Creative Thought Space |
Ann Evelin Lawford | London, UK | www.annevelinlawford.com
Photographer & Cinematographer
What do you think being creative means?
Being creative means having a drive to explore and discover new things, and to do this with psychological plasticity both in behaviour and thinking. It’s a combination of nature and nurture.
How do you include creativity in your life?
I daydream, photograph, admire music, play with light, read, garden, experiment with cooking, play with dogs, make and create things around the home, colouring books, jigsaw puzzles, practice yoga, spend time in nature and the outdoors, breathe fresh air, travel, work abroad and in new places, meet new people, work with new and different people, venture out into the unknown…
What thoughts do you have as to how your life has influenced your creative imagination, and how your creative imagination has influenced your life?
Creativity is affected by environment and upbringing as well as the genes. Novel life experiences provide the crucial tissue of real-world material that can be turned into original work. One of the big five character traits, openness to experience, is the single strongest and most consistent personality trait that influences creativity. So one informs the other and vice versa.
What, if any, exercises do you do to get into a creative mode?
The creative mode tends to find me, rather than me getting into it. I guess with time and as you grow older, you learn how to tap into it when under pressure in an environment where you have to perform there and then. But things have to flow, and there needs to be emotional and mental space, and freedom, to access it. Going out into nature, and being exposed to new environments is a big influencer to access my creative mode.
How important do you think creativity is in life?
Essential!
Being creative means having a drive to explore and discover new things, and to do this with psychological plasticity both in behaviour and thinking. It’s a combination of nature and nurture.
How do you include creativity in your life?
I daydream, photograph, admire music, play with light, read, garden, experiment with cooking, play with dogs, make and create things around the home, colouring books, jigsaw puzzles, practice yoga, spend time in nature and the outdoors, breathe fresh air, travel, work abroad and in new places, meet new people, work with new and different people, venture out into the unknown…
What thoughts do you have as to how your life has influenced your creative imagination, and how your creative imagination has influenced your life?
Creativity is affected by environment and upbringing as well as the genes. Novel life experiences provide the crucial tissue of real-world material that can be turned into original work. One of the big five character traits, openness to experience, is the single strongest and most consistent personality trait that influences creativity. So one informs the other and vice versa.
What, if any, exercises do you do to get into a creative mode?
The creative mode tends to find me, rather than me getting into it. I guess with time and as you grow older, you learn how to tap into it when under pressure in an environment where you have to perform there and then. But things have to flow, and there needs to be emotional and mental space, and freedom, to access it. Going out into nature, and being exposed to new environments is a big influencer to access my creative mode.
How important do you think creativity is in life?
Essential!
About
Ann Evelin Lawford is a Dutch-born photographer and cinematographer currently based in London, hailed by British Cinematographer Magazine as part of the ‘New Wave’ in 2019. She is working in commercial, features, and made her first foray into broadcast television with '100 Vaginas'. Her forthcoming art film ‘Elver' is awaiting its TX date on BBC Four.
Evelin is instinctively drawn to stories which unearth the complexities and fragility of human existence, the psyche, and our behaviour. Evelin is a lover of fine art, the sublimity of nature, supporter of mental health, an environmentalist and humanist, and adores the eternal qualities and textures of film.
Ann Evelin Lawford is a Dutch-born photographer and cinematographer currently based in London, hailed by British Cinematographer Magazine as part of the ‘New Wave’ in 2019. She is working in commercial, features, and made her first foray into broadcast television with '100 Vaginas'. Her forthcoming art film ‘Elver' is awaiting its TX date on BBC Four.
Evelin is instinctively drawn to stories which unearth the complexities and fragility of human existence, the psyche, and our behaviour. Evelin is a lover of fine art, the sublimity of nature, supporter of mental health, an environmentalist and humanist, and adores the eternal qualities and textures of film.
