Art, Talent, and Fear
Posted by Doug Wed, 09 Nov 2005 15:27:48 GMT
My buddy, Britton Fraley pointed me to Radiant Vista today. What a wonderful website! Most photo sites are either crap for design or over-the-top flash. This one has a wonderful layout and design. That’s just what encouraged me to look around. It’s the content that has me so excited.
I feel like the site could use a little more “about me” stuff. I didn’t really know what to expect as I was wandering around. Most of the site is Quicktime videos. The Daily Critiques are videos of the site contributors reviewing a photo. I like hearing their voice describe their impressions and critique. I like seeing their mouse pointer move about the image highlighting what they are talking about. I like seeing the improvements to the photos as they make simple adjustments to improve the image.
There is also a nice 16 minute video tutorial called, A Primer on Composition. Again, the mix of voice, images, and pointer is used for excellent effect.
But I’m saving the best part to last. There’s a PDF aticle on The Myth of Talent that pushed me to ecto to write this note. It’s an excellent affirmation of everything I had hoped about art.
...the truth about talent is this—talent is a set of skills you develop over time through desire.
I’m an aspiring photographer. By no means am I good. I’m pleased to say my work has improved over the last year though. When people see me they don’t say “artist”. My past is not littered with examples of great works of art. By all rights I should just admit I’m not a talented photographer and stick to what I am good at: programming. But this article gives me hope.
He talks about why we buy into the myth that talent is a “natural ability of a superior quality”. I agree with the author, Craig M. Tanner, the biggest reason is fear.
Being labeled talented only means we have survived being untalented.
So for some period of time we have to be untalented. It’s the fear of doing badly that keeps us from “surviving being untalented”. I’ve talked about this fear meme before. When I was taking photography classes at the University of Cincinnati Communiversity, my instructor said that fear is the opposite of creativity. That was a powerful thought. This article on talent’s talk about fear is further reenforcement.
Even if you don’t think of yourself as an “artist” or want to be a photographer, I highly recommend this article.
I like your blog. I have hyperlinked to Radiant Vision so some of my readers can check it out.
cheers
Hi Doug,
I’m a new XP-Cincinnati member, and have been reading through member blogs.
Posting a critical comment may be a lousy introduction, and I’m no expert on talent despite my arts background. But, I’ll just state my opinion that the writer of “The Talent Myth” is wrong. I applaud his encouragement of people learning new things, but effort is not talent.
Talent is not a set of skills developed over time. Talent is abilities demonstrated with little or no prior training. Take a group of children and ask them to draw a picture. There will be some who draw better than others, even if they’ve never drawn before. That’s talent. Subjectively, genius is extreme talent.
This doesn’t mean than people with less talent can’t outstrip those with more talent. This happens all the time. Part of the reason is desire (or ambition). Mr. Tanner had desire to be a photographer. He may have had talent—I don’t know.
I think that talent is biologically based. Genetically, some people can do things most other can’t. There is evidence to support this. My non-science (meaning I have no idea what his genetics were) example is the genius (and prodigy) violinist Jasha Heifetz. He started learning violin at three. At six, he was playing the Mendelsshon concerto. I started playing violin when I was seven. I was talented. But, I could have worked as hard-harder-than Heifetz and never be as good as he was. Ever. Just like I could study and play chess for the rest of my life and never be as good as Kasparov.
Certainly some of my points, here, are a matter of opinion. This isn’t my area of research, nor have I read the studies that almost certainly exist. I look forward to, potentially, discussing this more with you, especially as it might apply to software development.
Hi Charles,
I sincerely appreciate your thoughtful response.
I also appreciate everyone on this thread visiting the Radiant Vista. We are having a blast with site and we really appreciate all of the visits and the support.
About “talent”.... I am certainly open to the possibilty of being wrong!
Have a great night…Craig
http://www.craigmtanner.com/