Lost Your Creative Mojo? Let’s Get It Back!
Pete takes listeners on a journey to reignite their creative spark. Sharing his experience of rediscovering a passion for photography during a trip to Stanthorpe and Tenterfield, Pete explores why creativity fades and how to rekindle it. He discusses overcoming barriers like routine and fear of judgment and suggests ways to unlock creative potential, such as changing environments and engaging with people. Tune in to discover practical tips and inspiring stories that encourage embracing creativity in everyday life. Follow Pete on his website and podcast for more insights and inspiration.
Creativity often hits a roadblock, right? One minute you’re vibing, and the next you feel like you’re staring at a blank canvas, wondering if you’ve forgotten how to even hold a brush. Our host dives into this relatable struggle, recounting a recent trip to Stanthorpe and Tenterfield that reignited that creative spark. He talks about how life can sometimes turn our passions into chores, and how a simple change of scenery—like visiting a local show—can flip the script. Capturing the essence of the event through his camera, he rediscovered the thrill of photography, proving that sometimes all we need is a little shake-up to get those creative juices flowing again.
He goes on to explore the main barriers that often stifle our creativity, like the mundane routine of daily life, fear of judgment, and the all-too-common forgetting to play. By breaking down these walls, he gives us some solid tips on how to unlock our creative potential. Spoiler alert: it involves stepping out of your comfort zone and trying new things, and he’s not just talking about picking up a new hobby. Whether it’s a new route for your daily walk or trying out a different medium, the key takeaway is that creativity thrives on fresh experiences. So, grab your camera, your paintbrush, or whatever floats your boat, and get ready to explore!
In the end, it’s all about that spark, the urge to create that connects us all. He challenges listeners to wake up their creative muscles and share their experiences—because creativity is a journey best travelled together. So, whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting out, remember that the best part about creativity is that it’s always there, waiting for you to dive back in. Get out there, have fun, and keep that creative flame alive!
- Photography Portfolio: petergeorge.com
- Podcast Subscription: heygeorgie.com
- YouTube - Fiasco da Gama: heygeorgie.com Wayne
Transcript
Hi, and welcome back to hey Georgie.
Speaker A:It's all in the Camel Invest.
Speaker A:Say, Sean, now let me ask you, when was the last time you felt truly creative?
Speaker A:Not just productive, not just busy, but that deep, exciting spark of creativity that makes you see the world differently?
Speaker A:For a while, I felt like I'd lost that spark.
Speaker A:Life got in the way.
Speaker A:The camera, which had once been my creative escape, started feeling like work.
Speaker A:But recently, while away in Stanthorpe and Tenterfield, something shifted.
Speaker A:I found myself back behind the lens, capturing, funnily enough, the Tenterfield show and the people that were involved.
Speaker A:And in that moment, I felt it again, that little electric pulse of creativity.
Speaker A:Today, I want to share that journey with you.
Speaker A:How we can reignite our creative potential, why it sometimes fades, and how to get it back.
Speaker A:Because creativity isn't something we lose sometimes.
Speaker A:We just need a new way to find it again.
Speaker A:So when we went to Tenafield, Jane went off shopping and I went off to the show.
Speaker A:And if you know or have been following me for a while, you know that photography has been a huge part of my life.
Speaker A:Whether it was shooting weddings, newspapers, sports, street and travel photography, it's always been there.
Speaker A:But as life does, I found myself drifting a bit, a little bit like this podcast and YouTube and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker A:The camera started to feel like work rather than play.
Speaker A:That changed when I was in Stanthorpe and tenfold, as I just mentioned, I hadn't planned on shooting much.
Speaker A:I took the cameras.
Speaker A:I thought I might get some just country shots in the sense of country folk, because I love doing people photography, telling stories with it.
Speaker A:So it was just country folk doing what they do, animals, all that kind of stuff.
Speaker A:But when I got to the show, one of the things that I used to photograph a lot was equestrian.
Speaker A:And there I was at the show with start of the show jumping.
Speaker A:So I spent most of that day shooting the show jumping and also the stock work and.
Speaker A:And things like that and the people around that environment.
Speaker A:And then I found.
Speaker A:I went up and met my wife Jane at cafe.
Speaker A:We hadn't eaten, James having a coffee, and then we went for a wander.
Speaker A:And then funnily enough, there was this lovely young lady.
Speaker A:I'm just trying to remember her name, to be honest.
Speaker A:I think it's Matilda.
Speaker A:And she had a leather store and went in there.
Speaker A:Beautiful leather work.
Speaker A:I'll leave a her details in the description of this episode.
Speaker A:But just so you know, Matilda made leather on all her social media is where you'll find it.
Speaker A:So, yeah, she's Pretty cool on Instagram and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker A:And then all of a sudden my method of brain kicked in, got the 50 mil out, did some nice work and had a lot of fun.
Speaker A:And then it hit me that creativity is something we lose.
Speaker A:Sometimes we just need that little shake up to get us going again.
