Creativity Isn’t An Exclusive Club

Carla Coulson, Claire Lloyd, Matthew Usmar Walkswithdogs, carla coulson retreat, greece, lesvos, creative retreat, living creatively, joy retreat, carla coulson workshops

Dear Creators,

I was talking to the beautiful Domenica More Gordon the other day about creativity.

I love this woman, she is across all creative fields including making felt dogs, directing short films, and illustrating and writing children’s books.

We were talking about the process of creativity and the labels that are often associated with creativity that makes it appear that it is an exclusive club that not everyone has the member’s badge to enter.

Domenica is passionate, and so am I, that creativity is for everyone. We came into this world creative with the ability to create whatever we want but one of the things that we are rarely told in life, is that we are creators. We may hear that we are creative but rarely that we are creators and our lives are a form of art and the best way to create them is with passion.

Carla Coulson, Claire Lloyd, Matthew Usmar Walkswithdogs, carla coulson retreat, greece, lesvos, creative retreat, living creatively, joy retreat, carla coulson workshops

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So what makes someone creative or not? In my humble opinion, it’s TIME and CONNECTION. 

It’s the choice or not to give something time, to try something you think you might be interested in, to poke around in the dark, scratch the surface like a chicken looking for a grub and when you find something you like, stick with it.

Yes, folks, that is my definition of creativity. It’s crossing the comfort zone of fear and saying I will pick up a paintbrush, an embroidery needle, a camera, an excel file, a pair of knitting needles or a guitar.

Music is in all of us, we just need to remember the rhythm. Art is in all of us, we just need to let go. Seeing is in all of us, if we slow down and take the time to see.

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Creativity for me is allowing myself to try something with no outcome and doing the kilometres (my Aussie way of saying doing it over and over again).

If I hadn’t left my life at 35, I may have died a closet creative!!!

Instead, like a chicken scratching around I found a grub, I found photography. I turned that grub over and over and kept looking for more grubs, scratched a little deeper till after a lot of scratching around in the dark, I realised I am creative.

For this very reason along with my dear friends Claire Lloyd and Matthew Usmar Walkswithdogs and hubby Francesco we have created JOY, a Living Creatively Retreat so you can create the next part of your life with intention. We will help you let the closet creative out,  define your life’s desires, encourage you to start consciously creating the next part of your life, re-think your well-being, and bring more Joy into your daily life. The idea is you walk away with passion and clarity for the next part of your life.

lesvos, intuition, Greece, Greek Islands, Greek retreat, creative retreat, my greek island home, claire lloyd, carla coulson, francesco cataldi, matthew usmar walkswithdogs, living creatively retreat, joy, carla coulson workshops, life coach, creative coach, creativity, emotional intelligence, intuition, greek fisherman

During our daily focus sessions, we will invite you to think differently and allow you to connect to what your heart has always desired. Oh, and there will be long table lunches, boat trips, swims, daily art lessons and dancing.

If you would like to nurture a seed inside of you and let it sprout, take a step into your creative self you can check out the details HERE.

Registration closes on February 28th.

“Joy in looking and comprehending is nature’s most beautiful gift”. – Albert Einstein

 

Sending love,

Carla

Why Joy is like Spiritual Crack

Carla Coulson, Claire Lloyd, Matthew Usmar Walkswithdogs, carla coulson retreat, greece, lesvos, creative retreat, living creatively, joy retreat, carla coulson workshops

Dear Creative Folk,

What is the definition of Joy?

The kind folks at Merriam-Webster define Joy as: the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires.

 What’s the big deal about Joy anyway? Joy is like spiritual crack!!!

It’s the thing that takes you straight to who you are; it allows you to be playful, lighthearted, and free.Carla Coulson, Claire Lloyd, Matthew Usmar Walkswithdogs, carla coulson retreat, greece, lesvos, creative retreat, living creatively, joy retreat, carla coulson workshops

Carla Coulson, Claire Lloyd, Matthew Usmar Walkswithdogs, carla coulson retreat, greece, lesvos, creative retreat, living creatively, joy retreat, carla coulson workshops

But how many of us allow ourselves to do what we truly desire in life? Often we are so disconnected from our desires that if someone asked us what we want for the next part of our life, we are kind of stumped, we just don’t have the answer.

