How can walking be a creative practice?
Go for a walk, I'm serious, everyone, preferably outside. There’s plenty of mental and physical health benefits from walking (you can confirm this with your own research). But walking offers something else, beyond increasing endorphins and strengthening muscles. Going for a walk outside is a quick, affordable, and accessible way to break out of the perils of being stuck inside your house and your head.
Albert Camus summarized it best, when he wrote in his 1951-1959 notebooks: “Go out for a walk. It doesn’t have to be a romantic walk in the park, spring at its most spectacular moment, flowers and smells and outstanding poetical imagery smoothly transferring you into another world. It doesn’t have to be a walk during which you’ll have multiple life epiphanies and discover meanings no other brain ever managed to encounter. Do not be afraid of spending quality time by yourself. Find meaning or don’t find meaning but ‘steal’ some time and give it freely and exclusively to your own self.”
Walking gives you dedicated time to be present to the world and the artistry around you. A 2014 Stanford University study showed walking “boosted creative inspiration”. That study was just the physical act of walking regardless of environment. Outdoor walks and this time can be utilized to actively practice creativity that all of us are capable of too. Going for a walk can be its own creative practice.
In my case, I wanted to finish up some Polaroid film I had stuck in my camera over a year ago. Instead of putting constraints on this new project and waiting for it to be ideal or another more official word that I thought would be required before acting on an idea, I just decided to go for a walk, camera in my backpack, and look around. I knew photo opportunities existed and I was intent on finding them— and I was intent with joyous curiosity not demanding obligation.
The walk was a familiar route with landmarks I recognized and things that I knew were there as long as I could remember. The point was to pay attention to those things in a new way and see what art could exist. I wasn’t ignoring the things I never noticed before either, I did venture on some new side paths to explore areas and things that might’ve been there all along and I never noticed. None of this meditative artistic adventure was about the perfect shot or waiting and wagering decisions. It was about documenting the world around me and what I thought looked interesting at that moment and seeing (literally) what developed from taking the photo. After the shot, there’s no time to overanalyze what just happened because in order for the polaroids to develop properly, they need to be enclosed, without light, for around 10-20 minutes. That requirement was a good thing, it prevented any distraction to the next idea in the making. I enjoyed the nostalgic hum of the camera’s motor and rollers turning to eject the photo, then quickly put the photo into my backpack’s zip pocket. I continued on my walk, onward to the next photo to try.
I wasn’t keeping a close track of time, and I think that’s a positive indicator to this outing. It was fun! The purpose of walking is to do something, you’re moving your body but you’re moving the gears of your mind to work with imagination and inspiration. Inspiration, as I’ve learned and relearned, is actually just the concept of you being curious, open, and trying. However, it’s always rebranded in our minds as something that happens to you versus what you happen to make when working. My expired film did not waste another day being unused and I have some new photography pieces.
So, if not polaroids, try photos on your phone, making some quick drawings in a journal, nature or people watching, writing. Brave the weather, cold, hot, or even rainy (if you can safely stay dry with your materials). Notice how the light and shadows fall. Notice the details of the buildings, the surroundings, the people. Perceive the world around you, and take in each observation as it arrives. See which observations you find interesting and act on that interest. Just make something, whatever that may be. Most importantly, get yourself out there, go for a walk, and keep creating.