Ed Schlotzhauer

An artists journey

Tag: psychology

Challenge and Stimulation
We are all motivated by different things. That is good. Otherwise, we would all make the same art of the same subjects. But do you understand your personal challenges and stimulation?
Different personalities
Our personality type partially determines what motivates us and how we approach our art. I have mentioned introverts versus extroverts, but there are other dimensions.
Some of us are visual learners. We take in new ideas best through pictures, diagrams, even videos. Others receive information best through words. There is not a best way. It all depends on how we are wired. I am more of a visual learner.
Some want to carefully design their art and work slowly and deliberately. Others work better at a fast moving, “run & gun” approach. Some feel that their images must be created entirely in camera in a single frame. Others prefer to manipulate images heavily and even composite them together. Some like hyper-realistic, razor sharp images where others prefer to use intentional camera motion to create impressionistic images.
All people can make art, but they must approach it in the way that makes sense to them.
©Ed Schlotzhauer
Different goals
Some of us are challenged by the hunt, the contest. We need to be working toward a goal of a competition. It is a contest against others. Winning is the motivation. A prize and its bragging rights are up for grabs.
Others of us could care less about that. We are challenged by inward values and goals. We are self-motivated to do our best work even if just for ourselves. An audience is nice, but not necessary.
There is not a best way. What matters is what works for you and understanding yourself well enough to know those things.
I got frustrated recently reading David duChemin’s Light, Space, and Time: Essays on Camera Craft and Creativity . He goes on a lot about working a scene from many angles and points of view to get the “best” shot. The best shot seemed to be all important. Then I realized he is an extrovert. I should have figured that out from a video I saw of him. As an extrovert, the product is the goal. With me, an introvert, it is more the experience.
There is no one right way in art. We tend to project what works for us onto other people as “the answer”. That is an error.
We need challenge
However it comes, we all need challenge and stimulation. Challenge gets us out the door on a cold morning. We are seeking something. We need to do this. Some people need the fire of competition to test and motivate them.
Challenge might come from wanting to enter a contest or the prospect of a gallery show or to pay the bills. Or it might be the need to answer questions for ourself. Questions like what can I do with this topic, or is there more interest to be found in this subject I have photographed many times?
Challenges do not have to be public. It could be a personal quest. One for me has been to get what I consider to be an interesting and non-cliché shot of the Eiffel Tower. That is a challenge for such an iconic and over-shot subject.
©Ed Schlotzhauer
It may be the challenge of having “failed” to get results we were happy with in previous attempts with a subject. The belief that there is a better way to do it if we just learn from our mistakes and dig deeper, is a challenge.
Whatever it is for us, our challenge presents us with a goal or idea that has been out of our reach, but we are striving for it. We need to elevate our art, our ideas, our craft a little to get there. It is an effort, and it tests our ability.
We all need to test our ability frequently. Whether it is by entering competitions or by our self-examination when we review our images in Lightroom, we need to honestly evaluate if we are growing as an artist. Challenges stimulate growth.
We need stimulation
We also need stimulation. Maybe I should say that I need stimulation. I realize that we are all different.
Stimulation is different from a challenge. It is something that elevates our thoughts or consciousness beyond your present state. Stimulation is that spark that ignites something in us, that tweaks our interest. It gets us excited.
Each of us is stimulated by different things at different times. I do not think there are any universal answers. I can only give anecdotes of the kind of things that stimulate me.
Travel stimulates me. When I am out of my home area, things look different. I look at things as new and interesting. It energizes me and helps me to continue to see things fresh when I get home.
Learning stimulates me. New ideas, new images, new techniques add to the mix of things swirling in my head and sometimes pop out in surprising new ways. That excites me. It might even take my art in a new direction. It is great to feel that you have stepped up to a new level.
I don’t usually need stimulation to get out the door and take pictures. But it helps to break me out of ruts and look at the world in new ways.
©Ed Schlotzhauer
Creativity
We humans sometimes need to be prodded to do our best work. Challenges and stimulation are part of that. I view it as the classic carrot and stick. Stimulation is the carrot. It energizes and excites us to go forward. Challenge is the stick. We have accepted a challenge now we have to get busy and go for it to keep from failing.