We can lose the connection to our deep desires over a lifetime of pleasing others, doing what we think we should do instead of what makes us happy and what brings us joy.

When you are connected to your desires you feel passionate, when you have more passion in your life you feel joy. When you have more joy in your life the world is your oyster!!

Carla Coulson, Claire Lloyd, Matthew Usmar Walkswithdogs, carla coulson retreat, greece, lesvos, creative retreat, living creatively, joy retreat, carla coulson workshops

If you combine joy with consciously creating, you are unstoppable!!

And sweet folks this is exactly what we want to bring to your life in our Joy – Living Creatively Greek Island Retreat.

We have designed this retreat to help you harness your deepest desires, ignite your passion and consciously create the next part of your life in a heavenly atmosphere with focus sessions, swims, lunches, discussions and art as the vehicle.

TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THIS WONDERFUL RETREAT, READ THE FULL DETAILS HERE

vulnerability

How Vulnerability Helps Me To Take Portraits That Count

vulnerability

Dear Folks,

So many of the questions that arrive in my inbox are about how I take photos full of emotions.

How do I get people to laugh or jump, forget about me, or blow me a kiss?

Well, here’s my secret. It is my willingness to be vulnerable.

When we are in a vulnerable state we are wide open, we have our hearts on the line and we are willing to let people see it. We show them we are not perfect and don’t have answers all the time and that is OK.

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For many of us, it feels dangerous but as the beautiful Brene Brown says ‘I believe that vulnerability – the willingness to be “all in” even when you know it can mean failing and hurting – is brave.”

When I am taking photos, I dare to show people that I am as vulnerable as they are even though they are the one in front of the camera.

In 2016, I was given the biggest compliment by a niece who I worked with for a whole year in Paris. She told me, ‘You don’t care what people think of you!’

For a minute, I was almost offended and then she explained, “No matter who you are with on a shoot, (including some famous folk) you goof around and make a fool of yourself and you don’t decide things based on what other people think of you.”

vulnerable, vulnerability, Carla Coulson photography

I loved her point of view. I will be discussing vulnerability along with other wonderful topics in the Heartland Workshop this October in Puglia and sharing all my photography secrets.

If you would like to take photos with more emotion and do it with confidence, I would love to teach you how. I have had one cancellation and would love to help you take your portraits and interiors to a new level.

You can read all about the workshop HERE.

If you have any questions, please send us a note to workshops@carlacoulson.com

P.S. You check out Brene Brown’s TED Talk HERE.

You can choose courage or you can choose comfort. You cannot have both.” – Brene Brown

 

Related Post: Start With A Vision

 

Carla Coulson, harpers bazaar, portrait photographer, lifestyle photography, justin hemmed, kate fowler, the hermitage, slim aarons, pool, wooden boat, white bedroom, swimming pool

Start With A Vision

 

Dear Folks,

Many people ask me how do I translate an idea into photography reality. So often we have glamorous, cool or moody ideas of what we would like yet our outcome is something else. Anybody seen the Life of Pi client expectations and budget floating around on the net!

Carla Coulson, harpers bazaar, portrait photographer, lifestyle photography, justin hemmed, kate fowler, the hermitage, slim aarons, pool, wooden boat, white bedroom, swimming pool

Sometimes photos that look so simple are in reality a ‘battle’ to get the outcome you would like and others are gifts to you. This shoot was one of those gifts!

When I am working on a shoot my starting point is a vision.

I liken photography to any goal in life, if you can’t see it, how can you get there? 

When I was shooting this story for Harper’s Bazaar of the beautiful Kate Fowler and Justin Hemmes my vision for these photos started long before I picked up the camera.

Carla Coulson, harpers bazaar, portrait photographer, lifestyle photography, justin hemmed, kate fowler, the hermitage, slim aarons, pool, wooden boat, white bedroom, swimming pool

What Was My Vision?

