It’s about time for my yearly physical with my doctor, and it got me thinking about some of the test results you get back during your appointment. One of the things that I find interesting is that they have a standard set of bloodwork they do year-over-year. By doing the same basic test year-over-year, they have something to compare and benchmark how well we’re doing with our health. They are also able to use these test to help identify potential problems that may come up in the future.

I was wondering if we could do something similar with our creative practice or with our photography. Is there a set of test we could come up with that would tell us our overall health as a relates to our creative practice and our photography? Just like with the medical test, I think having a range of what would be acceptable creative behavior would be valuable. I also believe it’s important to divide up the type of test results were looking at into a couple of large buckets. In my case, I started to look at behind the camera, postproduction and printing, and critique.

I am hoping that by having the same set of criteria that I can look back and judge my creative practice with month over month and year over year, I can start to identify some trends that may or may not improve my practice. I also hope they can assist in determining some deficiencies before they become significant problems in my creative practice. Areas that I’ve been ignoring or haven’t had any real training that might make me better as a photographer or creative individual.

I encourage you to come up with your own set of criteria and range of numbers so that you can figure out what works and doesn’t work for you and your creative practice. If the process is at all like mine, the exercise alone will be insightful into what is working and not working with your creativity.