If you'd like to see more of Lorne's images please visit http://www.lorneresnick.com

For select previous Museletters, go here.

This Museletter is about creativity in all its forms. It includes excerpts, stories, quotations and various musings designed to educate, motivate, inspire and to be pondered & enjoyed.

As well as shooting commercial projects on location and in the studio for advertising clients, Lorne has recently published a fine art photo book on his 20-years of shooting in Cuba, available here. He also teaches travel photography workshops throughout the world.

Here's what's inside this issue:
1. Ignore Everybody
2. The Nine Sisters
3. Travel Photography Workshops: (Cuba, Africa, Los Angeles)

There is no such thing as taking too much time, because your soul is in that picture.
Ruth Bernhard

How To Be Creative. Part 1 of 5

Ignore everybody:
The more original your idea is, the less good advice other people will be able to give you. You donʼt know if your idea is any good the moment itʼs created. Neither does anyone else. The most you can hope for is a strong gut feeling that it is. And trusting your feelings is not as easy as the optimists say it is. There's a reason why feelings scare us.

And asking close friends never works quite as well as you hope, either. It's not that they deliberately want to be unhelpful. It's just they don't know your world one millionth as well as you know your world, no matter how hard they try, no matter how hard you try to explain.

Good ideas alter the power balance in (personal and business) relationships, that is why good ideas are always initially resisted.

Put the hours in:
Doing anything worthwhile takes forever. 90% of what separates successful people and failed people is time, effort, and stamina.

If somebody in your industry is more successful than you, it's probably because he works harder at it than you do. Sure, maybe he's more inherently talented, more adept at networking, etc., but I don't consider that an excuse. Over time, that advantage counts for less and less. Which is why the world is full of highly talented, network-savvy, failed mediocrities.

Stamina is utterly important. And stamina is only possible if it's managed well. People think all they need to do is endure one crazy, intense, job-free creative burst and their dreams will come true. They are wrong, they are stupidly wrong. Being good at anything is like figure skating—the definition of being good at it is being able to make it look easy. But it never is easy. Ever. That's what the stupidly wrong people conveniently forget.

If I was just starting out writing, say, a novel or a screenplay, or maybe starting up a new software company, I wouldn't try to quit my job in order to make this big, dramatic, heroic- quest thing about it.

I would do something far simpler: I would find that extra hour or two in the day that belongs to nobody else but me, and I would make it productive. Put the hours in; do it for long enough and magical, life-transforming things happen eventually. Sure, that means less time watching TV, Internet-surfing, going out, or whatever. But who cares?

How To Be Creative
Hugh MacLeod

Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.
Salvador Dalí

The Myths of Creativity. Part 1 of 3

Cultures develop myths when they can’t rely on existing knowledge to explain the world around them. They are developed and passed down in an effort to explain why certain mysterious events occur, or to affirm how we should behave and think. Creativity is no different. The Ancient Greeks created the muses, who received and answered the prayers of ancient writers, musicians, and even engineers. The muses were the bearers of creativity’s divine spark. They were the source of inspiration. Over time, the Greek influence on the Western world ensured that the legend of the muses continued on. During the Enlightenment, many of the leading thinkers of the 18th century sought to re-establish a “cult of the muses” as a means to further their own intellectual pursuits. Voltaire, Danton, even Benjamin Franklin while in Paris attended meetings at a Masonic lodge named Les Neufs Soeurs, or “the nine sisters.” Our modern culture still feels the effects of their efforts in words such as “museum,” whose original meaning was “cult place of the muses,” but has since come to refer to any place where public knowledge or creative works are displayed.

While the influence of the Greek mythology of creativity can still be seen in modern times, the modern scientific method has helped us move away from a belief in the muses. But few, it seems, have accepted that help. Despite the revelations of empirical research, a newer mythology has developed to attempt to explain away other mysterious elements of creativity and the entire process of innovation.

Here are some myths about creativity widespread in the modern world. These are myths in the traditional sense: they’re based on observing something seemingly unexplainable, and then crafting a logically sound (but faulty) explanation.

If we want to be more creative, if we want our organizations to be more innovative, then we have to use the wealth of empirical research at hand, and rewrite the myths of creativity...

The Eureka Myth
We tend to assume that creative insights happen in a flash, or that the idea was brought to us from something outside ourselves. That’s why we use language like “it just came to me.” The truth is that the creative process typically requires a time of incubation, where ideas and relevant knowledge linger in the subconscious. Sometimes the ideas connect suddenly, seemingly in a flash, but more often the right connection takes some work after incubation.

The Breed Myth:
When we look at outstandingly creative individuals, it’s easy to assume that they are a certain type or breed. The truth is that there is no evidence supporting a creative gene or personality type. We’re all cut from largely the same cloth, with the same ability to generate ideas. There is a wealth of evidence showing there creative potential is inside of everyone.

The Originality Myth:
When a creative idea is presented to us, it’s easy to look at it as wholly original–a departure from the old way of thinking. The truth is that all new ideas are built from combining older ideas. The novelty comes from the combination or application, not the idea itself. Our brains are a jumble of connections and new connections are formed all the time. Research demonstrates that the most creative people are the ones whose brains form new connections the easiest. It’s not about originality; it’s about making original copies.

The Myths of Creativity
David Burkus

Workshops

The Art of Travel Photography:
How to Create Emotionally Compelling Travel Images

Join Lorne as he teaches you the keys to creating emotionally compelling nature, landscape, people, wildlife and travel images. This limited selection of unique workshops, geared toward every participant skill level, will provide you with an exceptional learning experience in some of the most beautiful places on Earth, including Cuba and Africa. To see Lorne's entire workshop schedule for his Art of Travel Photography workshop series, please visit http://www.lorneresnick.com/workshops

Cuba Workshop

Death Valley Workshop

Monument Valley Workshop