In this week’s podcast, I got interested in looking at how fraud can rear its ugly head in our creative practice. I was researching something else, and I wanted to see the exact definition of the word fraud. When I looked the word up, I found the following:
” a person or thing intended to deceive others, typically by unjustifiably claiming or being credited with accomplishments or qualities.”
As I read the definition, I realize there are times when I have ascribed the word fraud to my photography and creative practice. I noticed this when I had to relearn some of the things I knew I had already learned in Photoshop. Did the fact that I had forgotten and had to look it up mean that I was a fraud? Did the fact that I thought I already knew the skill but in but couldn’t make me a fraud? If someone had asked if I knew how to do that in Photoshop and I said yes make me a fraud? I used to know it. Is forgetting something make me a fraud? I had to find a way to process those questions.
The voice is telling me that I am a fraud, in this case, was my own. I realized that the intention this to deceive that is required by fraud was my ego getting in the way of my creative practice. I began to wonder does this also impact other parts of my creative process? I began to wonder does this also affect other people in their creative process?
Thinking about what this all means, I realized that our creative process requires us on some level to make an unjustifiable claim of what we can or can’t do. It is our willingness to step out on that ledge that drives our creative process and practice. In the face of being told no that’s not possible do we succeed as a creative person? So being creative and trying things out even when we don’t know what we can and can’t do doesn’t mean we are a fraud. As long as we don’t take credit for the accomplishments of others, the nature of fraud is something different in the creative practice.