Bridging the Creative Gap

You’re sitting at your computer, reviewing the images from the shoot you had just wrapped. You’re skimming through and after about the fiftieth photo you feel a pang of dread. You look more closely and discover that there is nothing that is really striking about the pictures. Nothing draws your attention. There isn’t that special something. Your stomach sinks. Not only do you have to go present the client with something less than what you promised, you’re also disappointed and underwhelmed by your own work because what you’ve made isn’t as good as what you wanted it to be.I’ve lost count of the number of times that I have come back from a picture taking session, looked at the images and been disappointed with the results. And I’m 100 percent certain that there are some of you reading this, that have felt the same way. You don’t even necessarily have to be in photography, you could be in graphic design or creative writing, music or even architecture. The void is something that is common in all creative industries. And depending on your experience and where you are at with your career, this void might be unfathomably wide or it might be only very narrow. It is a phase that all creatives go through. Radio host Ira Glass refers to this as the ‘creative gap’.

The Creative Gap

Glass says that all of us who do creative work do it because we have good taste. You love cartoons so you get into animation. You love good food so you train to be a chef. You love movies so you make your own films. And unless you’re a prodigy, in the first couple of years, the animations you make, the dishes you cook, and films you shoot, chances are they are not as good as how you want them to be. In fact, they might even suck. In no way does the final product resemble what you had imagined. You can tell because your taste, the thing that got you creating in the first place, is still good enough that you can see what you’re making fall short of your expectations.A lot of the people who are at this gap, whether they are at the start, the middle or even close to the end, see that it is too much and quit. If you’re in this phase, Glass says the best thing you could possibly do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline and produce as much as you can. The more you create and the more you review, the better your chances of closing that gap. If you decide to push through, you are already ahead of the ones who have thrown in the towel.Liked this blog? Check out our other design focused blogs titled Horror, A Licence to Thrill or The Truth Behind the Vlog.If you need graphic design expertise and are a charity then get in touch with us today! We may be able to help as part of our DigiCare program.