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Let Google Spark Your Imagination by Mikael Karlsson

Inspiration From The Web

These days, there is help available to get those creative juices flowing, swiftly and cheaply, and it's right at your fingertips. Search engines are fast becoming the photographer's most powerful idea tool. If you find that you are running low on new creative ideas, browsing the work of others might be just the thing you need. In the past this would require a trip to the library and countless hours flipping through books and magazines.

Not so any more.

These days, all you need to do to browse the work of hundreds, if not thousands, of photographers, is to fire up your computer, get online and let a search engine such as Google work it's magic.

Go to www.google.com and select the "Images Tab". Then key in whatever special area/topic you photograph. Click "Search" and you'll soon see what I mean. You will encounter a huge number of images from photographers in all corners of the earth.

Find inspiration

"Is this legal?" you ask.

Finding inspiration from the work of others is not illegal or morally wrong. (Unless you downright copy what you see, of course.) To browse the work of other photographers, painters, peers, to find inspiration, is not only perfectly O.K., it's also a great way to get your creativity kicked into high gear.

Study what others have produced. Think about how you would improve their concept or their images. Observe the symbols that were used. Try to understand the concepts that were incorporated in the production of the various images. This whole process can help you come up with new fresh ideas for your own photos.

Just around the corner

While in the past it was common to say that inspiration was lurking just around the corner, these days it might be more fitting to say that inspiration is waiting for you just within your next Web-search.

About the Author
Photojournalist Mikael Karlsson has 18 years' experience of working for magazines and newspapers in more than 30 countries. He moved to the United States in 1998 from his native Sweden. He lives in Nebraska and is currently US correspondent for 11 Swedish magazines and a regular contributor to a wide variety of U.S. publications. Reach him at mike@photosource.com (http://www.mailto:mike@photosource.com).

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