  1. When I scouted the place I noticed lots of opportunities to shoot from different perspectives 
  2. When I stood on the property flashbacks to famous photos, photographers and cool folk started my inspiration process 
  3. I allowed my body to help me. Spaces that excited me such as the pool area and the staircase allowed my imagination to run wild and so much of photography is about imagination
  4. Over the years I have looked at hundreds of thousands of images, films and historical references and its in these moments they serve me. They come to me as inspiration
  5. Give yourself permission to photograph the things you love and the way you want

 

As this was a big shoot my vision started kicking in days before and often an idea would come to me driving, swimming or in the middle of the night. Yes, my shoots keep me awake at night.

So by the day of the shoot I had plenty of ideas of where I could shoot and what I was trying to achieve. 

Carla Coulson, harpers bazaar, portrait photographer, lifestyle photography, justin hemmed, kate fowler, the hermitage, slim aarons, pool, wooden boat, white bedroom, swimming pool

But how do I get a final result that is as good as the image in my head? This is something I will be teaching this October in Puglia on the Heartland – People and Spaces Workshop. How to take a vision and make it happen and not walk away from it when it isn’t working out. 

We have ONE PLACE available if you would love to take great people and spaces pics in a place close to heaven. You can read full details HERE.

Light and love

Carla x

If I Was Starting Out Today Here’s What I Would Do

carla coulson, pro photographer, black and white, photographer mentoring, what I would do differently, starting out as a photographer

All Photos Copyright Carla Coulson

Dear Friend,

Oh how life has changed in such a short number of years. When I started out in photography I was still shooting film and sending ‘trannies’ to magazines on the other side of the world.

Everything, and I mean everything has changed!

I was asked the question the other day if I was starting out today what would I do differently? Sheesh, that got me thinking and asking questions and looking closely at the way I did things and I do things now.

The start is so wonderful, it is like the first flush of love when you would to anything for that love. Your energy and enthusiasm is ready to smash all glass ceilings and if your can harness and direct that power in the right direction you could set cities alight!

So if you are starting out, instead of poking around in the dark here’s what I would do today.

LOOK AT DIFFERENT ‘MODELS’ OF PHOTOGRAPHY

I would look at the different ways one can become a photographer whilst studying your craft. There are so many marvellous ‘models’ and the internet has changed and opened everything in 10 years. There are wonderful success stories like Alex Stoddard (fine art), Lara Jade (fashion) , Katie Quinn Davies (food +styling), This Wild Idea (Instagram) who have taken the new route and created a career of the modern age through social media backed up by marvellous, creative, true to their style photography. They created amazing work and put it out there and let the world get excited and that created a buzz around it.

Why? Before you jump into anything, the smart thing would be to inform yourself about it. I didn’t, I just dived off a high cliff and almost hit the rocks below. This wasn’t a fun experience and then I had to paddle up a river that felt like going up Niagara falls the wrong way. I learnt everything by trial and error and on the other side of the world (Italy) and wasted money and years. Somewhere in the middle I lost sight of what I wanted to do because I was working it all out as I went along. If you can track yourself down a real live working photographer who is doing what you would like to do and ask them the reality of it.

fashion photography, carla coulson, what I would do differently if I was starting today, la pergola, going pro, profession photographer

GIVE MY CREATIVITY SPACE

Give myself more time to be creative before putting pressure on myself to start making money from photography! Yes folks you may consider me one of the lucky ones who got published straight out of photography school with 13 pages in Marie Claire. I was in a desperate hurry to make some money and photography seemed to be the only outlet available to me in Italy where I didn’t have a permit to work. If I was starting out now and I could make money doing something else, I would allow my relationship with photography to develop with time, love and experience.

Why? I remember the sickening feeling of having my first job, of the sleepless nights and the investment of film to ‘overshoot’ to make sure I had what the client needed. Even though we can all pick up a camera today and you don’t have to know all the technicalities that you needed to know then, I think many people like me tend to jump in at the deep end (for whatever reasons) when they are still ‘half baked’. Yes, the creative and technical pudding is still soft in the centre and photography like all crafts takes time to develop your aesthetic, your techniques, your voice, your language, your sensitivity to colour and your inner belief in what you are doing.

When we ask for money for our photography when are still developing our aesthetic we are too eager to please the person paying the bills and straight out of the blocks we start to compromise our artistic vision before we have let that little baby flower. You haven’t even had the luxury to understand what your photography purpose is in life and BOOM you start losing it straight away.

