Day 325: Be an Olympic Storyteller

Listen up all you Creative Thinkers! BT are giving people like you and me the opportunity to tell the story of the 2012 Olympics. If you've a blogger, creative writer, a graphic designer or an artist, why not get invovled and share your experiences of the Olympics. However you are creative, BT want YOU to get involved.

What do the Olympics mean to you? What's going on in your area to prepare or celebrate? How could you use your creative talents to get in on the action...?

Sign up here and find out all the details.

Get Creative. Get involved.

Day 97: Don McCullin

In 1964 a photojournalist named Don McCullin won the World Press Photo of the Year Award for this photograph.

Now, the question I am asking you today is, do you think this is creative? Is this a beautiful photograph? Do you think it has good composition and exposure? What about it's subject matter?

Don McCullin worked for The Times Magazine for over 25 years, photographing wars like Vietnam and the Cyprus Civil war (which the above photo is from). He showed the citizens of Britain what was really happening in these conflicts with gritty black and white photos of people grieving, hurting, dying through war.

I visited an exhibition of Don McCullin's work and started thinking about how we use our creativity. For a creative person, Don McCullin is an inspiration. At the very start, the small boy Don loved photography. What he did with this love as a man shaped much of photojournalism and people's view of war for years to come.

Even though you might think your love of art, film, music, dance isn't doing much at the moment, don't give up on it. If you have the passion to do it, then hold onto it and see where it takes you in your future...

Day 64: Vogue...Any idea?

Fashion, fashion, fashion! If anyone knows fashion, it's Vogue. It all started in 1892 as a magazine appealing to high class New Yorkers. It featured reviews of plays, books and music. Fashion was hardly mentioned.

That all changed when a man called Conde Nast took over the magazine in 1909. From then on advertisement and fashion took centre stage! The rest is, as they say, history. When he died in 1942 Time's magazine said, "for a generation he was the man from whom millions of American women got their ideas, directly or indirectly, about the desirable standard of living."

Ideas is the main point I want to focus on. For over 30 years this man gave women (and men) ideas, suggestions, ... What an inspirational man.

What ideas do you have that could influence the world? Is fashion your thing? Animation or film? Art or sculpture? Writing or journalism? How could you give people ideas?

Look at these pictures. Can you see how the magazine has changed? Ideas move on, progress, develop. Ideas are needed all the time and YOU are the new generation!

What produces ideas? Creativity! So use your creativity to inspire others. Use your ideas to make more. You know, like the snowball affect. Maybe that's what makes the world go round too!

I hope you feel inspired by Mr Nast and his creative ideas. It just goes to show that with a bit of umph and creativity on your side, your ideas can change the world...

Day 41: Words

"People around here didn't waste words; language was a tool, not a treat. You didn't roll it around on your tongue, revel in it."

'What I Was' by Meg Rosoff

If you are anything like me, then you probably use words way too much! I talk ALL the time, the more words the better. Chat, chat, chat.

Do you use more words when you're around people who don't talk very much, or do you tend to be the quiet one? Should we revel in words, or should we see them as a treat?

I guess the real question is, how do we use it in our creative work? Do you use words wisely?

If you write plays, scripts, poems, stories, articles, dialogue, comedy...then words are really important. It's vital to get the balance right. That good old saying sums it up pretty well, 'it's quality, not quantity.'

Think about the way you use words. Do you need to edit a bit more? Do you need to use a few more? How about the words you are using, is there one that would work better?

Think about it. How will you use your words...?