A reflection on age and creativity

[Eddie Vaughan]

There is a time for everything, the bible says. Arthritic joints and a stiff back serve as reminders, if any are necessary, that I can no longer hope to repeat many of the things that I could once do so easily and naturally. I think something similar has happened to my Rolleiflex photography. I have gained a lot of experience over the years, but I also seem to have lost a lot of spontaneity and creativity. I don't see as much of that now in my photographs. Experience and technical competence do not compensate for it entirely, but there might be little I can do about it. Creativity and spontaneity are arguably connected with age.

I believe the same decline was evident among famous Rolleiflex photographers of the past. The classic Rolleiflex photographers discussed in a separate post on this forum had in most cases completed their most creative and memorable work by their 30s, and I count Irving Penn, Fritz Henle, Diane Arbus, and Vivian Mayer among those cases. The same connection between age and creativity is also evident in most fields of artistic endeavour; one does not usually associate avant garde ideas and achievement with middle or old age.

If it is true that experience and creativity do not always go together in photography, and in fact are often opposed, then one might be tempted to speculate about Rollei Club members. Are most of us now past the age of doing anything creative in our Rolleiflex photography? Have we reached the point finally where our ambitions focus mainly on identifying precisely the Rolleflex models we own, or on hoping that Jan will soon get started on constructing his revolutionary 'data cemetery'?

I want to ask a question about flash synchronization, but shall leave it until a later time

Eddie Vaughan

[DPurdy]

I didn't start photography till I was 30. Age is not the problem. The problem in maintaining inspiration and energy is multi faceted. Part of the problem is after you have done something a long time your system of rewards become less valuable. Another problem in this time is sitting at the computer instead of doing something. Another problem most older people face is being over weight and sitting more than being active.
If your aching joints are merely age related wear and tear type arthritis then that is easily remedied.

[JanBoettcher]

My data cemetary is up and running since the early days of excel (just found back up #4 dating from 2002) before that it was just paper.

I don't feel too "creative" (probably never have felt so), but I'm way more inclined to press the shutter release button when I see something "new" (new to me). So, in the usual environment I don't shoot to many pics (just for the family album), when travelling it gets more ... on the other hand many people coming from you-name-it do shoot quite a lot pics around here (though everything looks rather "boring" to the locals).

Well, come to think of it, here is my first donation: A pretty "2953495"!

[DPurdy]

I see "953848" on ebay, Looks nice. What do you mean it is your first donation. Did you just buy it or are you selling it?

[Eddie Vaughan]

I am naturally delighted to learn that age related wear and tear is easily remedied. I shall make an appointment to have a good CLA.

I take the point, though, that I might be sitting around too much while lamenting a loss of youthful creativity. I shall go out and take more photos. Maybe tomorrow. Thomas Edison urged the same advice on those who seek genius, declaring it to be ninety-nine per cent perspiration and one per cent inspiration.

[JanBoettcher]

[quote="DPurdy"]I see "953848" on ebay, Looks nice. What do you mean it is your first donation. Did you just buy it or are you selling it?[/quote]
Just a number ... so people can look it up and take a wild guess