The 6 stages of the creative process used to lose a shiny piece of garbage at an award show
While our methods are decidedly unconventional, my photographer and I absolutely nailed our first creative engagement. We captured the perfect shot aligned with the agreed-upon creative direction. And 700 other photos we can use if we need to convey, drinking on the job, barfing into a paper bag, or being really annoyed. We also submitted a compilation of our work to a conglomerate of industry creatives with the ambitious aspiration of winning an award at their third almost-annual award show.
Here’s how we did it.
The Scene:
In need of visuals to go with my blog post, You, Me & ChatGPT, I solicited the help of my 9-year-old daughter who currently works under the pseudonym, Daffy. She’s unsure if she wants to be associated with me or my projects, hence the pseudonym. Daffy and I didn’t know it then, but we were also inadvertently preparing a submission for an award show put on by OK Social, an after-work party club for people in creative industries. More on that to come.
The Research:
In preparation for the photo shoot, I did my research. I needed a visual that would convey my abject shock over learning that since ChatGPT launched in 2022, I had been referring to it as ChatGBT. Upon discovering my error, I needed to ‘take a breather,’ as they say. Also in that moment, an image of a woman hyperventilating into a paper bag was generated by my brain to accompany my shock.
During my research, I learned that the term, ‘take a breather,’ generally means to take a short break from one’s activities to relax and doesn’t typically involve regulating your breathing with the assistance of a paper bag. Regardless, simply taking a break from what I was doing, would not have accurately reflected the magnitude of my shock and I stuck with my original vision.
With the title of the shot already selected, it was time to walk Daffy through the creative process and discuss the vision for the shoot.
The Creative Process:
According to my Google search results the standard creative process includes 4, 5, or 7 stages. Curiously, the search results were missing a 6-stage process option. Below is the 6-stage process me and Daffy used to create the photo titled ‘Take a Breather.’ You and Google are welcome to use it too.
Stage 1: Provide Creative Direction
I asked Daffy to photograph me breathing into a bag. Heavily. Like I was having a panic attack. I also provided visual aids. I brought Daffy over to my computer and pointed to several examples of what the final product should look like. In the examples provided, both the model’s whole head and the entire paper bag are included in the photo.
Exhibit A: Woman providing super clear creative direction to a photographer
Stage 2: Review the Creative Direction
Despite the clear direction provided to my photographer, she started off the session by capturing approximately 275 snaps that didn’t include my entire head or the bag. After another consult with Daffy where I explained that I didn’t need her cat in the photos judging me, she captured a few photos resembling me drinking on the job.
Exhibit B: Judgemental cat looking at a woman holding a paper bag to her face.
Stage 3: Circle Back on the Creative Direction
Next, the photographer captured me heading over to provide more creative direction. I explained that we weren’t filming a movie and that she should stop using the iPhone ‘burst’ function and spend more time getting my head and bag into the shot. I may have also told her to “get it together.” My photographer managed to capture a few hundred more shots that look like I’m drinking out of a paper bag.
Exhibit C: Annoyed woman holding a paper bag circling back over to provide creative direction to a photographer.
Stage 4: Revisit the Creative Direction
As my photographer continued to struggle to get both the paper bag and my head into the shot, I checked the bag to see if someone had slipped glue in there as surely I was fucking high. Next, the photographer began not so subtlety, adding her middle finger to the shots. At this point in the shoot, we had taken over 400 photos and still had not captured the shot. The photographer does, however, manage to capture a bunch of photos that look like I’m barfing into a bag.
Exhibit D: Confused and possibly high woman looking into a paper bag to check for intoxicating substances.
Stage 5: Detour from the Creative Direction
Against all odds, the photographer took a usable photo around shot #557. Somewhere around shot #632 she gave up and started taking pictures of her judgemental cat. I decided I could do a better job taking pictures of myself. I was wrong. After a final consultation, we circled back to shot #557 for the win.
Exhibit E: Judgemental cat sticking out his tongue at a woman taking a selfie while drinking from a paper bag.
Stage 6: Verify the Creative Direction
Pictured below is the final photo selected for the blog post.
Exhibit F: Woman paper bag breathing because sometimes simply taking a short break from one’s activities to relax just won’t cut it and you require full-on paper bag breathing to settle yourself down.
The Award Show:
As I was putting the final touches on my blog post, I heard about OK Social’s aforementioned award show. The award category we entered was for the OK Behind the Scenes Shot. The award was for capturing something cool while you were supposed to be capturing something else.
I was confident the photo compilation we submitted would win the award because we had captured over 700 behind-the-scenes shots not at all related to the targeted subject matter. Heck, we probably had enough photos to make a full-length documentary about a very annoyed, sometimes headless office worker, who gets fired for drinking on the job. With the photos not used in the documentary, we could make a short Reel about a woman with an upset stomach who keeps barfing into a paper bag and is obsessed with taking selfies with a judgmental cat. And how cool is that?
The Tragic Loss:
Ultimately, we lost the award to a submission of a photo of some dude’s butt. I get it. The title of the award was ‘OK Behind the Scenes Shot.’ If I were one of the judges, I would have voted for him too (no I wouldn’t). The carefully curated selection from over 700 photos just wasn’t cool enough.
Exhibit G: An exhilarated woman dressed up as a shiny piece of garbage enthusiastically rehearsing her acceptance speech for an award she is on her way to losing to a picture of some dude’s butt.
Disclaimer:
While conducting further research for this story, I learned that current medical guidance advises against using paper bags to aid someone having a panic attack because, while it may physiologically make sense, they may develop an unhealthy reliance on paper bags and panic further if they can’t find one. I can certainly attest to the difficulty of finding a paper bag these days. Daffy and I had to visit several stores to find a fully recyclable bag, with no plastic in it, made of pine cones and fairy dust, and not covered in pictures of tiny green trees and recycling logos.
Not fully appreciating I was in danger of becoming addicted to paper bag breathing and subjecting my impressionable daughter to such risky behaviour, I’m going to take a breather. Don’t worry, I’m going to take the healthy kind of breather, where I just get up from my desk and relax for a minute while deleting 700+ useless photos from my iPhone. And maybe pet the judgemental cat.
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