“To know ahead of time what you’re looking for means you’re then only photographing your own preconceptions, which is very limiting and often false.” ~ Dorothea Lange

Creativity emerges from looking or thinking without preconceptions. Examining things without preconceptions offers an opportunity to develop a new and different way of perception, a unique viewpoint. 

“It’s about reacting to what you see, hopefully without preconception. You can find pictures anywhere. It’s simply a matter of noticing things and organizing them. You just have to care about what’s around you…” ~ Ellliot Erwitt

Often preconceptions of what is good or bad can stifle creativity. Having years of informal and formal art education and experience, I can’t recall a professor, teacher, mentor or instructor that offered “rules” to follow in creating work, other than to consistently pursue it with a fresh, individual and independent approach. I have consciously tried to follow that advice and will continue to abide by it.

“Constant reminding ourselves that we not see with our eyes but with our synergetic eye-brain system working as a whole will produce constant astonishment as we notice, more and more often, how much of our perceptions emerge from our preconceptions.” ~ David Eagleman