“Your Creative Mix” by Corvin Hiebert- e-book review

Remember “Growing the Visionmonger“? Corwin Hiebert, manager to well off photographers like David DuChemnin, Dave Dalnea and Kevin Clark is back with more advice from a bit different perspective on how to create more interesting photographs. The e-book, released today, is titled “Your Creative Mix”.

After reading the book for the first time, I had hard time defining what it is about. Yes, it talks about claiming back and keeping flowing inspiration for people earning money on their creativity. And suggests uniqueness and being self as the best marketing strategy, although gives more practical tips on that. There are two parts to “Your Creative Mix”– one is expanding your own creativity and the other is forming collaborations with other creative people.

The first part of the e-book talks about keeping your creative juices flowing by “make ugly”. What Corwin Hiebert means by that is trying your hands in different types of arts, not only photography. In fact, he suggests making a list, or several lists even. Probably starting from master list of all the creative forms and skills you can think of, and then dividing them into suggested categories. Two important ones are those that inspire you but you are just an passive observer, and those to pursue to keep your creativity alive and kicking. You might discover that your inspiration comes from unexpected source! This section ends with a number of practical advice on marketing yourself and your creativity without sounding desperate and other business practices.

The second part talks about working hand in hand with other creatives on common project. Here I digress.
At the same time I was working on this review, I was reading one of my favorite photography magazines, “LensWork”. In May-June 2011 there is a stunning portfolio of X-ray flower images by Allan Gill. The project is a collaboration between him, a radiologist with access to the equipment and a Photoshop expert. By combining their expertise and visions, an unusual and beautiful body of work was created.

These are the types of collaborations Corwin Hiebert suggests photographers should eneter in the second part of his e-book. Again, not to connect with other photographers, or even worse- photographers working in the same genre. But to reach out and engage in projects with people as far to your expertise as possible. The authors again finishes the part by giving a lot of practical advice on successfully running such or any collaborations, from assigning responsibilities to organizing meeting.

The e-book is full of Corwin Hiebert’s life stories and stories provide by other artists. There are also examples of some creative teams and their projects. Those examples of real life stories, artists sharing their projects, are added value in the e-book, and bring all theoretical advice to life. “Your Creative Mix” is also illustrated by those artists photographs, including author’s ;). Beautifully produced, 39 pages spread e-book is a great value.

So, if you are spending all your time pursuing projects for your clients and studying portfolios of your competitors, regardless if photography is your day or weekend job, take some time off to study Corwin Hiebert’s “Your Creative Mix”. And take the advice to heart and put them in practice.

As usual, there is a special release offer. For the first five days, use the promotional code MIX4 when you checkout, to get the PDF version of “Your Creative Mix” for only $4 OR use the code MIX20 to get 20% off when you buy 5 or more PDF e-books from the Craft & Vision collection. And there is 27 e-book to choose from, from Lightroom and Photoshop tips for post-processing, to video primer, to inspirational portfolios. These codes expire at 11:59pm PST July 23rd, 2011.
And wait, there is some more and new this time. If you purchase “Your Creative Mix” during the discount period, you’ll be entered into a draw for 1 of 3 creative prize packs! There are 3 copies of Todd Henry’s great new book, “The Accidental Creative“, and we’re bundling it with his “Personal Idea Pad“.

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