Varroproduction Photography

But lets say that I would wake up in the morning and the first thing I would do is to put a sock on my head, jump out trough the window and fall into the snow, would that change things?

As a photographer I find that the biggest challenge is to get new ideas for photo shoots. And I know this is a big problem in every business, how to get new products, services for example.

How do we get new ideas?

Do we just sit down and wait for the ideas to come? That’s one way to do it, but it’s not effective.
Humans are logical and we tend to think in routines, it’s the easiest way to get along in life. I get up 6 o clock in the morning and I get out of bed, turn the alarm clock of and get into my slippers and walk to the bathroom where I do my thing. After this I walk to the kitchen, take my food tray, I put a bowl on the tray it and I pour cereals and milk into it. After this I take the bread, butter and ham out and make myself a sandwich. After this I sit down in front of the TV and watch ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’. Well I think you get the point, life in some aspects can sometimes be very routine and logical so we don’t get mental.

How do we break our routines?

But lets say that I would wake up in the morning and the first thing I would do is to put a sock on my head, jump out trough the window fall into the snow, would that change things? Probably! I would look like an idiot and I would freeze to death, but on the other hand that would be one (even if it’s a fools idea) idea to break the routines. When we break our routines we start to think outside the box and I believe that’s a natural reaction that we start to think different, we still don’t have a pattern for this situation cause it’s situation that we have never been in before. When I’m lying in the snow with a sock on my head and freezing, what do my instincts tell me? You probably get my point even if it’s not the best example.

I don’t want to freeze in the snow, with a sock on my head. What can i do instead?

This exercise is kind of reversed brainstorming technique and it lets your mind think ‘Outside the Box’.
Say that I need some new ideas for an upcoming photo shoot with a model, this exercise would be a great one to get new ideas.

I would choose Any word for this exercise but it should not have anything to do with my business or Topic, I choose the word CAR.
When you have chosen Your word, start to write every word that you relate to the word CAR(your chosen word).

- Sports car
- Tire
- Engine
- Oil
- Horsepower
- Competition
- Family
- Travel
- Distance
-  Searing wheel
- Gearbox
- Exhaust
- Drifting
- Drag racing
- Parking
- Stop light
- Hood
- Car factory
- Exclusive car
- Gasoline
- Head lights

I got 22 words that I related to the word CAR, the more words you have the better.
Now, erase the word CAR, and replace it with your topic, in my case its Photography.
This mean that I now have 22 potential new relations to my topic photography.

These are the spontaneous ideas I could come up with within 30 seconds.

Idea 1=Sports car
I could rent an exclusive car and park it somewhere in the City and i could do a photo shoot with a model.

Idea 2=Tire
I could take my gear to a tire shop where they have all these used tiers lying in the back of the garage, I could use these tires for an Abstract cool pattern together with a model and do a killer photo shoot. (Yeh, sounds weird doesn’t it??)

Idea 3=Oil
I could for example arrange that a model gets poured over with oil (preferably not engine oil, but oil) in a studio and somehow do a weird model photo shoot with a super glassy model and in some way do this artistically. (Sounds even weirder, I know!)

I think You are weird!

I know I am a little weird, but the weird stuff will make you think outside the box. These ideas might be over the edge but I believe that you get my point. Not every word will get you a killer idea, but eventually you get a really good word that you can get a nice photo shoot from, or maybe a product you can earn money on. Use this exercise once in a while to get new ideas for your business and I guarantee that you will get some great ideas, if it dont help you directly it might give you an approach angle for your problem.

Stay tuned!
Please vote the poll and comment this technique, your opinion is important to me!

Posted In: Business Tips