Therefore, I would suggest take your time, discover, be curious, be like a beautiful dog and go sniff out some bushes and see what comes of it. Shoot the breeze with your photography, have a love affair, look whimsically into each others eyes before you move in together and start washing each others undies!!!

carla coulson, underwater photography, ladies chatting underwater, black and white photography, what would i do differently, profession photographer, mentoring

INSTAGRAM + SOCIAL MEDIA

When I started in photography social media meant going to have a chat with one of your friends who knew someone or had heard about a job that you might be interested in. It also meant picking up the phone to your favourite magazine or client and asking if you could come over and show them your pics. It meant going to the parties where all the ‘right’ people were going if you were in the fashion industry. It meant shaking your booty so god damn hard that you actually started to meet the world. If I was starting out today I would go build the biggest most beautiful INSTAGRAM account with every relevant hashtag whilst studying my craft, waiting tables, transitioning from a job or hanging out with my boyfriend Mr. Photography. Long before I was actually ready to start.

Why? Because the whole world is looking and connecting with each other on social media platforms such as Instagram whilst I was in Sydney a friend who works in magazines said that they no longer do Picture Editors enter a keyword into Google when they need an image they put it straight into Instagram! There is a double whammy effect of having a wonderful social media profile, you may just be discovered and even if you don’t know where it is going to take you at the beginning it gives your work visibility, you choice and an eventual much needed audience no matter what kind of photographer you are. The first question you will be asked when you front up to a publisher is how many people do you have on social media? A photographer I know who had photographed oodles of books for International chefs decided to pitch a book of his own, first question, how many people do you have on social media? Do you have a blog? When the answer came back as ‘No’, the publisher didn’t offer him a book deal.

Another photographer I know created an amazing blog with her work, created an International buzz which in turn created a large social network on the net and a publisher found her work on Google and offered her a book deal.

PORTFOLIO

Sheesh, the portfolio is right down at number four. That isn’t because it is the least important it is because it is the most important! Yes folks developing your craft, putting love, thought and experience into you portfolio will take you somewhere far quicker than starting out too early with a ‘half-baked’ portfolio.

Why? Someone who has built up an Instagram account or vibing social media and then creates a ‘rock-star’ portfolio and launches it to his/her community will have the beginnings of an instant made business, just add Vodka and shake!

If you do it the other way around, you have an incredible portfolio or body of work you can go see clients in the traditional way, get in touch with websites etc or launch it to ‘deaf ears’ on your non-existent social media network. Yes, your beautiful work will be seen by no-one till you start playing catch-ups.

carla coulson, portrait shoot, martina franca, profession photographer,

PRACTICE

I would have practiced more before handing over my precious craft for money (sheesh did I say that).

Why? Photography is like mastering a violin, riding a perfect wave or writing a beautiful book. Whatever you want to master in life you need to put the hours in. Malcolm Gladwell in Outliers says “to truly master something you need to put in 10,000 hours” and I am telling you from experience and someone that has put in 10,000 hours confidence, experience and depth comes in the doing. You mightn’t need to do your 10,000 hours before starting but make sure you have done way more than 100 hours or it will show.

WEBSITE

When I was ready to start I would go build me one of these beautiful shiny new websites (well kind of like what I have) but it doesn’t need to be that tricky. It should be easy to navigate, show off your beautiful portfolio, tell us who you are and what inspires you and what you are selling!! Yes, don’t put up a bunch of gorgeous pictures without telling us if you are a fine artist and where you are showing, if you are doing children’s photography or wanting to do travel, tell us please what you are selling. Yes, dear photographer if you want to eat and work as a photographer it means you are selling something and hopefully that something is your work. Please make it clear and simple.

The people starting out today have so many wonderful resources at their disposal, we are heading into the ‘Age of Aquarius’ and in all things spiritual and creative so hats off to the lucky souls who are flexing their Aquarian creativity, vision and energy.

I hope this little insight helps you on your path.

“There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.” Buddha

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PS: I would love you to share to help anyone new starting out

Check out my Portrait Lightroom Presets here.