How photo sharing sites can help you find your muse
Just because pictures are now a dime a dozen on the internet does not me that they cannot inspire you to create. If you are having trouble finding your muse, try checking out one of the many photo sharing sites out there to see if perhaps someone else’s captured image can help you find the inspiration that you need.
Social networks and your muse
Everybody has a digital camera these days.
Even my dad, one of the biggest luddites I know, owns a digital camera. He even bought a laptop just so he can fill it up with pictures of his grandkids and show them off to visitors. He also got himself an account on Facebook so he can upload his vast collection of pictures of my nieces and nephews onto the internet and share them with the rest of the world.
Isn’t that the reason why most of us go onto Facebook in the first place? I know I go on to look at peoples pictures; to check out what all my friends look like, which ones have less hair then me, where they went on vacation, who they married, what their kids look like, yadda, yadda, yadda. I love doing this more than anything else when I am on this popular social network site. I just love going through the albums and finding out what type of story my FB Friend’s album tells about them.
You can get a lot from peeking in an online friend’s album and checking out what types of pictures that they choose to show the rest of the world. Some people will show just a few pictures, perhaps only a few photos of their family and a nice sunset or two, while others will fill up their server, documenting their entire lives, taking snapshots of everything they do and then sending it via their smart phone directly to the site. Whatever type photos they like to share, each one tells a story about that person and the moment that they captured.
While Facebook is cool, it only allows you to check out the photos of other “friends”. There are other photo sharing sites around give you chance to check out pics that people uploaded whether or not you happen to be their friend. These sites are great to go on and maybe find a bit of random inspiration. You can go to them and type in any keyword and find shared images pertaining to that subject. Picasa, Flickr, Facebook, Myspace and other photo sharing sites are great place to check out and find inspiration. Each one can offer up a different variety of snapshots that tell a different kind of story about the moment and the person capturing the moment. Next time you are in need of an idea or direction about a certain project, try checking out the pictures on these sites to see if they inspire you.
For instance…
Let us say that you are currently working on a project for a local animal rescue group and need some inspiration to get you moving in the right direction. You could log into Flickr and then type in “rescued pets” into the subject line and find yourself confronted with hundreds of pictures of people’s favorite furry four legged friends that have found a new home because someone decided to rescue them. Looking at how cute these pets are, and how many of them are popular breeds, you realize that people do no need to go to a breeder to find a dog or cat that tickles their fancy. This gives you an idea on the angle on how you want to approach your creative project.
Picasa and the writing muse
When I am looking for new writing ideas, I love going online and looking at photo’s in order to get those ideas to start popping into the back of my mind. While Facebook, and Flikr are also great, my random picture viewer of choice generally tends to be Picasa. I love going on this picture sharing site, typing in a random subject and then seeing what pops up.
Just the other day, for instance I went on to Picasa and typed in “art” just to see what types of images would pop up. One of the images that I came across was a interesting picture featuring “wearable sculptures” by an artist called Agata Olek. The picture of four people, two men and two women I believe who are covered from head to toe in what looks like knitted camouflage bodysuits of various colors. This picture of what looks like four very warm ninja assassins sets my mind spinning into several different story directions at once, giving me ideas for a blog as well as a story.
Whatever you may be writing, there are most likely some images out there that can help give you an idea for you blog, book, story or midterm productivity report. Go to your favorite photo sharing site and either type in the subject you are interested in writing about or simply pick something at random and see what images may pop up and inspire you to write.
