10 Things That Inspire Me #10thingsthatinspire

As part of any artists process of developing their craft it is often their life experience, interests and external influences that help form their style.

I came across an article recently about a photographers method called "Seven suggestions on finding your style".

As the first step, you need to be open and honest (at least to yourself) about what inspires you. As an exercise, list 10 things – whether these are other photographers, other kinds of artists, films, music, literature etc. -Miss Aniela

So in that vein here is my list of 10 things that inspire me:

1. Cinematography - Notably Noir. I also like unusual shooting in a film or TV show (Misfits comes to mind), atmosphere and good story telling through the visual medium often without words.
2. Other artists (not forgetting Photographers) - Stand out artists for me are the likes of Dave McKean, Mark Ryden, Brian Froud, Vincent Marcone, Miles Aldridge, Vivian Maier, Shepard Fairey and many, many more.
3. Nature and seasons - The ever changing seasons and nature, wildlife and all life.
4. Mythology, legends and folklore.
5. Collage and altered art - I love the texture and abstract nature often whilst telling a story.
6. Magick, fantasy & surrealism - Like many people I like to escape the realm of reality through the surreal and hyper real.
7. Novels and books - There are many books and authors who've had a profound impact on my world view. The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield and The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho being two such books as well as Clive Barkers Weaveworld. There are many, many more, but it would be an entire post in itself.
8. Music - Music sets the mood for everything and so too do I like to have music when I create to set the mood. I'll often create playlists with a mood in mind. I could list 'some' artists I like ('some' being an understatement) but there really are just too many to list. I really do enjoy nearly all genres of music.
9. Theatrical - I love the decadence, dramatics, feel and vibe one often associates with theatre. A dynamic so different to TV or film because of the very nature of the medium.
10. Narrative - From my other listed items this one would seem to cross over with many of them and it's something I feel is vital in my craft, to tell a story without words and to leave the viewer to piece the story together; interpret from their life experience, inspirations and influences.

Related articles

• Seven suggestions on finding your style (pixiq.com)
• When Inspiration is far from the present; Play (valorieschleicher.wordpress.com)
• We Want To Be Inspired (befreephotography.net)
• Pop Art: 5 celebrity artists (dangerousminds.net)