Creativity is not well understood, despite many smart Psychologists spending whole careers studying it. Creativity seems to happen in our subconscious. That is why ideas “pop out” at seemingly random times, like when you’re going to sleep or in the shower.
The process may not be understood, but history tells me we can do things to feed our mind and encourage our subconscious to be more creative. Some of the important things are these ideas of challenge and stimulation. And keep working. It is important to avoid just sitting around feeling sorry for our lack of creativity.
©Ed Schlotzhauer
Feed your head
My model is that we can lure our subconscious to work for us by assigning it a task. Say we want to create a new art project that is significantly different from our normal work. We do not know the best way to approach it or even understand yet what the end should look like. But by turning it over to our subconscious and letting it work on it without much interruption from us, we are often surprised later to find that we have clarified our thoughts a lot and now have a direction for the project. Maybe a creative new direction.
Giving the subconscious a goal is setting the challenge. But I also find my subconscious needs stimulation to energize it. The stimulation is often completely unrelated to the goal. Start to learn a new language, research how knives are forged, read a biography of a famous person, go to a museum. I’m not sure the topic matters as long as we are stimulating our mind with new learning and following our curiosity. (TikTok is not new learning) I do believe that the new information makes new connections in our mind and energizes it to do creative work.
Surprises happen. That is creativity.
©Ed Schlotzhauer
Push through
So, when we get stuck and it seems the creative muse has left, often the best things to do is to not worry about it. Instead, decide if there are some challenges you are wanting to undertake. Then go on a learning binge. Don’t stress about your challenges or lack of creativity. Just follow your curiosity and learn new things. Immerse yourself in something new that is stimulating to you.
But through it all, keep working. You may not be doing career changing art, but it is important to keep trying. Creativity will come back even stronger, but in its own time. When it happens, accept it and be grateful. And it will happen if you challenge it and stimulate it.
September 24, 2025
Solitude
Solitude is a longed-for state for some, a fear for others. I am going to argue in favor of it, but maybe in a different sense than normal. I believe learning to embrace solitude is a component of fine art photography.
What do we think of?
I think most of us, when solitude is mentioned, picture being completely alone in a remote location. No connection with the outside world. No cell phone service.
How do you react to the thought of it? Does it sound like a welcome break from our too busy, demanding, normal life? Or is it terrifying to think of being cut off from human contact. To be cut off from the flow of events and the latest news.
Many of us have been so trained by our devices and social media that fear of missing out would paralyze us. I mentioned before that studies show that some people would intentionally inflict pain on themselves rather than be alone or bored for a few minutes.
So, to a great portion of people, even artists, the idea of solitude sounds like pain and suffering. Something to be avoided at all cost.
Is that how you feel?
©Ed Schlotzhauer
Why seek it?
Without talking about what solitude is, let’s talk about why we may want, or even need, it. Most of us live in a world of constant demands. We are over scheduled, always running to catch up. There is a constant bombardment of outside sources telling us what to think, where to go, what to buy, what to do.
This is the noise of modern life. It is as real and debilitating as the constant loud noise of a busy downtown.
In this environment, we are in a constant state of distraction. Our thoughts are not our own. From the demands of our soul-sucking job to having to run the kids around to their after-school activities to keeping up our image on social media to just constantly fighting to keep our place in the world, we are pulled in a thousand directions at once.
I’m told that a trend in startups is to adopt the “996” system. In that, you work 9am to 9pm 6 days a week. That is a scheduled and expected 72 hour work week. Hiring advertisements proudly list this as a “feature” of the company and plainly say that if you do not buy into this, don’t even apply. I hope you don’t buy in.
Our brains can’t thrive in such busy environments. We are organic beings, not machines. If you want to use your brain, you must care for it and strengthen it. A key to this is to give it time to rest, to build and maintain connections, to sort through its accumulated input and discard some and build the rest into memories and knowledge.
Solitude provides opportunity for this brain healing. Like a field that lies fallow in winter is renewed, so too our brain needs some down time.
