I don’t usually like pictures of myself, but I was impressed by this portrait, taken by Maria, the very first photograph she shot on her new Iphone 8. I have always said that the best portraits are of people you love, and this one caught some emotion in me that I can’t quite even identify.
She wrote about the meaning of this kind of picture on her blog this morning and I recommend that anyone interested in the creative process read it and think about it.
Three years ago, Maria and I had the only really awful fight of our ten-year relationship. It came on Christmas morning when I gave her a present, the then new Iphone 6 plus. I was impressed by the camera in the phone and it’s video capacity, I knew that as a visual artist she would be pulled in that direction.
I knew, as Steve Jobs predicted, that this kind of device led us in directions we could hardly even imagine.
Maria rarely feels entitled to anything, and she never buys anything for herself.
The idea of accepting such an expensive and significant gift traumatized her, it was exactly the sort of present she thought she was not worthy of and could never afford. We had an awful battle about it.
To some people, these tools are toys. To us, they are the enabling machinery of our work, our creativity.
I insisted this was a creative tool, not a toy, and that it would open doors for her and present new paths for her work. It was a long and hard day, but she relented, and those of you who have followed her work know the results.
Photographs and videos are a major part of her work now, new forms of art for her to pursue and expand.
My own family had its problems, but my mother always supported my writing and creativity, she always made me feel that I was talented and had things to say. Maria did not have that benefit.
Steve Jobs opened my eyes to the creative possibilities of technology, I remember how my first iMac made writing so much easier, freed me from typewriters and ribbons, carbon paper, copying machines and stores, mounds of paper.
I could edit a chapter in minutes, not days – all those erasers, all that white-out – and focus on the creative part of writing – writing.
I object to the idea that I am an Apple geek, I am no geek, I know nothing about how computers work or about programming. I’ve written 26 books on Apple computers and haven’t the slightest idea how they work, nor do I care. But I follow Apple products closely, I have managed my entire creative life – books, blog, photographs, communications – on Apple products.
Jobs great idea – one of them – was that people like me, creative people or wannabees, could use these tools to expand their creative vision and range. You never knew where a smart phone or Ipad would take you, gates swung open again and again.
“Your time is limited,” Jobs wrote said, “don’t waste it living somebody else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living the result of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other opinions drown your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
For me, words to live by. And I do live by them and am grateful for the tools which make it possible. I have watched Maria follow her heart and intuition – that is what her art is about. For us, everything else is secondary.
Maria and I share creative lives, but we are different. I am a writer, she is a visual artist. I used words, she uses quilts and hanging pieces and potholders.
We express ourselves in very different ways, but in one area, we have converged – photographic images. They have become a major part of both of our lives.
I’ve watched in joy these past years at seeing Maria grow, in strength and confidence and creativity. Her quilts and fiberart is sold all over the world, she sells just about everything she makes instantly.
She has made powerful connections with thousands of people, many of whom are devoted to the kind of work she does. I watched – sometimes uneasily – as her photographic skills grew and developed. Once in a while, we compete for the same image, the only part of either of us that ever competes with the other. We usually end up laughing.
Competition is very good for the soul, it makes both of us better. You just have to be mindful about it. I have competed my entire life, it is almost second nature to me.
When I read about the new Iphone 8 camera, with its radically enhanced portrait and focus capabilities, I urged Maria to buy one, I didn’t go out and buy one for her, she has evolved far beyond that. It would seem patronizing today, not supportive.
She agreed, reluctantly and nervously. But I had to order it, she couldn’t quite do it.
She started to do that old thing – I don’t deserve one, they are too expensive, I don’t really need one. Blah-blah, I call it.
Every creative person is different, but there is a point with photography where one suddenly goes from being a person with a camera to being a photographer, someone ardently committed to capturing the images and power of people, color and light.
A photographer isn’t just recording the images of life, he or she is capturing emotion and feeling – just look at that photo of me.
Everyone with a smart phone can take pictures now, but not everyone is a photographer. Maria is a photographer now as well as a fiber artist. When a friend send her a portrait taken with a new Iphone, I saw the gleam in her eyes, something clicked it is familiar to me: I want that. I need that. I am entitled to that. I can do great things with that.
She had come so far since that Iphone 6.
And I must say the Iphone camera is a thing of wonder, there is very little my big Canon camera can do that the Iphone 8 can’t. And some things it can do better. Maria will get to some new places, and quickly.
I suggested Maria skip the part where she thinks she isn’t worthy, and just acknowledge that she is, and she did that. It was time to shed that skin, that was the old Maria, and she knew it.
When the phone came, we set it up together – Apple’s set-up is an amazingly simple process – and then she turned me and snapped a photo of me sitting in my chair. It was a striking portrait, and then she went outside and took three more wonderful photos, of the barn cats and Fate.
It was very exciting to see Steve Job’s vision come alive in my living room.
Creative tools are essential. Every lens I buy challenges me, permits me to see the world in a completely different way. Every computer, smart phone, pad, that Maria has gotten has taken her forward. Every device is another chapter not only in her creative evolution but in her sense of herself as a worthy human being and a talented artist.
Maria will do some big things with this new tool. I do gulp sometimes, I admit it, thinking, “oh, Lord, can I keep up with this, can I keep on moving forward?” I am also overjoyed to see it.
She is already taking some amazing pictures and she hasn’t even figured out how to use the thing.
So the next chapter begins. We do not obsess on our phones all day, we don’t play games or spend much time on YouTube. We have work to do.
Maria is not one to chat on the phone, or follow the news, or yak with friends. Her Iphone 8 is used almost exclusively for creativity (and music). She doesn’t shop online (she doesn’t shop anywhere) or check her bank account. She has no apps.
She is off and running in the next chapter of my life. And I’m not worried about me. I’m waiting for the new Iphone X, out later this year. I intend to be where the future is, checking my bank balance, and chasing after images that capture the feelings and color and light of the world.
She looked at me nervously, wondering if I might be jealous or uncomfortable about her new camera. She will figure out soon enough that nothing in the world could make me happier.
Now, we can do it together.