Finding the right supermarket in your neighborhood isn’t an interesting problem. Find the closest ones, then pick the one which looks good and has all the stuff you usually buy, and you’re set.

Getting your images professionally retouched isn’t insanely interesting either. There are countless of good professionals, with all kinds of styles and a large variety of fees, that would be happy to do it for you.

On the other hand, if you need to create a campaign or do a photoshoot that will win awards, sell tickets and have a large global impact, that’s hard. It’s also interesting. If you need an art installation or a photo series that will go viral, tour galleries all over the world – that’s really difficult as well.

What makes a problem interesting? It’s usually a problem that has never been solved in that particular way before. It’s risky and competitive, and it usually involves coming up with something fresh, unique and bold.

Even us creative professionals (freelance photographers, corporate art directors etc) tend to hide from interesting problems, or at least hide from addressing them in an interesting way. It can be exhausting and there’s a lot of apparent risk. It’s easy to pull back and do something safer.

The few who are willing to deeply engage in these interesting problems are the ones worth working with.

George Kroustallis // Minorstep

P.S. Berlin Photo Week and the annual EyeEm Awards awarded me “The Minimalist” photo award yesterday – exciting. Still can’t get over how calm I was in these 30 secs of public speaking instead of stuttering like Elon Musk. I guess mindfulness meditation works.