"A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words..."

As a song writer, I usually try to avoid clichés in my writing. But for the topic I'm going to address today, finding inspiration for your song writing though photography, this title cliché says it pretty well. When you recall a fond memory from your past, there are probably several things happening simultaneously in your brain: flashes of visual images of the people and events involved, combined with feelings, and maybe some recollections of the words that were heard or spoken as well. All of these things are found in good songs, too, especially if you view a song's lyrics as portraying a certain feeling using imagery in its words. But this same kind of feeling can also arise from looking at an old photograph of something special in your life. Maybe it's a photograph of a special person, or a special event, or a special place. But the important point here is that certain photos trigger certain feelings, just as certain songs do. And it's this aspect of photography that I encourage you to use to your advantage as a song writer.

As a matter of fact, for the purposes of inspiring lyrics, I rarely go anywhere without a camera on me, even it it's just my camera phone. And the reason is simple: life happens fast, most of the time too fast to stop and document in the form of lyrics. So when I'm living a moment that I believe will be worthy of writing a song about at some point in my near future, I will typically pull out my camera and take a few shots. These photos serve as instant reminders for my brain. The contents of each image typically will trigger certain memories, certain feelings, and also serve as concrete reminders of the visual impacts of that event, whatever it happens to be. And all of those triggers for memories that one finds in a photo, are also useful for composing lyrics later as you are recalling that time and place.

Most song writers and lyricists that I know keep a notebook of their thoughts and ideas. Their notebooks are usually a place where they can organize their thoughts, as they begin to crystallize into the phrases of a song. If you write songs, you probably have a similar solution you use when trying to write lyrics for your creations. The whole point here is to encourage you to incorporate photography into your lyric writing, too. So, your lyric notebook is a great place to tuck away your special photos, photos that immediately force you to recall those special times and places and people. Since these photos trigger various details and feelings, they can be valuable tools for jump-starting the writing process as you create songs about these special people, places, and events.

But incorporating photography into your song writing is more than just pulling out special photos when you're trying to write lyrics. It's also having the forethought to take your camera with you, as you are out there living life. And when you recognize that you are experiencing something that's potentially song-worthy, pull out your camera and snap a few shots. Your goal here is to document the moment, even if the things you are taking pictures of are not photographically interesting. Your goal here is not necessarily to take awesome photos. Your goal is to record the moment in an image, so that later on down the road, if you decide to write about this moment, you can pull out those photos and be transported back in time. Hopefully the photos will bring back more memories, more details than recollection alone. And these additional details should be of great benefit as you attempt to re-create similar feelings using music.

Although photography and music are usually seen as separate art forms, photography can be extremely valuable for the song writer, as I've pointed out. And it serves as a reminder that all forms of art can be complimentary to your song writing. So don't neglect other forms of art because you are focused on song writing. Use other artistic endeavors to inspire your music creations, too! Approach your art with an open, creative mind! Live artful!

Copyright ©2009 W.A. Blevins