Issue 37
On Identity, Creativity and New York Moments
I
“Write what you know. That should leave you with a lot of free time.”
— Howard Nemerov
II
“You have to go too far to discover how far you can go.”
— T.S. Eliot
Ideas for the Creative Mind
I
At the start of the year I promised myself I’d step off of the content treadmill and focus more on substantive essays. This immediately raised an awkward question: *Where do the ideas actually come from?*
The old adage “write what you know” contains a lot of truth. Mining my obsessions offer a a rich vein as they are familiar terrain, but with plenty uncharted territory worth exploring. That led me to Margin of Safety, a project I have mentioned before.
II
Another source is lived experience—those unguarded moments that, if I’m attentive and not mentally ossified, can point to larger themes worth exploring. These ideas often stretch me in surprising ways.
Take a recent run of encounters in which people confidently decided I was female—apparently the consultation period is optional. After one particularly pointed episode—my wife of twenty-one years sitting right there, trying not to laugh—I briefly wondered whether the unconscious-bias training HR used to flog wasn’t entirely pointless after all.
Once I’d shrugged off that thought, I began sitting with something more interesting: how my identity is perceived since my job shifted to Freelance Functional Adult & Domestic Co-Pilot. Reality, how I see myself, and how others see me don’t always line up. And the subconscious plays its part too, shaping the internal narrative in ways no amount of conscious reasoning can quite explain.
III
Writing about these little snafus is mostly a matter of weaving the right moments together in way that does not put the reader to sleep. Writing about the science and philosophy of identity, however, is a more demanding undertaking.
My reading pile began to grow almost of its own accord:
A Simpler Life — The School of Life.
The Inner Citadel — Pierre Hadot.
The Conquest of Happiness — Bertrand Russell
Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain — Lisa Feldman Barrett.
The Feeling of What Happens — Antonio Damasio.
Synaptic Self — Joseph LeDoux.
Not all of them proved useful—nor did they need to be. Sometimes a book simply opens a window, and that’s enough.
In the Spotlight
I passed this empty pavilion on Madison Avenue while hunting for lunch and, more importantly, a cup of coffee. It was completely empty save for the gorgeous midday light filtering through the reeded glass that screened patrons from the hustle and bustle of a city that never sleeps.
Given the extreme contrast, I used a spot meter to expose for the highlights, ensuring I retained detail while letting the shadows fall where they may.
To protect those shadows, I set the ISO to 200—the second base sensitivity for my camera. In aperture priority or, if you’re so inclined, programme mode, the camera would have bumped up the ISO significantly to push the tone curve to the right. That would have introduced unnecessary noise and destroyed the shadows. By selecting a base ISO—which varies by brand and by in-camera curve—I kept the shadows clean so I could work my magic when I processed the negative.
If this small slice of New York caught your eye, there’s more where that came from. Have a wander through the NYC collection in the catalogue — you might find something that wants to follow you home.
That’s a wrap. If you know anyone interested in photography, visual storytelling, or collecting finely crafted prints, please share this email. Or simply hit reply to say hello or share your thoughts.