The Other Side, Revealed!

You know how, when you are stuck on a problem, you find yourself thinking, what I wouldn’t give to be able to see this from a different angle? I experienced just how easy this can actually be, while on a walk with my camera one recent morning. [Tip of the camera to Sheila Finkelstein, a wonderful, creative teacher with whom I recently took a photography class . She introduced me to the lovely concept of "taking a walk with your camera."]

I began admiring the way the sun was illuminating flowers in such a strong way. Yet, when I took a picture, it just looked flat, and – honestly – a bit trite. Too literal. Flowers in sunlight: big deal.

I noticed how blue the sky was. What would those flowers look like against that too-blue sky? Somehow, following an impulse, I began taking the pictures upside-down. Aiming the camera up from below, with that incredibly deep-blue sky as the background, rather than the green foliage. I didn’t fuss over the set-up, I just took a bunch of photos and had fun. (That’s the beauty of digital – you do get instant feedback!)

Back at my computer, looking at the results, I was very pleased. It’s truly a new perspective, a new way to appreciate the beauty that I don’t even notice half the time.

This experience was exactly like a good brainstorming session. Simply by following a tiny impulse to look at it another way – upside down! – I was richly rewarded with something new. The key is that I didn’t tell myself, oh that’s stupid, or get overly analytical about it. I just went with the impulse.

I intend to use this technique the next time I am fixated on something that’s not working.

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