The photograph I have chosen from the archives as one of my personal favourites is one I took over three years ago. For creativity to thrive, I feel you have to experience boredom; unavoidable boredom. I remember I was sitting at my desk killing time on the net, mostly on Flickr and feeling frustrated that I did not have a new photograph to post. This is a very frequently occurring feeling, I can tell you.

So, there I was sitting at the desk. Besides the computer was a bottle of handwash (very handy when you have small children whose nappies need changing), a corkscrew (from a previous evening’s bottle of wine) and of course my iPhone. The bubbles in the handwash gel caught my eye. Then the corkscrew with its spiralling spear and before I knew it I was looking through the transparent gel at the upturned corkscrew and staring at it, but at a loss as to what I could see. Then my phone rang and the colour reflections from the screen transformed the colour of the gel. I answered the call and immediately held the handwash up to the screen of computer and saw how the background colour rushed through the gel. Yes!

There are many apps for the iPhone. One of those is the flashlight one. I knew I could use this to get a single colour background to place behind the gel. With the corkscrew standing upright on the iphone with the all-blue screen shining through, I clicked and clicked. Later uploaded to Lightroom and with a little sliding this is the result.

What I like in particular is the satisfaction in creating a shot from nothing. I was frustrated. I had nothing new to post to Flickr. Now I had.

But of course, it is all about the next shot….

boredom sits uncomfortably with curiosity on its shoulder