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The Creative Image - part 1 of 1 2

by Mike McNamee Published 01/10/2015

"You must always start with something. Afterwards you can remove all traces ofreality. There's no danger then, anyway, because the idea of the object will haveleft an indelible mark.

"It is what started the artist off, excited his ideas, and stirred up his emotions.Ideas and emotions eventually end up as prisoners in his work. Whatever they do,they can't escape from the picture. They form an integral part of it, even whentheir presence is no longer discernible. Whether he likes it or not, man is theinstrument of nature."

Pablo Picasso

The creative Image - what is it?
We all have different views on what constitutes a creative image.It's a term that slips off the tongue easily and is sometimes usedto describe something that is unusual or unusually good, whichmay or may not be creative when viewed against the criteria ofothers. The term has strong roots in the category definitions for competitions,sometimes as a catch-all for those pictures that do not fit into other more easilydefined categories such as sport, nature, landscape, etc. There is always anoverlap and in a desire to boost the number of images available for an entry,sometimes people lapse into a lazier definition.

For this feature we have tightened the definition to include stuff that isessentially 'other world' by reason of model choice, make-up, propping or,finally, by image manipulation.

Image manipulation, beyond tidying up, distraction elimination and colouradjustment, usually pushes an image over into the creative part of thedefinition spectrum. Another way of looking at it is to pose the question 'couldthis image have been made in camera?' This, though does not eliminate fullypropped and casted allegorical scenes such as those that the Edmondson'screate. Andrew Dobell's images often start with propping and costume (theso-called cosplay) but he leaves no doubt over the fantasy credentials of hisimage by adding many more elements to his image. If you move all the wayacross to the work of Vicki Boulter, then there are very few observers who wouldnot define her style as creative - her images could never be created exclusivelyin camera.

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1st Published 01/10/2015
last update 09/12/2022 14:52:58

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