Bear Hanrahan 2/9/17 Bear Hanrahan 2/9/17

Stop Killing your Art with Inspiration

Is there such a thing as too much inspiration? Such a thing as killing yourself creatively?

As creatives we thrive off of inspiration. We pull inspiration from all that surround us - nature, music, other people's art, films, photography etc, etc.

But is there such a thing as too much inspiration? Such a thing as killing yourself creatively?

Personally I think that there is.

What happens when you find a cool thing that inspires you? You generally seek after it and push your art in that direction. But what if you swarm yourself with so much inspiration that you end up falling down a rabbit hole of only that one thing?

You get burnt out.

I know that this is definitely true in my life and my art.

I get so focused on that trend, piece of music, element of nature, artist's work etc. and I fill my head with so much of it, and then I compare my work to those who are doing that thing to the point where I don't even want to create things anymore. I'm not good enough to make those things. I'm out.

Seems kind of sad and bleak yes?

Well it is both of those things.

and one more thing too.

It's incredibly uncreative and unproductive for someone who makes things for a living.

So how do we avoid this?

Well, there are a few ways. The first and foremost way is to

STOP LOOKING SO FREAKING HARD FOR INSPIRATION ALL THE TIME. PLEASE.

Being inspired is important, yes. But so is looking at your work objectively (not comparing) and seeing in what ways that you can refine and improve. What will take you from 90-95% at "good" to 100% at "great"? (to quote Musicbed) Figure those things out. Hone in on them, and eliminate them. Sometimes it helps to make a physical list of things that you can scratch out when they are complete. (It's way more satisfying. Like angrily closing a flip phone vs. smashing a digital button with your thumb)

For me one of those things that I can improve on is working with artificial light in my work. I hate using artificial light most of the time. It's usually either too cold or too warm, too sharp, and it can be quite hard to direct properly. But I am going to be spending the next few weeks learning how to use it well and nail down where I struggle with it. (Let me know in the comments if you'd like a blog post about my artificial light adventures)

One way to reduce the comparison issue is to just unfollow the people that you compare yourself to for a little while. Not forever though. I've heard this from several other photographers and artists (sorry I can't remember exactly who at the moment for reference). If you find that you are beating yourself up for not being as experienced, as talented, as creative, etc as someone, then stop following that someone. It has helped me a lot in the past to do this. It just frees up your mind from being like, *scrolls through Facebook/IG/Pintrest/Tumblr* *sees amazing picture from super talented human* "wow I am a terrible artist. I will never be this good" *continues scrolling while still silently comparing self to other person*.

The quote "Good artists copy, great artists steal" has been passed around the creative circles pretty much forever. And while it is true, it is only true to a certain point.

It's good to steal concepts, technical aspects, and some creative methods. But please don't steal directly from that person or try to copy them. Cuz that's piracy and/or plagiarism which is totally no bueno. :P But in all seriousness, don't do it because because that is just another opportunity to compare yourself. "If only I could just compose a shot like so-and-so I'll finally be good enough".

stAHP DoINg THaT PLeASe

To paraphrase Ryan Booth because I can't remember the artists he referenced,

You will never be Wes Anderson. Only Wes Anderson can be Wes Anderson.

You will never be Pablo Picasso. Only Picasso can be Picasso.

But Anderson and Picasso can never be you. Only you can be you. Your style is the conglomeration of all of your experiences, thoughts, feelings, and what you surround yourself with. No one can replicate that.

So there you go! Some ways to stay inspired, but not back yourself into a corner and kill yourself creatively with that inspiration.

How do you get inspired? Have you ever struggled with these issues before? I'd love to talk with you about it in the comments below!

Bear Hanrahan 1/12/17 Bear Hanrahan 1/12/17

2017 | NETWORK

So I guess it's 2017 now.

This is new.

This is nice.

That time that Emma cosplayed as Eleven for Halloween

So I guess it's 2017 now.

This is new.

This is nice.

What are we going to do with this year? So many new opportunities and things to be made.

My word for this year is 'Network'.

In May my family moved from Springfield to north Dallas.

Dallas is an awesome city, don't get me wrong. In fact it's probably the coolest place that I've lived. However I don't yet know tons of people, and business has been better. So this year I'm really going to focus a lot on networking and making friends.

One of my first steps in that direction is interning at WELD. WELD is a Dallas and Nashville based creative workspace and there are some pretty freaking incredible people who work here. Seriously some of the most talented people that I've ever met. I've already met a bunch of incredible people and I hope that I can learn tons from them.

Another step I've taken is going to Masters in Motion. When I say that WELD has some of the most talented people, I mean about 45%. Masters in Motion has another 45% of those people. I met and made friends with some absolutely incredible filmmakers there and I can't wait until I can get to collaborate with them.

Then the last 10% of the most talented people that I know are from all around the country. You all know who you are. :)

I spent the last part of 2016 working with some awesome people and making some really cool content.

Here's some of the stuff that I've shot over the last couple of months

Elizabeth+Jon Wedding no. 2

So there you go! That was the end of my 2016 in images. Not necessarily in order so much as the order that I found them, but still roughly in order.

I can't wait to see what the coming months of 2017 bring!

What makes this even more special is it is currently snowing for the first time in Dallas. Whoo! Definitely gonna be taking some pictures or something to capture this.

I hope you have a great new year!

Bear Hanrahan 8/22/16 Bear Hanrahan 8/22/16

The Ever-Present Struggle: GAS

GAS

Or Gear Acquisition Syndrome plagues all of us as filmmakers.

GAS

Or Gear Acquisition Syndrome plagues all of us as filmmakers. We constantly want to have the newest and best because we think it will make us into better filmmakers. Now granted, there are often times when we legitimately need the new gear because a project demands it and our old gear is no longer making the cut. Like, I am going to be upgrading to the Sony A7s II from the A7s I because I legitimately need the 4k for an upcoming project.

Some of the best short films I have ever seen were done with astoundingly simple gear. If you look at the winners of My Røde Reel 2016 most of them were done with very simple kits.

In fact, some of the best indie cinematography that I've seen was done with a Canon T3i hacked with magic lantern on a short about a father trying to find his daughter in Thailand. (I'm not going to share the film here due to some of the content, but the cinematography excellent)

Now, I know that this post might just be beating a dead horse or preaching to the choir, but personally, I need to constantly remind myself that even though the newest gimbal/monitor/recorder/camera/micrphone/tripod-monopod-ninja-sword-3-in-1 might be ridiculously cool I probably don't need it.

What's your cost per use going to be? If you drop $1500 dollars on something and only use it 5-6 times over the next 2 years before you either sell it or shelve it you are spending between $250 and $300 per use. Why not just rent it for the same price or less? However if you think you are going to use it all the time (for me personally that would be my Glidecam HD 2000) the price per usage makes it go waaay down.

Then there's also the whole thing where we start to think that newer, better gear makes us better filmmakers.

Nope.

That's like a chef wanting a newer, better stove to help him make a better omlette. Basically you know the whole "wow that film/photo is great! You must have a great camera" thing? Well, if you constantly upgrade your gear because you think that it will make you more talented or skilled then you are literally that guy. The good camera = good filmmaker/photographer guy. You are mentally giving yourself less value than your gear. Not only that, but you are totally letting companies tell you how good you are. Not to mention, it gets really expensive really fast.

To sum it up, you are not only as good as your gear, gear has very little to do with talent, and if you are only as good as your gear, then you are in the wrong industry.

Now go and make a ton of stuff without the newest and best gear.