Yesterday I instagrammed a pic at museum where you’d think the art would be the main attraction but found cellphones mesmerized. Everyone had one in their hands. We now live in a culture where a bright piece of digital plastic holds more sway than a masterpiece. While the museum goers gazed into screens oblivious to me, I found my inspiration for a great shot and subject for this blog post:
Inspiration in Unlikely Places.
Inspiration can be found everywhere, anytime on tap if you like, flowing if you let it. You might find inspiration on your phone. I do, every day on Instagram but it’s usually from seeing someone else’s inspiration, their photography, their travel experience, their art. It’s valid if I get an idea for a creative idea myself but I’d rather find my own first-hand inspiration. The first step is always to look where no one else is looking. Go beyond the obvious. Get another perspective. Open the door to curiosity.
Inspiration killers are: being distracted, multi-tasking, rushing about, running late, worrying and thinking negative thoughts. By pausing to take three deep breathes, turning off the phone and turning off the mind chatter, inspiration which is derived from
From Old French inspiration, from Late Latin īnspīrātiōnem (nominative: īnspīrātiō), from Latin īnspīrāta (past participle of inspīrō) to breathe.
A couple weeks ago at the airport in Orlando, I paused on an escalator to look around and noticed a big ad for SeaWorld. Inspiration? Thrills? Certainly not for the captive whale entertainers. The horrific truth is anything but entertaining. What I found inspiring was learning the inhumane killer whale shows will end in 2017 at SeaWorld. What inspired the changes was economic. Stocks of SeaWorld plummeted after activists lobbied for change and the documentary film BlackFish about Tilikum, a killer whale sent shockwaves around the world. Stock prices rose after the announcement to end the orca shows and breeding programs.
Tilikum, a performing killer whale that killed several people while in captivity. Along the way, director-producer Gabriela Cowperthwaite compiles shocking footage and emotional interviews to explore the creature’s extraordinary nature, the species’ cruel treatment in captivity, the lives and losses of the trainers and the pressures brought to bear by the multi-billion dollar sea-park industry.
