventional ideas. Meaning, I will buy any new supplies, photo equipment or props before I utilize everything I already have.

I also chose to utilize all the ideas I already have as opposed to keep developing new ones. Why? Because, ideas themselves are not worth much until we manifest them in material world. Simply put, you never know if an idea is good or not until you try to realize it. What seems awesome in theory might not work in practical world at all but you won’t know it until you try it. Yet, we often get caught up in having so many great ideas that never get realized but only clutter our minds preventing new potentially better ideas to emerge.

So, I made a choice to utilize every idea I already have written in my art journal regardless of the outcome. Even if my ideas turn out to be failures, at least I’ll let them go and make room for new, fresh ones.

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Have you ever decided to work within limitations on purpose and you you like setting challenges for yourself?

I was asked to illustrate this apron as a birthday present for a girl who enjoys baking and making all kinds of sweet things weeks ago and I almost forgot about it until I stumbled upon it while going through my photo archives. I only wish I’ve taken a better a photo of the apron, but I was in a rush to get it delivered. Anyway, here it is: something cute and delicious to sweeten up already sweet Friday.

Happy weekend everyone!

I tried my new stamps out and made some patterns and cards:

I really liked that and then it occurred to me that by playing around with stamps I could easily and quickly make a simple poster. So I pulled out a 30x40cm pale yellow sheet of construction paper and decided on making flowery pattern. I was out of ink so I colored my stamps with plain felt tip pens and started stamping away.

The finished result looks like this:

I’m pleased with how it turned out and how fast this technique is. Next step, maybe getting some fabric paint and stamping out a white tablecloth?  We’ll see

When I was still in university I had a friend, a temperamental guy with an unique point of view and an offbeat sense of humor. One time, when we were casually talking about life changes and identity crises he suddenly yelled:” WTF identity crises?! So, you’re a teenager- you have an identity crisis, after that you go through quarter-life crisis, every time you break up with a girlfriend or lose a job-there it is: an identity crisis! Not to mention mid-life crisis! The whole life is a fawking identity crisis! I don’t want to play this game!!” At  the time I just laughed but, come to think of it, he was right! This is especially true if you’re doing some sort of creative work. If you’re an artist you seem to continually go through series of some sort of “identity crises”.

To make visible, tangible progress you need to constantly invent and re-invent yourself. First you try to develop your style, then you try to deconstruct it. First you try to expand your knowledge and creativity, then you realize you need to specialize in a  very narrow field  in order to market/sell it easier etc. And as soon as you start feeling comfortable with your work, it’s time for a change. It’s like a never ending cycle of ups and downs that can be both exciting and frustrating. Personally, I do enjoy this dynamics of doing a creative work, going through periods of intense research (and apparent lack of inspiration) and periods of creating and feeling supercharged with energy and inspiration. I’m used to it, I thrive on it.  But, sometimes it goes deeper and a real identity crisis comes disguised as a natural part of creative process.

In lately I was feeling quite restless, craving change. I’ve been trying to put this notion aside for last few months but it wouldn’t go away. I knew this because I’ve been unable to make a solid decision on anything in my life, I questioned and analyzed every single thing, and this restlessness and emotional and mental unease  also reflected on my physical body, I  had various health issues all throughout the year. But, even though I was aware I need to change something, I kept putting this feeling aside.

Until last week an identity crisis hit me full force. First  it started with trivial things, like me  wanting to clean things up and deleting my Twitter account, deleting a bunch of photos on my tumblr and changing permissions on my flickr account to the point of crashing my blog. I use flickr as photo storage and all the pics posted on asjaboros.com are originally posted on flickr, so by changing permissions several times on flickr I’ve changed HTML codes for them and almost every picture on my blog became “unavailable”. So I had to re-emebed new HTML codes for almost every single post I published in past 2 years. Basically, I had to reconstruct my entire site. By having to reconstruct my blog I was forced to revisit all of the work I did in last couple of years and I realized I simply don’t feel connected to most of it. I’ve changed a lot, I evolved and my work stayed the same.

“Ok, so I’m going to have to change my style too“, I said to myself and started drawing like a mad person trying to alter  my style and then it hit me. Actually hit me. I was drawing so much (and not in a relaxed happy way) that nerves in both of my hands got inflamed causing me great pain.  I simply couldn’t hold a pen anymore. After few days pain wasn’t as severe but a sense of weakness set in. I still couldn’t draw or write or hold any small object (like keys for example) without dropping it. It sucked. And it made me wonder. “If I’m not able to draw, if I am not able to be an artist- who am I? Have I neglected my other talents and interests to become an artist etc” Yes, there it was: a full-blooded identity crisis in its  most cheesiest incarnation, making me question my life, the meaning of it while sitting on the floor and starring at my weak hands.

I strongly believe that our emotions, mind and bodies are tightly connected and that this nerve inflammation was directly caused by my emotional confusion, it was a warning sign from my body to literally drop what I’m  doing. My body forced me to take a break and reflect on who I am and what it is I really wanted from life. A few more days have passed and my hands are doing better although I still can’t draw. And, from this point of view I think it’s for the best,  I’ve been drawing  automatically for a long time without truly feeling connected to my work.

This temporary health challenge is an opportunity for me to reconnect with myself, with my true needs and desires and to let new energy and creativity emerge.  I’m planning to use it to the fullest, to try out new things, maybe develop new skills and remember why I started to draw in the first place and why I (still) love it so much. I’ll see what happens. All I know: life is change and change is good