I passionately believe that we are all creative.

Yep.  Even YOU!

I honestly believe that from birth we had the ability and desire to create. If you have children, you have surely been witness to a child’s ability to create solutions to problems and use their imagination from a very early age. Sometimes in ways that cause extra work for their parents or even get them in trouble!

My 3 year-old is endlessly creative.  Yesterday he made a “fire truck” for us to play in from various baskets, blankets and furniture (including the vacuum as his “fire hose”) and then dressed himself up in his best “fireman” clothes! I find him being creative when he is making a car out of 3 Lego bricks and giving them voices. My daughters are endlessly creative as they make large homes for their dolls out of blankets, books, and various pieces of cardboard. They are even creative when they are doing their homework (or finding ways to NOT do their homework!)

I even see myself and others using creativity in things that don’t seem creative at all–organizing closets, cooking dinner (when I haven’t been shopping in WEEKS!), and even in seemingly mundane tasks like laundry and setting the table.

While I was thinking about creativity, I was reminded of this short video I saw several years ago.

(You can read the full talk here!)

Creativity is a gift. And not just any kind of gift–a divine gift. It makes me happy to be able to create something that didn’t exist before. It makes me even happier when that thing is beautiful.

I don’t think that creativity and creating happen quickly. I feel creativity needs food and space just like most living things do. I think that sometimes it takes time (probably our full LIFETIME) and practice to fully express our creativity.

And whether you believe it or not, there are endless ways to express your creativity!  Some express it through writing, some express it through deeds, some express it through beautiful works of art, some express it through music, some express it through dance, and some express it by solving the worlds problems (and maybe even more importantly–their own problems.)

I DO NOT believe that creativity comes from the computer or anywhere in the digital world–or even from Pinterest.

I hope to find more opportunities to be creative this year and in MANY different ways. I hope to share that here–just like I always do.

I hope you take the time to create something beautiful today, tomorrow, or SOON!!

P.S. Anyone really into Downton Abbey on PBS? It’s my new favorite!

It has been a delightful exercise to go back through my old photos and check out my favorites, my mistakes, and analyze how my photography has changed and improved over the last few years.

I can’t wait to share the book with you! Soon–very soon. I promise!

I thought I would share a few old favorite photos that are making their way into my book.

As I have been creating this, I have been going through lots of photos from the past 2 years and all my notes of things that I have wanted to include. I decided to create another cheat sheet of information to remember about each of the “Big Three” and make it available for all you wonderful readers to download.

The catch is that the download will expire the day the e-book is released. To download this new cheat sheet, choose the format you want and click the buttons below (not the image.)  Both links take you to a third-party site (that I totally trust and won’t give you 40 pop-ups, a virus, or make you wait 135 seconds to download!!  Annoying!)

[one_third][button link="http://www.box.com/s/j59jj5depou3tspfmiyr" color="purple" newwindow="yes"] Download for iPhone[/button] [/one_third]

[two_third][button link="http://www.box.com/s/os07f979krq8ldbv2bv7" color="lightblue" newwindow="yes"] Download for 5×7 Print[/button][/two_third]

Took some time out in the cold and snow to capture some winter foliage in black and white.

When we play, I get 3 parts cute, 3 parts silly, and one side of TURKEY!

And sometimes when I am working at the computer, I just turn around and gaze in wonder at the little boy on the floor who is constantly at play. His baby days seem like yesterday!

Some bits from our morning!

Last week we had gorgeous fall-like weather. I mean–mid to high 50s in JANUARY! Really? Actually, it has been the last MANY weeks. I posted about it once.

We have finally had some cold and snow the last few days so I am glad that I took a few minutes to capture some of the beautiful fall-like scenery that has caught my attention the last few weeks!

The last winter wedding that I photographed looked MUCH different from this one! The January day of this wedding was BEAUTIFUL and definitely NOT typical Utah winter weather. Blue skies, no snow, and warm temperatures (okay–not California warm but mid to upper 40s I believe!) pretty much set this wedding apart from ANY other winter wedding I have been part of!

“You can’t wait for Inspiration.  You have to go after it with a club.”  -Jack London

I am writing today about inspiration–mostly because I have spent the last few months feeling less than inspired!  Really–that is just a nice way of saying that most of what has come out of me creatively has been pulled from me with beads of sweat, kicking and screaming the whole way!  It is a very tiring job!

The truth for me is that most creative things don’t come to me in magical waves of enlightenment.  I don’t pick up the camera and flip the switch of inspiration and have ideas poured out at me in a magical warm flood of delightful happiness!  I don’t sit at the computer and have magical epiphanies of what I should share.

My creative truth looks a lot more like a farmer from the 1850′s endlessly tilling ACRES of soil behind two extremely slow and frustratingly stubborn oxen.  The same farmer who regularly trips on the the freshly uprooted rocks in the soil and is dragged through the mud, dirt and weeds!  Sounds delightful, right?!?  I mean who doesn’t want to be that guy everyday?

I might be being slightly dramatic here for illustrative purposes!  It isn’t like that everyday.  Sometimes I plod along and stumble upon a bit of easy ground that has something beautiful already growing and I just have to cultivate it into the beauty it was already destined to become.  And, sometimes, every once in a while, those stubborn oxen are transformed into magical, white-winged horses that transport me to a beautiful place filled with beautiful easy inspiration.

But those moments are the exception.  What I am realizing is that inspiration requires work.  Hard work.  And sometimes it means showing up for the the work and putting your all into it and not always having a lot to show for it.  AND.  THAT.  IS.  OKAY!!!

Not every creation has to be amazing.

Not every photo has to be transforming.

There are creative lessons in the ordinary, too!

The point is that I am there–I show up.

And since my creative genius must currently be busy helping someone else, I’ll be patient and work hard until he comes back.  Surly, creative inspiration is right around the bend!

And if you have a few minutes (19 to be exact) check out this Ted talk by Elizabeth Gilbert about creativity. I enjoyed it very much!