I recently came across a book titled A Technique for Producing Ideas written by James Webb Young and published in the 1940s. The edition I found was published in 1976. The premise of the book is simple and just as relevant today, as the day it was written. That is that ideas come from the implementation of process.

The book reminded me of an approach to photography that I have taught for many years, which I refer to as ‘Connected Thinking’. A process based on how many ideas for projects fail, and never reach their hoped for conclusions.

We all have ideas for photography projects, but too often initial excitement blinds us to the frailties in the idea. The project is started and those issues come to the fore and progress falters. Often these lead to a full stop, and an understandable feeling of failure. To avoid such a conclusion I suggest the implementation of ‘Connected Thinking’. A process of rigorous investigation of any idea, and this is how it works.

You have an idea, then you write it down on a large sheet of paper with a Sharpie type pen. Keep the idea as concise as possible. Preferably one sentence. Then write the following words around the sheet. Who, where, when, why and how. These are the most important questions you need to answer as you interrogate your idea. Write your answers under these questions and see how they react with each other. Are they complimentary, affordable, supportive and achievable, or do they reveal flaws in your original idea? They should do the latter if you are being completely honest with yourself. They should provide further questions and force you to develop your original idea. The answers should lead you onto fiurther considerations and possibly new ideas.

There is no set number as to how many times you will have to challenge your first idea, and in the process it may well evolve into a completely new concept. That is healthy and a good thing. Very few first ideas succeed without the evolution of thought. One thought should lead you to the next, hence the name, Connected Thinking. At some point the idea will feel strong enough to begin working on, but it should remain open to questioning. The collection of researched material to support the idea should also continue throughout the process. The idea should never be unsupported, if it is going to be completed. This is the challenge for many photographers to accept, that photography is not just about making photographs, if you want to create a project. Projects require a level of intellectual rigour. How much is up to you, but without Connected Thinking you are not only restricting the work you make, you are also restricting photography’s potential to connect, communicate and have a reason to exist. Good luck!

Dr.Grant Scott
After fifteen years art directing photography books and magazines such as Elle and Tatler, Scott began to work as a photographer for a number of advertising and editorial clients in 2000. Alongside his photographic career Scott has art directed numerous advertising campaigns, worked as a creative director at Sotheby’s, art directed foto8 magazine, founded his own photographic gallery, edited Professional Photographer magazine and launched his own title for photographers and filmmakers Hungry Eye. He founded the United Nations of Photography in 2012, and is now a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, and a BBC Radio contributor. Scott is the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Routledge 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Routledge 2019), and What Does Photography Mean To You? (Bluecoat Press 2020). His photography has been published in At Home With The Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006) and Crash Happy: A Night at The Bangers (Cafe Royal Books 2012). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was premiered in 2018.

©Grant Scott 2026