©Ed Schlotzhauer
What else is it?
I have a photographer friend I have mentioned before who routinely does solo wilderness trips in the Colorado mountains. That has to be a form of extreme solitude. But I do not think that is the only way to achieve a goal of relaxing and refreshing.
Solitude is an attitude at least as much as it is being alone. With the right frame of mind, we can have solitude riding on a crowded bus surrounded by people glued to their cell phones. The key is, where is our mind. Are we thinking or are we letting some external entity think for us? Are we disengaged from the external demands and noise, or are letting that direct our mind?
Here is a similar example of what seems to me to be the same problem, but at the other extreme. We just got back from a trip to Switzerland. There were times hiking in the high Swiss alpine valleys that I would see someone walking along with their face stuck in a cell phone. They seemed almost oblivious to the incredible beauty around them.
Maybe I am judgmental, but it seems like they ignored an excellent opportunity to look and think and relax their mind. Instead, they chose the cold addiction of technology.
©Ed Schlotzhauer
Not mindfulness
I advocate mindfulness in a lot of my writing. But solitude is somewhat different. It is important in different ways.
Mindfulness, as I use it in the context of photography, is being very aware. Being in the moment and attuned to what is happening around you. That lets us see things other people might miss. To perceive relationships that are non-obvious. By having all our spidey senses on alert, we do not miss opportunities. We might even find insights that others miss.
Solitude, on the other hand, is being in a quiet place, at least figuratively. Calming our mind and letting it rest and review and build connections. Letting our mind wander. This is critically important to learning and making meaning for us.
Learn to do it
As I said, solitude seems to be fearful for many people. It is so alien to our normal life that it seems wrong. But perhaps it is our normal life that is the mistake.
Start small. Do not suddenly go out into the wilderness on a solo trek. That would be like deciding you aren’t going to be a couch potato anymore and going out and trying to run a marathon the next day. Your body would let you know that that is not a good idea without the proper training.
Start with going for short walks “all by yourself”. No cell phone in your hand, no music playing. Just walk around the block. Give yourself permission to let your mind wander. No fair thinking about the projects you are working on or the concert you are going to next weekend. Try to make your mind blank and see what surfaces.
The first few times you try it, it probably won’t work. That is, you will think about work or what the market is doing or the political situation or what you will fix for dinner. That’s OK. It takes practice. Push through it. After a few times you will find your mind wandering to unexpected places. Things you didn’t think you would think about. That is very healthy. Your mind is learning to accept and use solitude.
Increase the length and frequency of your walks. Extend it to sometimes just sitting quietly at home with all your gadgets off. Just thinking.
Eventually we can learn to be happy and accepting alone. We are no longer dependent on the constant entertainment we were used to in the world. Now we have some time to think and dream and envision. Even just letting our mind wander is healthy.
©Ed Schlotzhauer
So what?
Why should you go to this trouble and learn the discipline of disconnecting from the world? It is healthy for you in several ways.
Solitude recharges our batteries. We connect with our heart and feelings. It helps us develop relationships with others and more understanding of ourself.
Solitude helps us develop our emotional resilience and independence. We re-develop the ability to think for ourselves. To be able to figure things out. We are better able to trust our judgment.
It also helps our creativity. We give ourselves the space to explore ideas and conceive of new possibilities.
The sound of silence is good for us. It helps reduce the toxic byproducts of the stress generated in us in our everyday life.
©Ed Schlotzhauer
Solitude, them mindfulness
i am a proponent of mindfulness as an ingredient of becoming a more creative photographer and artist. But I am also coming to see that many people first need to develop the ability to give themselves solitude. That helps us be a stronger human being.
Solitude gives us the energy to be creative and independent. Mindfulness helps us look and see better. They work together, but solitude comes first.
I hope I have encouraged you to stop fearing being alone with yourself. Learn to embrace solitude. Practice until it becomes part of your creative life. It is well worth it. There is power in learning to be comfortable alone with yourself.
I hope it becomes a sought for, pleasant state. Not something to fear.
