Quick Quotes: Ira Glass

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners. I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it's just not that good. It's trying to be good, it has potential, but it's not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still a killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you.

A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn't have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know it's normal, and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I've ever met. It's gonna take awhile. It's normal to take awhile. You've just gotta fight your way through.

Ira Glass

I recently wrote a post called "Creative Doubt", and my friend Mark Graf made a comment on that post which introduced me to Ira Glass via the videos he linked and which I have inserted into this blog entry. The whole situation came full circle since I am reading an exceptional new book called 

by Claire Rosen (more on this book in a separate post) and the Ira Glass quote that started this post (and which came from the videos) was right in the book I was reading!

At any rate, Ira Glass has some very interesting things to say about creativity and the development of one's art. His words apply as much to photography as they do to his chosen media of broadcast and reporting. Well worth a listen!!

And remember, if you get this blog entry by email the video links don't, for some reason, come along with it, so you will need to go to the blog itself in order to view the short videos. 

Howard G2 Comments