My love towards photography and skills I learned from famous photographers help me take good photos, which had won several photography contests. Therefore, I imitated these renowned photographers in my assignments, since I believed that following what successful people have done will bring me success as well. Unexpectedly, what I got was a C. My teacher commented, "You did meet all the requirements, but I can't see your own thinking and inspiration in those photos. Remember to think out of the box next time." It was not an F, but I call it a failure, because her seemingly mild response was a harsh criticism of my failure in originality.
What an ironic failure! Almost the worst grade in my high school year occur in the subject which I was so confident about. My teacher's criticism, however, required me to correct my way of thinking, which was not easy as correcting a single math problem. My philosophy of living was that as long as I followed all the rules, I could successfully complete my tasks. A book can give me the answers to solve a math problem, but a book cannot give me the answers to creativity. Where should I find creativity? What if I don't have a creative bone in the body? I did not figure it out until the next assignment.
My next assignment was to take photos of wild animals. Before, I would have imitated pictures in the magazines to take pictures of birds or insects in my backyard, but I knew that such an approach would not work anymore. I needed to make some changes. I put down my pen and called a yellow cab directly to the Redwoods park, a place where I had desired to visit for some time. With the scent of earth, the fresh air after the rain, and the sounds of insects, inspiration bursted me out of my usual way of thinking. Inspiration filled in my brain, my vision, and traveled into the camera in my hands. I had a feeling that I never had before. When I pressed the button on my camera, I followed my intuition instead of recalling any photos or skills I learned from the magazines. At that time, I found creativity. It is part of who I am, always existing in my mind and waiting for me to free it from the shackles of rules.
This experience demonstrated that I need to walk around and see parts of the world that I don't know, feel the power of nature, and then I will have new inspirations. Inspiration will not come by itself. Once I was afraid to fail, so I only did the things that I know I am good at, never tried to experience new things, and hardly heed the trait of originality in my mind. Studying hard, doing volunteer job frequently, or joining math competitions were all good things to me, but they would never cultivate the creativity in my mind, because I was so used to them. I need to experience something different, which can help me jump out of the normal patterns; I also need to experience a lot, so that I can understand myself more, and adjust the rules already existed to fit my personality, leading to a more effective outcome.
When taking a 20-minute walk to watch the world everyday, learning surfing with my friends, or hiking with other photography amateurs, I can feel that these experiences are bringing me new resources that can motivate my originality. Forming originality is a slow process that will not always appear when I call, but I can feel it in everyday life. I start noticing objects around me that may be applied to my photography, and I believe that one of my feet is already outside of the box.
