I’m sure you remember that I wrote about doing an interview earlier this year. Well, it’s finally about to go to print (am actually very excited) and I was asked to fine-tune it a little. "What inspires you?" I read in the journalist’s accompanying email. Hmpf.
1.000 ideas pop into my head, and rather than tell the truth - locking myself and my heels in the loo (aka only really private place) with a bottle of wine to think - I want to come up with something extraordinary, something that will also inspire the future reader of my literary-prize-worthy article.
And THAT'S difficult. You know it's life and people really, but how to describe all the little details, small quotes in a conversation, a move, an outfit, or a color combination which causes a firework of ideas (want to write about it, want to shoot it)? And all the photographers and artists I love and all the paper snippets I stick into scrapbooks (one for each category: shoes, jewelry, fashion, illustration, art direction, interior, food), which one to refer to really? Or to name first? (You don't want architecture to pick a fight with interior because it's ranked first on the scale of inspiration, right?)
Am tempted to just quote my mom: she once said that Inspiration is just the nicer sister of ‘stealing with the eye’. And right she is. I mean, take today's photo... (©Ellen von Unwerth). The lovely Ellen must have browsed my whole blog to have had the brain wave for this picture.
Which I in turn 'borrowed' as the only thing I got from locking myself in the loo was a hangover and no inspiration at all.
xxx
Today's shoes are Chanel
