THE PRINCIPLE

Seek interesting stuff and you shall find it. And photograph it

At the Creativity World Forum of 2008, Richard Stomp, an innovation and strategy manager in the Netherlands, suggested that to be creative you should try ‘streetcombing’ – like beachcombing, but on the streets. Just as a beachcomber roves the beach looking for objects of value or interest, a streetcomber does the same along streets. The streetcomber takes pictures of anything and everything that seems interesting in any way.

Pick a part of town that has a lot of new shops, a lot of foot traffic and a lot of young people. What will catch your attention? It might be a sign, a window display, a mannequin with an interesting expression, a discarded note – anything.

Turn off your inner editor at this stage, otherwise you’ll waste time wondering if the thing really is interesting, what you will do with the photo, etc.

The streetcombing process is not about using these images. Although they may give you ideas for settings, characters, or even entire stories, for now you’re just trusting the process and gathering images. The very act of looking for interesting stuff to photograph causes a mind shift.

Website bonus

At www.CreativityNowOnline.com, click on the ‘Creativity Now!’ button. Bonus 3 is a set of photos from one of my own streetcombing expeditions.