Something Worth Quoting

A little over a year ago I found this quote and wrote it down in my photography journal. I look at it often and almost have it memorized. It's about being inspired.  It's about catching a spark from something that others may not see.  I've learned to always keep my eyes wide open,  my ears always listening and my mind a steele trap!  Jon, my husband, jokes all the time and tells me to turn off my 'photography brain'.  I see a picture in the way the lights hit an exhibit at the museum.  I see a picture in the way the birds sit up on a telephone wire.  I see a picture when a man on a bike is towing his dog in a wagon.  It's all about finding inspiration in so many little things that go on around us everyday!  OK......so, on to this quote.......

This is a quote from a true genious named Jim Jarmusch. Someone unthreatened by his talent and secure in the artist he is!  He calls us out on the truth:  we all get our ideas from somewhere, and most of the time it's NOT from our own 'amazing' creative minds.  Learn to be o.k. with that.....it's very liberating!
"Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, lights and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work, (and theft), will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is nonexistent. And don't bother concealing your theivery!! Celebrate it if you feel like it! In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said, "It's not where you take it from, but where you take it TO.""