Post script
At a recent doctor visit, I thought I would be a hypocrite after writing this if I did not consciously practice it. So I sat in solitude for the 40 minutes I was waiting in the exam room. I didn’t read my book or open my iPad or phone or AirPods. At first my mind was swirling with thoughts about the procedure I was about to have and some other things that were bothering me. After a few minutes, I got control and just let my mind wander. It was healthy and the time passed quickly.
But then I realized that I do this almost every day. When I go out wandering and walking and photographing, that is a solitary session. For the 1 to 3 hours I seldom allow distractions and I do not open my phone or listen to music. Solitude.
September 3, 2025
Do You Like It?
Do you like your art? Are you shooting what someone else wants or for yourself? Do you hang it on your own wall and proudly show people? I believe that answering the question “do you like it” is very important.
A marketplace
Some people view the world as a marketplace. The only thing that matters is what sells. To sell, it must meet the current definition of popularity and be “trending”. That implies our personal likes do not matter compared to what is selling.
I realize there are reasons an artist may feel like this. Perhaps you have committed to photography as your livelihood. You will, of necessity, have to follow the trends and give the market what it wants. Unless you are in a position of setting the trends, but very few of us are.
The second reason is based on your personality type. If you are extroverted, you probably have a strong tendency to get your rewards externally. You want the validation of other people, and that comes from likes and awards and sales. These are external validations of our work. Inward satisfaction counts for much less.
I have a friend like that. Great guy. He has been a close friend for many years. But he cannot be convinced that anything he creates is worth more than what someone will pay for it. Or more than the lowest price he can find advertised anywhere. Because of this, he completely discounts his artistic work, because he does not think he could sell it for much, therefore it is not worth much.
©Ed Schlotzhauer
Intensely personal
My art is intensely personal. Except in very rare cases where I am doing work for other people, my subjects, my treatment, my style and presentation are all selected by me and for my pleasure.
My art reflects what I am seeing and feeling. The themes running through my life. It is influenced by my artistic taste and personal values. Printing an image and hanging it for others to see is an intimate act. It is giving others a glimpse of who I am, what I feel and see. Speaking as an introvert, that is very personal and terrifying.
What if people do not like it? That can hurt. It used to hurt more than it does now. At best, now, I may dialog with them to try to understand what their reaction is and why they don’t like it. At worst, I may change the subject and try not to dislike them despite their terrible judgment ☺.
©Ed Schlotzhauer
What if you don’t like it?
But what if you don’t like your work? I have seen it happen. People get bored with their work. They feel burned out. They may lose interest in the subjects they shoot. The creative spark and joy are gone. They may give up photography completely or only shoot selfies.
Or perhaps you feel trapped. You are getting likes and good feedback from social media, but your real interest has moved on and you fear that if you show the work you like now, it will lose your audience. Success can be a trap if we are not confident enough to go our own way.
Or maybe what you see when you review your images is far short of what you felt or imagined when you shot it. You just don’t know how to improve.
So, what if you don’t like your work? It is easy to get discouraged and even give up photography.
©Ed Schlotzhauer
I encourage you to clarify your goals. That should help sort out the objectives.
Unless you are a commercial photographer shooting for clients, no one other than you should be able to dictate your subjects or your vision of how to shoot. Does your camera club have a very narrow criteria for what is acceptable? Drop them. I did. Years ago. It was liberating.
Are you afraid of losing your social media followers? But answer this, how much money are you making from them? I’m serious. You like the dopamine hit of likes, but what are they worth in tangible terms? Trust your creative instinct more than the internet. Take a risk and show the work that pleases you. If your followers leave, that’s OK. Find new ones that appreciate the art you want to do.
If people look at your images and say, “that’s weird” or even, “I don’t like it”, so what? They are welcome to like or buy whatever makes them happy. But our purpose for creating images should be to make us happy.
He may be unpopular these days, but I think Bill Cosby was correct when he said, “I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”
©Ed Schlotzhauer
Do you love it?
My point is that our art is our art. Unless we are working for hire, we ultimately do not have to please anyone other than ourselves. We should love our art. It should be a source of pride and satisfaction. An expression of our creativity.