Speaker A:Now this can be for anything.
Speaker A:It can be for reading books, it can be for, you know, doing needlework, it can be cooking, it can be anything that we lose sight of, of something that we enjoy.
Speaker A:And this next section I just want to go through.
Speaker A:And it's the, the barriers to creativity, the, the things that hold us back.
Speaker A:Why do we, why do we lose touch of our creativity?
Speaker A:So, so here are some of my thoughts of why we lose that creative urge and what the first one is.
Speaker A:Routine kills creativity.
Speaker A:So what I mean by that is we get stuck to, stuck in, stuck in our day to day lives.
Speaker A:For instance, I work full time, a lot of you guys work full time.
Speaker A:We have those things that we love to do.
Speaker A:And this is away from sport because we all find time to do sport.
Speaker A:But this is the creative side.
Speaker A:So if you're the creative type, painting, photography, dance, anything that does, anything that falls into a natty type thing, routine kills us with it.
Speaker A:And what happens is that we don't travel as much, we don't get out as much.
Speaker A:So my true belief is that creativity thrives on new experiences.
Speaker A:Now if you go over to PeterGeorge.com that's my photography site, and you'll see when I travel, how my photography lives.
Speaker A:So for instance, if I do the mundane and went to shoot the farmer's market here where I live, I get a different result to when I'm away because you think you're trying to capture something new, but realistically it's only a new place.
Speaker A:The other one is fear of judgment.
Speaker A:We hesitate to create because we're worried it won't be good enough.
Speaker A:As Gary Vaynerchuk always says, or Gary V, depending which way you know him is, there's only one person you have to impress and that's you.
Speaker A:No one else doesn't matter.
Speaker A:Other opinions don't really forge who you are as a creator.
Speaker A:It may do with doing online stuff and things like that, but generally for your creativity, just get out there and do it.
Speaker A:So for instance, with photography, I wanted to master panning shots, especially with motorsport looked pretty cool.
Speaker A:And now I hadn't panned anything for a good decade.
Speaker A:And because I practiced it so much, I went out and we Were doing some stock work and there was a cocky chasing calf and I could see where he was going to go.
Speaker A:Set the camera to where I needed it to the pad.
Speaker A:Bang, got it.
Speaker A:And I hadn't done that for 10 years.
Speaker A:And when I saw it and I puffed up my own chest.
Speaker A:So there's the judgment yourself.
Speaker A:I puffed up my own chest.
Speaker A:And that's where the spark also comes from.
Speaker A:Now, the other thing is it's a little bit quirky, this one.
Speaker A:It's forgetting to play.
Speaker A:As kids, we created without hesitation.
Speaker A:As adults, we forget to explore, to be curious, to just do without overthinking.
Speaker A:And that's with anything, anything in life.
Speaker A:As we grow up, we get this weird, wonderful thing called a brain that over complicates everything.
Speaker A:And that's what I found when I was at the show at Tenfield.
Speaker A:I wasn't thinking.
Speaker A:My natural learned skills took over and I was back having fun.
Speaker A:And if you go to, I think it's the Peter George Facebook page.
Speaker A:I did a post while I was out there and that post said one thing.
Speaker A:Well, it said multiple things, but the statement was quite simple.
Speaker A:Back at it.
Speaker A:And the other one that I posted was back in my natural environment.
Speaker A:So what do I mean by that?
Speaker A:That.
Speaker A:That's my creativity.
Speaker A:So whether it's writing a book, whether it's painting a portrait, whether it's building something, once you're back in what I call your natural environment, you're off and running.
Speaker A:Now, the images that I put out on those are just raw out of the camera.
Speaker A:I don't edit anything until I get home because I believe it's important to be with my wife at the same time, not locked up editing images.
Speaker A:So those will slowly get over to, as I said earlier, peterjorgie.com but if you want to subscribe to this show, go to heygeorgie.com and you'll get the podcast.
Speaker A:So the next area I want to talk about is unlocking your creative potential.
Speaker A:If you feel like you're in a creative rut, here's a few ways to unlock it again.
Speaker A:Change your environment.
Speaker A:So go somewhere new.
Speaker A:Now, I hadn't been to a show for years.
Speaker A:Whether it's a different town, a different coffee shop, or just taking a different route on your daily walk.
Speaker A:Fresh perspectives spark creativity.
Speaker A:And the great Jerry Joo's, a wonderful fashion wedding portrait photographer based in Los Angeles.
Speaker A:Always said to me when I first met him, I kept on asking him, knowing him, saying, what's the key thing to photography and he says, walking around and being able to see an image without a camera.
Speaker A:And that's how I work all the time.
Speaker A:So I'll see an image, but when I'm with a camera, I take it.
Speaker A:So say, for instance, I'm in Brisbane.
Speaker A:I live on the Gold coast, but I'm in Brisbane.
Speaker A:I'm walking around.
Speaker A:My brain when I'm just walking around, because I haven't shot up there for a long time, saying, let's come back and shoot here, let's come back and shoot here.
