Maarten Oortwijn

I spend everyday thinking creatively, as indeed all our readers do and I would go so far as to say, everyone does in somepart. What does surprise me is when writers bandy around the phrase ‘creative industries‘. I can honestly say, hand on heart, I don’t know of any ‘uncreative industries‘. Creativity is the most powerful competitive advantage any business can possess. New ideas, fresh thinking are the fizz companies to make their business’s pop. There’s this overriding notion that creative artists are cut from a different cloth, this needs to be debunked. Young children overspill with ideas, they cannot hold back. Earlier this week, I was walking one of my dogs on a green, close to a primary school and a little bright red haired girl, of around 6 years old came bounding over to my dog Rosemary (named after the herb) and I.  This little girl asked me five questions in the space of around 20 seconds about Rosemary, or so it seemed, she was thoroughly invigorating. Her mum appeared and rushed her away to a playdate. As we walked away, I began thinking how important it is to empower people to use their imagination. Schools are so focused on children passing exams, that when these children join the workplace they’ve been conditioned to conform and have in many cases lost the ability to ‘think outside the box‘. Remember, that old Apple ad that said ‘here’s to the crazy ones!‘ – that’s us, rule breakers, creative thinkers and thus this should lead to creative leaders. You can only get to that place, if you stay creatively minded. Boardrooms need to affect the changes and become more innovative, it can be done. Twenty years or so ago now, I managed to pull off a face to face meeting with a major photographic retailer here in the UK. It was a meeting with their Chairman and all of their board in their headquarters. I remember saying to them, as they announced yet another new shop opening, ‘customers will start to make purchases online in the future, you need to create an online presence and once you’ve done that, you need to offer cheaper prices for your products online with free shipping‘. Every person around the table laughed in my face, and it’s not the first time, I could give you many examples of similar meetings. I wanted to run their online presence but they could see no need to have one.  Earlier this week I read this same company, not for the first but for the second time, since that meeting, has plunged into receivership and announced job losses into their thousands. I thought, perhaps this is dawn of a new epoch: the creative age for mankind. It’s needed urgently, more now than ever.

Thank you to all the talented artists for submitting your works to our showcase this week. If you would like your work to be considered for entry in to our weekly Mobile Photography and Art Flickr Group, please submit it to our dedicated group, here. You can also submit images to our Instagram tag for this section #theappwhisperer.

Anca Balaj, Eliza Badoiu, before.1st.light – Jane Schultz, @tatteredphotographs – Kim, @cawestruck – Carol Wiebe, @bee_dobs – Barbara Braman, @da_ny550, Shelley Benjamin – @sbenja823, Marianne Rieter, Christine Mignon, @vadqcooper – Vicki Cooper, @mitrydate, @rosaliehellerphotography – Rosalie Heller, klimtt – M. Cecilia Sao Thiago, Nicole Christophe, Filiz Ak, Lorenka Campos, @rain.is.poetry – Paul Sucicu, @marymodale – Dale, @pause.and.breathe – Susan Latty, Sukru Mehmet Omur, @niels_b – Niels Brunelli, @tankaqueen – Alexis Rotella, @cresting_wave – Paul Yan, @remintrusions – Damian De Souza, @ja_graham, Kathy Clay – @kathyc2136, @karenklinedinst – Karen Klinedinst, Gianluca Ricoveri, Vadim Demjianov, Deborah McMillion, Joyce Harkin @harkinjoyce, Maarten Oortwijn, Susan Detroy, Susan Rennie, Hanni K, Jill Lian @jilllian2, Catherine Caddigan, Tonytang Tang, p.a.hamel, Frank Van Dongen, Clint Cline, Linda Hollier, Steve, Karen Axelrad, Yasuo Furue, Paul Yan, I Rome, Rita Colantonio, borisbschulz2009, Rob Pearson-Wright, Laila, Jun Yamaguchi, Judy Wahlberg, Karen Axelrad, Damian De Souza, Carol Wiebe, Vicki Cooper, Christine Mignon, p.a.hamel, Jun Yamaguchi, Barbara Braman, Filz Ak, Frank Van Dougan, borisbschulz2009, I Rome, Vadim Demjianov, Gianluca Ricoveri, Maarten Oortwijn.

Music this week, another English singer/songwriter who I adore – Jess Glynn with ‘Take me Home’