Get out of your comfort zone

Written by Kerri Williams / Introduction by Alen Mischael Vukelić

Breaking the rules! Even when we do art, we want to please other people’s opinions, but is this what we truly want?

Get out of your comfort zone

by Kerri Williams

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” ~Neale Donald Walsch

Comfort zones are like burrowing under the covers on a cold winter night. It’s warm and soft and cozy and nothing could be better. But comfort zones were made to be breached.

Why breach the comfort zone? Because you just never know what’s going to happen. We tend to believe that there’s a wicked, unforgiving world outside the zone, but quite honestly, stepping beyond the zone can actually open your world.

I play artistically with my photography. Filters, textures – I take it into states that I never believed would be acceptable for a photographer. I always felt like I wasn’t doing it right. Like I was cheating. Some could say I didn’t know what I was doing with the camera (okay, I’ll admit, I have exposure issues sometimes). Because of this, I had a tendency to only show the work that was considered “true image”. Like a purist, if it didn’t come out of the camera that way, it wasn’t a photo. I didn’t believe it, but I followed the thought.

The image of The Door was my first step out of my comfort zone. It began when I saw the door. I had a mere second to take the shot. I didn’t have the right lens on the camera. And I know it wasn’t properly exposed. But I loved the look of the door itself. Forget the image. It became a matter of what I could do with the image.

This became my first excursion into the world of photo art. I played with it in Photoshop, this being new to me as I didn’t do much beyond pushing saturation or converting to black and white. I found a whole new way to see.

I did this with many images. But I didn’t think anyone would get it. Why would anyone else like what I liked when it came to my art? Most of the photography I had seen locally was either commercial or straight out of camera with saturation or conversion. I was stuck in the land of local art.

After about two years of looking at The Door, never losing my interest in its lines or colors, I had an opportunity to show my work and I decided to take the leap beyond my comfort zone and show that image with the others. While the other images were basically straight out of camera, local landmarks, The Door kind of stood out like a bastard child.

Well, that bastard child became the golden child. Of the ten images I had on display, that image was the one that received the most comments. Good comments. I even sold a copy. Of all the images that presented the local area and you have to understand that our local area is pretty set in their history and wanting to see the sights of their area, The Door took the prize.

Side note: The Door actually had its own history, but unless you knew where the door was from, you didn’t get the history.

Since then, I’ve taken continual leaps beyond the comfort zone. Most of them are good leaps with solid landings, but there have been a few where I fell flat on my face. But you know, that’s okay. It’s how we learn.

When we stay in our comfort zone, we remain stagnant. We don’t allow our creativity to fly. We can end up creating what we hate just because we know it’s acceptable.

Go to the end of your comfort zone and leap. It’s worth the chance.

Peace on your journey – Kerri

Leave a comment and tell us how do you deal with your “comfort zone”. Visit Kerri’s homepage for more articles, and if you wish to buy a print of this blue door – you can do that as well! And don’t forget to follow us on Google+, Twitter, or via RSS feed, or simply subscribe to our newsletter at the end of this page! Thanks for being with us.

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