Whatever subject and presentation you choose should be the thing that makes you the happiest. Go through your portfolio and honestly evaluate its impact on you. If you do not love what you see, change.
I can’t criticize your choice. But I hope you go deeper than just pretty pictures that get likes on Facebook. This is your creative outlet. It should feed your soul. It lets your viewers – and you – have a peek at what is deep inside you.
I know an artist who seems to be a happy, bubbly lady, but who does art that is dark and brooding and mysterious. Does that mean she has some deep mental problems? No. It just means that is what comes from her creative spirit and makes her happy. The same way that reading crime novels does not make you a potential killer.
Be passionate about your art. Fall in love with it. Be proud of it, whatever it is. Make prints and display them for people to see. Never be apologetic. Unless they are not well executed. Then work to improve. But well executed or not, like your work.
It is uniquely you. I sincerely hope you love your art as much as I love mine.
August 27, 2025
Switch On
What engages your creativity? What gets you up from the chair and out the door shooting. I have discovered I have a trigger to switch me on, and it is so simple I barely recognized it.
Need to shoot
I think many of us who shoot for the joy and the creativity of it tend to stay in a mindful state. When I am driving or riding somewhere it seems I am often looking at everything passing with a view to framing and composing shots. Mentally, I click off a lot that I wish I could see.
At this stage of my life journey, I feel a need to shoot. To capture what I see, and to bring some new creativity to it. It is a frustration to me to see interesting scenes and not be able to shoot them. But I am not always doing it and moving and in the flow.
Sometimes there is a kind of inertia holding me back. There are times I feel too busy, or my thoughts are on something else. This is part of life and often unavoidable, but sometimes it is just a kind of procrastination. I’m not feeling in the “mood”. At those times when I could and should be thinking photography, I sometimes must kick-start myself to begin shooting.
©Ed Schlotzhauer
Permission to shoot
I have discovered that I sometimes need to do something to motivate myself. As I write this, it is 93°F out, on the way to 103°F. That saps my energy.
I need a way to increase my desire to shoot to the point it overcomes my inertia or dislike of the weather or the time involved or whatever it is that is holding me back.
One simple technique I have learned is simply to pick up my camera. Sounds silly and too easy to be of use. But it often works on me.
I haven’t done any deep psychological analysis on myself, but I believe holding the camera – or even the camera bag – gives me permission to take pictures. The weight of the physical object is real and compelling. I am familiar with it and comfortable with it. I like the way it feels in my hands. We have history of doing good work together. Something is awakened and barriers are set aside.
With a camera in hand, or even in my camera bag, I am a photographer. An artist. Photographers are expected to take pictures. I should be out shooting. It becomes the easier path.
Wherever I am, on a city street, in an airport, driving down the road, I should feel completely secure and justified taking pictures. If I am looking foolish staring at something other people do not see, that is OK. They are not artists, or at least, they’re not me.
©Ed Schlotzhauer
Nothing interesting
I am mostly over worrying about what other people think. What matters is the art I can create.
A favorite story of mine is a time I was on a trail near where I live. I think I had my tripod set up to shoot a tree by a river. A woman walking by stopped to see what I was shooting and pronounced “I see nothing interesting here”.
I almost burst out laughing. For her to dismiss my vision just because she could not envision what I was seeing seemed ridiculous. That helped me to be much less concerned about other people’s opinion when I am pursuing an image. Rather than shaming me, it reinforced my independent streak.
©Ed Schlotzhauer
When I pick up my camera a switch turns on and I am now in a focused mode of seeing. What people think, fear of looking silly, or of calling attention to myself (a nightmare for an introvert) no longer matters. Of course, I will not be rude or offensive. That is not my nature. But within reason, I will do what I feel compelled to do.
Creativity
Just picking up my camera does not mean I am in a super creative zone. I may have to start shooting a while to get the energy flowing enough to fully engage my mind. But I find that just a few shutter clicks somehow releases most of the chains binding my brain and I relax and start flowing.
