The sixty-fifth video of "Short Monologues by Platon Rivellis on Photography and Art" (2nd series, 2017).

All people involved in art or any intellectual pursuit need a specific routine. The word routine may sound negative, but often a routine both protects and liberates us at the same time. Monks, for instance, have a routine they need for their prayers. Writers and painters have a routine too. It is often heard that they work on a schedule without anyone imposing it on them. They first tidy up their room, their studio, their pencils, their paints; without this organization, they cannot even begin the creative process. Many photographers also have their own routine. The hours they go out to shoot, their cameras, their preparation. This routine safeguards their creative inspiration and imagination, and sets certain frameworks. Routine also includes the themes a photographer chooses, and any change in routine is a revolution for them. Within this routine framework, they also incorporate their equipment. The cameras, the lenses, the bags—all these constitute a shield for photographers, a cover that allows them to protect themselves and be open only to the creative process. Therefore, when a photographer changes something in their routine, like changing a camera, changing a route, changing a theme, changing a lens, or even changing a sensor, it indicates that some ennui has crept in, a boredom that makes them not want to repeat what they already know and then opens up to a change in routine that will cause a productive disturbance. Every change in routine is a significant disturbance for the photographer and must be respected; we must give them time to adjust. When someone switches from one lens to another, they shouldn't hope that on the first day they will be able to create. They need to familiarize themselves with this change. Every disturbance in our life, everything that takes us out of a certain assured routine, is hopeful and productive, but as a disturbance, it requires a period of adjustment. Therefore, the photographic process that a photographer follows is perhaps more important to them than the creative one, because they discover the creative in the end as a result that came through this routine process which is necessary in art.