Instagram

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Recently I've been having a bit of a renaissance of creative activity with my iPhone, thanks to Instagram, an addicting photo sharing app. It seems to hit a design sweet spot between simplicity and functionality. The app comes packaged with a finite set of predefined filters, so when you take a photo, you can quickly decide what transformation is the best fit. For some people this might be an undesirable limitation, but I prefer to have to work within the constraints of a few canonical forms, and develop an intuition about what filter works best for a given shot. The app also provides an in-app-only (i.e. no web version) social networking component which is a lot of fun, providing you a feed showing photos from everyone you are following. It's basically a mechanism for curating interesting photos and provides inspiration and ideas. I'm finding myself being more observant of my surroundings, looking for interesting arrangements of objects, lighting, textures, etc that would make an artful composition to capture. The app also allows you to upload your photos to Facebook, twitter, flickr, tumbler, etc. I highly recommend it!

 

NYC Sojourn

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"Urban Cambrian Explosion" (view from the MoMA courtyard).Over a week ago I traveled to New York City for several days for a respite from the daily grind and to seek out some creative inspiration and mental stimulation. I stayed at the Mayfair Hotel not too far from Times Square. Although it's a rather touristy area of NYC, I like that location due to its central location, and it's a short walk to Central Park. The weather was pretty nice during most of the trip, with plenty of sunshine. And I struck a nice balance between kicking around the city alone and hanging out with my brother, who lives in Brooklyn. I did a lot of walking and visiting museums, restaurants, and shops (art, books, clothes). 

Spending time in Manhattan has a way of giving my soul a boost of energy. The steady flow of people and traffic and the diversity of cultures, food, and architecture are endless sources of sensory stimulation. Traveling in general tends to set my creative juices flowing, often propelling me to revive my journal writing in order to capture the ensuing stream of ideas bouncing around in my head. It's very much in line with the notion conveyed in my previous post about how exposure to unfamiliar territory can stimulate creative thinking. 

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