The Peer Group - Creating within Community

What follows is a chapter from my new book On Being Creative. Comments and shared stories welcome.  © 2008 David H. Lyman

Ask for Help

As an offshore, long-distance sailor, I rely on expert weather forecasters who can help me plan my voyage through and around nasty weather. I have advisors in business, experts to help me with what new technology is coming out, how to write this book. When in a tight spot, I look for local knowledge, I ask someone who has been through the forest.And, yes, I’m willing to pay for this advise.  Do not be afraid to ask for help. Advise, good and bad, even the free stuff can be valuable, if you listen.  Do not be so egotistical, or bashful, to say you do not need help. We all do.

Get Into a Peer Group?

I watch peer groups form and work every week at The Workshops. A one-week workshop is a gatherings of like-minded people who share similar technical abilities, aesthetics and aspirations. Julie Camron called them Clusters. Barbara Sher calls them Success Groups. Buddha called them Sangha, a community of fellow seekers. Workshops draw people together that share a common bond and need. It can be the title of the course, the reputation and work of the instructor, the local, or even the description in the catalogue that draws people of similar interest together.  A workshop of 12 to 14 people becomes a peer group, providing a network of support for the week. I’ve seen a group of students in a workshop help to each other as much and sometime more that any help provided by the instructor. I’ve even thought of offering a workshops that had no leader, just a common theme that would draw people together into a class--a leaderless class. (I’d save money on the instructors’ fee). I never did offer such a class . . . maybe now I could. All I need is a facilitator, someone to call the class to order, but take no active role in the class, provide no advise or make no pronouncements.

A one-week workshops provides a forum in which each member can feel safe and protected so they can share their work and their lives with others. Some workshops become more about psychology than about photography, filmmaking or writing. When you attend a workshop, one that deals with personal work, you are naked, you are sharing an aspect of your soul.  And, yes, some classes do feature a nude assignment, but the nakedness I’m talking about involves the psyche, for when we lay photographs out on a table for all to see, or read a sectioon of your novel, with all the mistakes, unfinished images and themes, and the sloppy presentation, you lay yourself bare. Those who can do this; share their inner artist with all its un-finished-ness. You are naked, vulnerable, but it is from here that you start to re-build your creative self. It is from here that the greatest strides are made. This is where the “Transformational Process” begins (more about this later). Here in this group of fellow seekers, you can be honest, and expect honesty in return.  You can’t even expect that from your family.

When a workshop is over and the class disbands, so does the energy and support. But, not always. Some classes have bonded to such an extent during the week that the relationships continue for years, through subsequent Alumni Workshops, e-mails and on-line groups. While I am in touch with a few members in my first workshop in Aspen, I am in touch with many more people who came through those first years of The Maine Photographic Workshops, many of whom are doing quite nicely now as faculty members. Two even hold chair positions in major photo and film programs at prominent universities and colleges. Some are working photojournalists, gallery owners, columnists and editors at major publications. A dozen more are even my stiffest competition.  We are all an extended family, helping each other.

Finding a Peer Group

While workshops, or a class at a local institution, many be places to find a peer group, there are other options to explore.  Professional membership association will put you in touch with fellow pros and amateurs with similar interests. I can’t really recommend camera  clubs, which are more social than about the work, nor PPA or ASMP which are organizations that deal more the business of photography than personal growth. I encourage you to find a group of peer in your town that fits your goals, that deals with the type of work you do, or want to do. If you can’t find one locally, start your own. It’s easy . . .

Starting Your Own Peer Group

There may already be a peer group in your area. Photographers and filmmakers who have attended The Workshops may already have formed such a group in your town. If not, put up posters at local art gallery, photo store or a classified ad in a local art publication. “Photography Peer Group Forming - serious and committed photographers only. Call me.” Invite those who respond over for a pot-luck dinner . . . have them bring work to share. The process is as simple as that.  Those who respond will be looking, as you did a few days ago, for such an opportunity.  Take action. Call up a few people you know, or don’t know, but would like to know. Talk to the local photo gallery owner, the local museum curator, the photo editor at the local newspaper, the guy behind he counter at the local photo store. Tell them you read my book and want to form a Peer Group. Perhaps they’ve read this book as well and are looking for someone like you to get the ball rolling--you have just become a “Facilitator.”  The group’s members will change with each meeting, some can’t make it, others drop out for personal reasons, but others will join. And the make-up of a group need not be all photographers, or filmmakers--include painters, musicians, writers, other creative people. It’s always good to invite in an editor, gallery curator, someone who can actually see the market potential of someone’s work.

How a Peer Group Works

Peer Groups work well when they meet once a month for a pot luck dinner (or “take away) in someone apartment or home.  Everyone brings a “covered dish” a bottle of ceremonial wine, and a sample of the new work they are doing. These works-in-process should be personal projects that are self-assigned, not work for hire or done as part of your job or an assignment in a class. After dinner, people share their portfolios, a poem, the chapter of a book they are writing, a musical piece. Remember, peer groups are best when they encompass a diverse collection of creative people. Discussions ensue, resources are shared, insights made, but the most valuable function of  Peer Group is that they provide a compelling reason to create new work to share each month. Sharing is your ticket to the process of witnessing what others are doing, to gain insight into the creative process, into your creative life through the shared frustration and breakthroughs of others.

The purposes of a Peer Group include:

• To share work

• To share process of sharing and working creatively

• To discuss the process of working and your discoveries

• To provide suggestions, options, share links, resources assistance and ideas

• To provide feedback, support and encouragement

• To provide a safe forum for the presentation of personal work.

• And, most important of all . . .  a reason to create new work, or to revise current work

Peer Group Guidelines

• Steer the group away from negative criticism

• All work should be personal - not related to your professional job.

• Set a time limit for each presentation, 15 to 20-minutes.

• Let the work sit for a while, it will take time for most people to form an opinion, one they feel comfortable voicing, lay out some of the work before dining.

• Draw people out, ask the author what is their intention, but only after others in the room have been prompted to make a statement, pose a question, move the images around.

• Prints of any size, even 4 x 6 prints, are preferable to a slide presentation on a laptop. The ability to edit and move images around on a table or the floor allows people to see new combinations and sequences that might work, bringing a fresh perspective to the work. This is extremely valuable.

· Do not title your images. A title may be limiting, restrictive, misguided, as it sets up a precondition for the viewer. Let the viewer make up their own title. Photo artist Commie Imboden does not title her images until years have passed.

• Do not make excuses for the work you present. It is what it is. People within the peer group know they are looking at a “work in process” and that it is flawed. Like a chef, never tell your audience what your art is or was supposed to be. If you happened to have burned the fish, it’s only blackened. Let the audience draw their own conclusions . . . before you tell them what your intentions are. Remember, you can always agree with a glowing response to your work, saying that was exactly what you intended, even though it never entered your mind.

• Show up even if you do not have work to share, as your support for others is just as valuable as your showing your work. Besides, feeling guilty at have nothing to share, will only motivate you more to create work for the next meeting.

• Bring a friend and introduce them. They can observe on their first visit before bringing work for next meeting.

David works with a group of photographers reviewing portfolios at a B&H Seminar in New York City. Photo by David Bromer.