Speaker A:There's an image there, there's an image there.
Speaker A:Immediately, if you're an artist, there's a painting here, there's a painting there, there's this.
Speaker A:I can do this, that I can do.
Speaker A:And that's where changing your environment gives you a fresh perspective and sparks that creativity once again.
Speaker A:Now try different mediums.
Speaker A:Another way to do it now.
Speaker A:And this, what I mean by this is, if you're a writer, pick up a camera.
Speaker A:If you're a photographer, try sketching new forms of expression, unlock new ideas.
Speaker A:Now, your sketches may be absolute shockers, but try and sketch what you want to photograph.
Speaker A:If you're a reiner, take a photo of what you want to write about and use that as a visual element to bring that creativity and be able to express through your main medium how to take the best photos or write the best book or be the best landscape artist, but just do something different away.
Speaker A:When you're starting to feel a little bit in a rut, just do something a little bit different that you've never done before in a creative way.
Speaker A:Now, the other one, and this is where the 20 faces of Bali come from.
Speaker A:Engage with people.
Speaker A:Some of the best creative inspiration comes from human interaction.
Speaker A:Now, there's a guy that inspires me a fair bit, and his name is Wayne Watts.
Speaker A:He has a YouTube channel called Fiasco da Gama.
Speaker A:And if you go to heygeorgie.com Wayne you'll get to his YouTube channel.
Speaker A:And basically he is based in Ubud, but travels around Bali, Indonesia, India.
Speaker A:And he every day strive to go out and talk to someone new and listen to.
Speaker A:And he listens to their stories.
Speaker A:One of the great things and Jane and I have never done it, is be able to speak the native tongue over there.
Speaker A:And that opens up different channels for Wayne.
Speaker A:He talks to someone new every day.
Speaker A:He listens to their story, and then he has the ability to translate that back to us, which is great.
Speaker A:So when I walk, what I do when I'm in Bali, And I might do this when I'm in Maryborough and Tassie.
Speaker A:This year we're not going to Bali.
Speaker A:We're going for a big one next year is that I walk with a specific lens when I walk around a town.
Speaker A:So Wayne uses his GoPro.
Speaker A:I use my camera with a 24 to 70 mil lens because that gives me enough depth and width to get involved in storytelling.
Speaker A:And that's what I love to do.
Speaker A:And that's what I've done with the 20 faces of Bali.
Speaker A:I'll set that up for you guys.
Speaker A:The.
Speaker A:The 20 images that I took, all that 24 to 70, but all came about by interacting and talking to someone new and getting involved before I lift the camera up.
Speaker A:So that's how I do that and the other one, and it's.
Speaker A:You hear it on, you know, YouTube channels and how to start a podcast and do all of this and do all of that.
Speaker A:And it's the same with the creativity side of yourself, and that is just start.
Speaker A:The hardest part is the beginning.
Speaker A:Creativity isn't waiting for the perfect moment.
Speaker A:It's in the doing.
Speaker A:And I always believe in that.
Speaker A:So if you do it often enough, like this podcast, for instance, I think I'm.
Speaker A:This is going to be episode 40, I think, and I'm lucky to have two followers, but I have many listeners, and as I always say, if I can touch someone with something that I do in this podcast, then I've done my job.
Speaker A:But if you would like to subscribe, as I said earlier, heygeorgie.com get over there.
Speaker A:Follow us on your favorite podcast platform, because not always, I do videos sometimes, like this one.
Speaker A:This just came to me.
Speaker A:This episode just came to me while I was recovering from a little bit of an incident that I did have had at Stanthorpe.
Speaker A:16 stitches in one's knee, but that's okay.
Speaker A:And I thought, bang, I was out there creating again.
Speaker A:I felt good.
Speaker A:I felt like I was back in that happy place once again, which I thought I'd lost.
Speaker A:So my closing thoughts are, what do we do the next weekend away or something that you're doing.
Speaker A:Waken up that creative muscle of yours.
Speaker A:It needs to be stretched, challenged, and fed new experiences.
Speaker A:So whenever you listen to this next weekend, when you got time off, go and do something creative and share it with me.
Speaker A:You know, comment here, comment on the website, comment, you know, on YouTube, podcast, wherever you can drop a comment and tell me what you did that you did different that got the creativity back and going.
Speaker A:Because the best part of creativity.
Speaker A:It's always there with us.
Speaker A:It just, sometimes it just needs to pick up the brush, pick up the camera, pick up the guitar again, or do, do something that'll get that spark going.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:So that's this episode.
Speaker A:I hope you get something because I have been recreating creating the photos that I saw when I shoot.
Speaker A:And that's@petergeorge.com now.
Speaker A:I've mentioned it many times, but that's where the photography is.
Speaker A:So that's it.
Speaker A:As I said for today, if you enjoyed this episode, hit, follow, share it with a mate, and let's keep the conversation going until next time.
Speaker A:Keep creating, keep exploring, and remember, that's all in the conversation.
