Diving for Inspiration
With so much to see and focus on in the underwater world of Raja Ampat, it鈥檚 easy to forget to look up. You鈥檙e never alone here鈥揳t least seven schools of fish can be identified in this image.
Essay and photos by Jeff Curry,
Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Media Design visiting professor
A professor鈥檚 advice on how to stoke your creative fire when you鈥檙e drowning in the day-to-day
Raja Ampat, Indonesia. July 2018.
A divemaster returns to the surface for the third time, still less than satisfied with the location where the 10 of us are about to enter the water. Back on the boat, he quickly finishes suiting up and tells us that, because of the dangerous current, we鈥檒l need to do a 鈥渘egative descent.鈥
A seriousness takes over the group as we now have seconds before flipping backward into the ocean.
鈥淣egative descent?鈥 I ask.
The answer: Race to the bottom, greatly expediting the usual scuba ritual of gradually equalizing鈥攚hat one does to prevent one鈥檚 head from feeling like it鈥檚 going to explode.
This is my fifth dive at Raja Ampat. It鈥檚 considered the Amazon of the ocean for its extreme biodiversity, but I鈥檓 still too busy getting used to the advanced nature of diving here to bring my brand new, giant, underwater camera rig down with me.
Most serious underwater photographers are solid divers first. I鈥檓 a novice at all of this except for the taking pictures part鈥攐n land, anyway.
I鈥檝e found that in order to grow, I have to go into the unknown.
I came to Indonesia for a water-based photo adventure鈥攖o see and shoot unique sea creatures and the most pristine coral reef systems on the planet, brave big surf for dramatic wave shots, and orchestrate an evocative production involving statuesque freedivers.听 听
It had been three years since my last dedicated art mission, and I needed one.
I have more than 25 years invested in the design and advertising world. For others with a similar ambition, know that you鈥檙e expected to have several creative ideas each day.
Is this possible day in and day out? Some days it鈥檚 easier than others. A big part of the job is staying inspired.
To do my best work, I鈥檝e realized it鈥檚 critical to look outside of the j.o.b. Fifteen years into my career, I began to feel drained and started to seriously doubt my own creative abilities. I contemplated several remedies, some more extreme than others. The demands of the job were relentless, but I had to get my creative mojo back.
Inklings and insights can come from anywhere. Creatives need regular infusions of those. Sustained inspiration is something different. The experience that comes from regularly engaging in creative or artistic pursuits resonates. It changes you.
It turns out my struggle at the agency was the genesis of an entirely new creative obsession: making art and sharing it in galleries.
For the last decade, I鈥檝e relied heavily on extracurricular creative pursuits for inspiration. The result has been wide-ranging art shows: Untotaled鈥攕culptural photography that involved crushing cars; Zoom鈥攊mpressionistic, painterly photography of the natural world; and Eternal鈥攁n evocative shoot in an Indiana-Jones-like site in India.
These projects aren鈥檛 linked by common themes. I鈥檝e been asked if I鈥檓 drawn to ideas because they鈥檙e complicated or if I鈥檓 just determined to make them that way. My goal, like nearly every other creator, is to make unique things. That often creates complexity. For me, creative growth is the prime motivator.
I traveled to many points in Indonesia, but the greatest opportunity for me to create material for a new show came in Amed, Bali. I went there to work with impressive athlete-models who practice freediving. Some refer to themselves as mermaids. I knew if I could pull it off, the resulting work had the potential to be empowering and beautiful.
I aspired to capture their grace and power, soaring in an infinite liquid world. I wanted to play with the perception of gravity and space.
For most of us, freediving is just plain crazy. The goal is to push to go deeper and deeper into the dark, cold water on a single breath of air. The most important thing, I鈥檓 told, is to relax and 鈥渞esist the urge to breathe.鈥 I鈥檒l bet most humans would agree, being more than 100 feet underwater and wanting a breath you cannot yet take is about the scariest thing imaginable.
I was to be on scuba, but I had no experience directing models underwater. It鈥檚 difficult and potentially dangerous. There were too many variables for me to anticipate, let alone control in a production like this, like the magnitude 7 earthquake that rocked the island in the middle of the shoot.
Java鈥檚 massive Tengger volcanic complex鈥揳 tight grouping of five active volcanoes鈥搊ne of which has over 50 documented eruptions.
A handsome hairy frogfish spotted while muck diving in the Lembeh Strait. Some of Earth鈥檚 most alien creatures live here.
One of the experimental freediver-mermaid images. The challenges of underwater styling presented opportunities.
Solid glass blocks from Curry鈥檚 Untotaled show. Cars were collected, crushed into cubes, and then photographed from all six sides to create the imagery for this 鈥渟culptural photography."
We shot for three days in stunning Jemeluk Bay. Sharing the images daily with the models proved essential. Their enthusiasm grew as did their awareness of how they looked through my camera. We dialed in the plan on land and again on the surface, but the models were great improvisers, taking turns diving down to my location and beyond, surprising me time and again with their creativity, athletic prowess and control.
The second evening, we were together reviewing images when the building began to shake. Hundreds of people died 50 miles away, and Amed suffered some damage. While our group wasn鈥檛 harmed, we felt our nerves kick in as the aftershocks continued for days. A crazy energy took over the project as we created some of our best images of the shoot.
I took more than 10,000 photos during my six weeks in Indonesia. Simply being there was rejuvenating and inspiring鈥攂ut for me, the full-on act of planning, connecting, coordinating, adapting and creating feeds my soul and makes me who I am.
Days after landing in the United States, I returned to Boulder for fall classes. It was definitely my most fulfilling semester to date.
听
Curry asked his students to bring in their own creative passion work.听
听
As a rule, I ask students to share their outside art interests and where they find creative inspiration. We talk about it regularly, but in the final week of my Creative Concepts class last fall, I asked the students to really share, as in bring your art into the classroom.
Projects ranged from collage and photography, to painting and illustration, calligraphy and tattoo artistry, short films, personal poetry and a beautiful violin solo. From the reactions, I鈥檓 sure we were all moved.
Design and advertising students fundamentally understand that creative outlets are important. But beyond doodling, beyond posting phone pics to Instagram, beyond occasionally journaling鈥攁 wholehearted investment in one鈥檚 own creativity will make a career of difference.
I鈥檝e been lucky, but I鈥檝e also worked hard for success. Looking back, the extra effort required to produce personal passion projects has been more than worth it. In fact, I鈥檇 say that my success as a design leader and as an artist are inextricably linked.
Agency life can be all-consuming. Literally, it can consume all your creative energy, but once you experience the symbiotic effects of creative pursuits enhancing one another, you鈥檒l dig deeper and find the energy.
It鈥檚 not about choosing a creative pursuit that relates to your job. Do things you love, and do them regularly. Keeping the creative fire burning is essential.