As my inspiration, Jay Maisel, said: If you are out there shooting, things will happen for you. If you’re not out there, you’ll only hear about it. I consider that whatever trick I use to get me motivated to start framing images and pressing the shutter release is worth it. Then things start happening.
©Ed Schlotzhauer
Pick it up
So, when I am not in the “mood” for photography, just picking up my camera will usually jolt me out of my lethargy. Somehow, it signals me to switch on and get into seeing images.
To follow up on where I started earlier, I reluctantly put on my camera bag and went out in the heat. We had a nice walk and even shot a few images. It was not as bad as I expected, and I’m glad I made myself get out. To be prudent, I did shave a few miles off my normal outing and took extra water.
Do you have a trick you use to get going when you don’t feel like doing it? Picking up my camera is my signal to switch on. What about you?
August 6, 2025
Permission to Be an Artist
There is only one thing stopping us from being an artist. We need to give ourselves permission to call ourself an artist. No one else has the authority to do it.
Who regulates “art”?
Who regulates art? Maybe that seems like a silly question, but many of us are hesitant to call ourselves an artist because we have not been officially designated one by some standards board. We haven’t received our certificate.
I don’t know if it is good or bad, but that standards board does not exist. The certificate does not exist, and if it did, it would be meaningless.
Many people and organizations want us to think they are the keepers of the purity of the arts. But they only have authority as far as they can convince other people they have it.
The gatekeepers, whether they are large galleries, or internet influencers, or art schools, or even your local camera club, have no authority to control what is art and who gets to do it.
©Ed Schlotzhauer
Who is keeping you from being an artist?
I believe many of us are afraid to consider ourselves an artist for fear that someone will come and say no, we are not qualified. We are afraid we would be publicly humiliated and denounced as not good enough. We did not pass the qualifications. By calling ourselves an artist, we might fear we are elevating ourself to a higher plateau.
Well, we are. But that is a good thing.
This is art, not brain surgery. We do not have to go to school for 12 years then do years of apprenticeship before going before a review board to grant us a license. I’m glad they train doctors like that, but it is not a good model for artists.
The best definition I can remember of art is that anything done as art, is art. So, if you intended that image to be art rather than just a selfie or record shot, then it is art. No one can say it is not.
That no way says that if you intended it to be art then it is great art. Its quality depends on many factors, including your skill and maturity. We learn and improve all our life.
©Ed Schlotzhauer
Photographer or artist?
So, when someone asks you what you do, what is your answer? Are you an artist, or a photographer, or do you respond with something vague like, “oh, I like to take pictures”? How you answer and view yourself is your business. But what is keeping you from considering yourself an artist?
I recognize that if we announce ourselves as an artist, we are claiming greater mastery. We present our work and ourselves in a different light. In a different way. Those of us who are introverts get nervous about that. We do not seek attention,
The reality, as I see it, is that it is not about ego or skill level. If we believe we are doing art, we should confidently assert to the world around us that we are artists.
©Ed Schlotzhauer
Prove it
Some people are born salesmen. They try to talk the talk without learning how to walk the walk. I do not think that is the case for you who read this. You understand that you must prove what you can do, who you are as an artist. And that is what we do with every image we show the world. It is just as important, if not more important, to prove it to ourselves.
How do we do that?
John Paul Caponigro said “Singular images prove your craft. A body of work proves your artistry.” I think there is wisdom in that.
When you go through your catalog critically, do you find images you would show anyone, anywhere without fear of ridicule? If you find a few, great. You are learning the craft and starting to produce interesting work.
Have you, or can you, put together one or more projects around a theme? A good project would have 10-20 excellent images showing cohesiveness and consistency. This demonstrates your ability to create a body of work.
A single great image may be luck. A good body of work proves you can repeat it. That you are can create regularly and to a consistently high level of quality.
This is certainly not the only way to prove your mastery, but it is a good way. Give it a try and you might surprise yourself.
If you have proved to yourself that you are an artist, do not be afraid to take the label for yourself. Say it proudly. You have given yourself permission. You are the only one who matters.
July 23, 2025