This Is Not A Face
“Ceci n’est pas un visage”
But it could be. With the utmost respect for René Magritte and his iconic image of surrealist metaphor, I present this image taken with and created on an iPhone as part of my series called “I’ve Just Seen A Face” inspired by the Beatles’ song. I’ve been noticing faces lately in the odd things I see on my walkabout.
But I do have another purpose for this post and image. You see, I first posted this on my personal Facebook page to share with friends and others and share a link to my iPhone gallery on this website which many had not seen. While I received very positive comments from those I know personally, one comment stood out from someone I don’t personally know but who is, for lack of a better term, a fellow creative.
This person took particular issue with a comment I made on my post when I said, “How creative can you be with an iPhone? Turns out ridiculously creative!” I was accused of having been “in a cave” and obviously missed the whole camera phone revolution for the last 14+ years! I laughed! Actually my iPhone journey into creativity started in 2009 with my first iPhone, a 3Gs model and “The Best Camera” app that allowed you to shoot, edit and upload to social media for the first time. So what did I do with that camera phone? I went out and did a 365 Project of shooting at least one creative image per day, rain or shine for a whole year, edit it and uploaded the image to a tumblr site that same day. Every. Single. Day. It was tough, but I had a variety of cool apps I could process images with, and I forced myself to be as creative as I could. I wanted to learn and push the limits of what this new imaging medium could do. And I haven’t stopped learning it. As a teacher and mentor to other creatives (and especially those who don’t see themselves as creative) I take great joy in sharing the enthusiasm for the subject. I won’t go into the rest of the back-and-forth conversation here, you can see it here on my FB post. Suffice to say this fellow creative missed the whole point and obviously knew nothing about me. When someone starts a sentence with, “I don’t mean to be rude but…” you can be absolutely sure they mean to be rude. It’s really quite sad when you are part of an obvious attack on who you are as a creative artist, but it’s especially (I don’t know if “sad” is the right word) so when it’s from a fellow creative who really should know better.
“I’ve Just Seen A Face (Tape Residue on Metal)”
Now to continue on in a positive mode and make creative lemonade from sad lemons, let’s talk about learning and teaching as creative endeavors. While it has been said that “there’s nothing new under the sun,” and it’s all been done before, and this whole mobile imaging process is not “new”, like any artistic endeavor, be it music, painting, sculpting or photography, it is all absolutely new in the hands of one who picks up the tool for the first time. And I would dare say, even if you have been practicing an art for a lifetime, it can remain as new and exciting a practice as the day you started, if you simply keep your sense of wonder and mystery about you!