Booze and creativity

Personally, I'm convinced that alcohol, and some other substances are excellent lubricants for creativity, but they are not responsible for genesis of creativity. It was a lesson The Grateful Dead eventually learned, and owned, and used effectively in the end. I will say that LSD (not necessarily from personal experience) is quite a lubricant. Certainly related to the inhibition hypothesis stated somewhere in a previous post.... plus some. I've heard that cannabis and valium (and related) are also well-known creativity lubricants. The smart folks around us know the difference between "lubricant" and "source" [of/for creativity]. And we know the meaning of "moderation" and "responsible use". So important!

Personally I love a drink in moderation. Definitely helps with photography at times. I'm also in agreement with whoever said beer helps with film developing -- so true! A little music to go along with that beer too.
 
Walking, or in the shower is my thinking time. The creativity that might have come to my image making via alcohol is summarily stalled by me jamming my M2 and wrecking the roll and the session. So alcohol around cameras is out for me. Earlier in life when I was robust enough to have far too much, and lucky enough not to have hangovers, I would have this remarkable clarity next morning, once I worked out where the hell I was, with all other concerns erased and that was a wonderful thing to enjoy. Too soon the remorse of alcohol supervened and subsequently hangovers hurt more. I haven't been drunk for years now. Planning not to explore it in the future.

It seems particularly opportune for me to also say, as I have often been tempted to do, that alcohol and forum posting are an unwise combination.
 
Roger Hicks said:
What's your experience?
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I'm kind of an asshole on booze, more so than the rest of the time. My photography has never proven my alocholic infused megalomania the next day. At least my work looks beautiful on hallucinogenics for several hours, but I can see why that sort of experience is banned; there's nothing favoring capitalism in that frame of mind whatsoever. And then where would, like, Leica, or China, or all of the incredibly stupid **** that we indulge in be? ... but LSD is on to something. No matter how much our photographs shift, this is kind of ridiculous, still.

Great subject to consider, Roger. Thanks.

- Abbott
 
I was one of those lucky (?????) enough to be around when the drinking age was 18, and yes, we took advantage of it. I'm also lucky to be one of those who has never depended upon it. I enjoy a drink or two to relax and as a social lubricant, but I don't feel more inspired or creative when under the influence. I haven't done anything more than booze for decades. No real desire.
 
I never do any drinking while working. With a few special clients, I would cover dinner and a bar tab after all work is done. While assisting in a big studio, we always had beer and in some cases, wine on hand. The ADs might drink a beer or two, but never my boss or any staff until all work is done.

I don't think any mood altering stuff would help my creative processes. But, that's me.

Coffee, on the other hand, is common. One of the first things new assistants learn, is how to make proper coffee.
 
Will admit I have done some shoots while very mildly intoxicated and it did help out a bit, and there seems to be some fact to it even in the programming world

https://xkcd.com/323/
(And after that comic was published they did a study into it and yes, it is an actual thing)
 
I've tried to photograph after one or a few drinks. Doesn't work for me unless I have a fully automatic camera with shake reduction that takes the picture the instant the shutter button is pressed. I do not own such a camera, so I avoid the booze. I would say I can photograph without coffee, but I don't remember trying it in years. As for cigarettes, I require smoke breaks. I have some photographs spoiled by cigarette smoke drifting in front of the lens, so now I normally don't smoke and photograph as the same time.
 
FujiLove said:
. . . I wonder whether alcohol enhances access to visual memory? If it does, then it must have a big effect on photographers.
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A fascinating observation. Until the age of about 16 I had a very, very poor visual memory (it's still patchy, and I have Hell's own job recognizing people). I couldn't really understand what people said when they referred to the "mind's eye", except when it came to things you see in dreams.

Then, at 16, I took up both drinking and photography and began to acquire a visual memory. Slowly, and badly. At 17 I had a girlfriend of the same age who had a sister 2 years younger. If I went to their house and rang the doorbell, I'd have to wait until the girl who answered it greeted me: it would have been a bit of a faux pas to kiss her younger sister!

Now, I had long suspected that it was the photography that made the change, but maybe it was the booze. In those days, in the UK, the drinking age was officially 18 (as it is today) but under-age drinking was not regarded as anything serious: Miklos and I had our own stammtisch in the White Hart well before our 17th birthdays. Actually it wasn't a table so much as two comfortable armchairs. We were at quite an expensive school, too, and the "young gentlemen" were cut a tremendous amount of slack.

Certainly, I can't think of any photographers I know/knew from a similar background who are/were outstandingly abstemious, and none at all who are/were sanctimoniously teetotal. In fact I've never met many photographers from any background who are/were outstandingly abstemious. I've just come back from the Rencontres at Arles, which tend to float on a mighty tide of (mostly rosé) wine.

So thanks again for a fascinating suggestion and a (possible) insight into what happened around half a century ago.

Cheers,

R.
 
Ko.Fe. said:
. . . Cock_tails are for sissies. But I like to have vodka in the beer, sometimes, . . . .
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Try a few champagne cocktails... Also, beer with stuff in (vodka, alcoholic cordials, whisk(e)y...) IS a cocktail.

My own theory is that cocktails rose to popularity in the USA during prohibition to conceal the vile quality of much of the bootleg liquor: as I point out the linked cocktail recipe, by the time you have a sugar lump and a shot of pink in there, it can be hard to tell the good stuff from the very ordinary.

They also suit people who don't like the taste of alcoholic drinks but want to get drunk (or at least to get a buzz) anyway. Consider rum (or bourbon) and coke, for example.

Cheers,

R.
 
I think it's clear booze and art have a relationship going back many decades, centuries even.
I have often pondered how much drugs were responsible for the art and culture of the 1960's.

Chris
 
ChrisPlatt said:
I think it's clear booze and art have a relationship going back many decades, centuries even.
I have often pondered how much drugs were responsible for the art and culture of the 1960's.

Chris
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Dear Chris,

Centuries for sure and (if you include other mind-altering substances such as psilocybin) probably millennia.

Opinions are however divided between those who say sanctimoniously, "They'd have been much better without the booze" and those who say reflectively, "Maybe they needed the booze." I strongly suspect that more artists fall into the latter camp than into the former, though I have known a limited number of very good artists who drink little or nothing.

Outside the realms of art (unless you include the art of war), Churchill said "I could not live without Champagne. In victory I deserve it. In defeat I need it."

Cheers,

R.
 
FujiLove said:
Allegedly, nothing except a boat load of coffee.
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When Frances worked at the PCPA (Pacific Conservatory for the Performing Arts) she got some filthy looks at work when, just after the NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) had formally condemned all drugs in about 1990, she raised her mug of coffee and said,. "Ah! Caffeine! The NEA's drug of choice..."

Cheers,

R
 
Roger Hicks said:
...Then, at 16, I took up both drinking and photography and began to acquire a visual memory. Slowly, and badly. At 17 I had a girlfriend of the same age who had a sister 2 years younger. If I went to their house and rang the doorbell, I'd have to wait until the girl who answered it greeted me: it would have been a bit of a faux pas to kiss her younger sister!
...
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Hi Roger, it's always fascinating to listen to the stories you tell us, thanks 🙂

robert
 
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