Inspiration Deli

Dick Durrance | creativity & craftsmanship

In October I took a field trip with a class I was teaching at the Kimball Art Center to hear Dick Durrance speak at pictureline (the best camera shop in Utah,  because both of their staff and that they do more photography event programming than anyone else.)

Dick started as a combat photographer in Vietnam, worked as an advertising photographer, then transistioned to being a golf course photographer, partly, it seems, because he loved golf.

I like to take notes whenever I hear a photographer give a presentation, and I thought I’d share with you my two highlights of Dick’s speech:

1) “Creativity without craftsmanship is like a million times zero.”

I’ve often said that successful photography, like other creative fields, is really a complex blend of using both halves of your brain, and this quote from Dick says it more simply and better than I could.

An earlier post has a TED video of  Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor describing her experience (as a brain scientist) of having a stroke.  It’s an interesting insight in the the left & right sides of your brain and how they work together.

2) “People like to help people–call and ask for favors.”

I’m not sure if it’s my Scorpio tendencies, or some deep psychological issues, but I’m not a big fan of asking for favors.  But Dick’s sentiment will hopefully get me past this problem.  So maybe my first favor will be to ask you to add something to my Inspiration Deli blog.  Please go to my “about” page (upper right corner) and email me.  I’ll give you account privileges and you can start sharing your creative inspiration ideas.

He has some good video excerpts of his speeches here.