Do you see a Higher Purpose to your work?

---

Have I told you before that I love my job?

Every 6 weeks or so I meet my friend and fellow photographer Debra for lunch. These are not quick 45-minute grab a bite and go. We chat about all aspects of our creative worlds. It’s nothing for us to have a 3-hour lunch. But last week was different.

We started talking about how our work impacts others. If you’ve taken any of my courses or workshops, you know I talk about how we connect with our viewers. That even though we bring our own sensibility to the image when we create it, the viewer gets to finish the image.

And of course, the ‘holy grail’ as an artist is to get a viewer to feel something when they look at our work. But that’s easier said than done.

I think we all know that feeling when we see an image that impacts us. I can feel a reaction in my body. The energy in my cells vibrate at a slightly higher level. And to be completely honest, I often times feel envious that I didn’t create the piece. It hits a chord with me….either bringing up a feeling, a mood or an emotion. But I’m not always good with naming those words so have learned to sense it in my body.

Similarly, I know when I’m creating good work. Work that I know will have an impact on my viewers. I’m calm. My body feels at ease. Intuitively I know I’m on the right path.

Debra is a great photographer and it’s been fun to learn from her over the years. She is masterful at photographing the moment where people connect, and community is honored, celebrated, and strengthened.

As conversations oftentimes go with me (because I love entrepreneurship as much as creating) we soon found ourselves talking about the best way to get her work out into the world.

My first question is always, ‘what do you want?’ This usually stops people in their tracks. And the question I usually get back is, ‘what do you mean? I want to make money from my photography.’

But Debra is pretty savvy. We started to really talk about her Minnesota State Fair work. Sure, she could continue working with the Minnesota State Fair Foundation, and she could do a book (her captions of the images are brilliant), and there are always exhibition opportunities she could seek out. But instinctively she knew something was missing. She wanted something else.

I briefly introduced her to the Blue Ocean Strategy created by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne. If you compare Ringling Brothers Circus to Cirque du Soleil you see that Cirque turned the circus model upside down and created a ‘circus’ type experience where they made their competition irrelevant. They aligned themselves with a completely different set of activities that were important them.

We talked about future writing. Taking 5 minutes every day and writing as if you are in your future right now. Not what you want to do … or what you want to accomplish, but rather like you are in it right now.

We talked about the traditional art world being like the tip of the iceberg with shows, and books, and galleries and what it’s like to get below the waterline and find the rest of the iceberg.

We talked about her work and what it means to have conversations with communities. What it means to be connected to people in today’s topsy turvy world.

And then it came out, strong and clear. She wants to talk to groups about the importance of human connectedness. To share with others, in real-time, the heart-filling moments that celebrate what we share in common and in community. She wants to use her photography to illustrate these moments and the importance of the conversation between each other.

Now that is something concrete. She now has a direction. She can figure out how to actively participate in ways to move her towards her clear vision.

And I had the same reaction in my body that I do when I know my work is good. That same calming feeling where everything is in alignment. This makes all the sense in the world to me. That doesn’t mean that Debra shouldn’t create that book and seek out further exhibitions, but those activities will be complementary to her higher purpose. Sharing her work on a personal level to groups, conferences and organizations.

 

 

To see more of Debra’s work go to www.goldfishcommunications.com or www.BeyondTheStick.com.

 

 

 

 

---

Do you feel like there is a higher purpose to the work that you are creating? Would love to know how you see your work fitting into the world.

Be well….be creative,