Janell Kortlever

Sports, portrait, event, wedding photographer. Photographer of Whatcom and Skagit County sports for NWC Athletics.

[Janell Kortlever @janellsummer]

@PrimeVideo come on. You’re too big to spell that wrong. Projet?

[The Sport Parent @TheSportParent]

The GREATEST sports parents are those who let the coaches coach, the officials officiate, are their children’s biggest support system, and spend more time and energy focusing on their child’s character, work ethic, and education, than anything else.

~from @CoachKurtHines

[Janell Kortlever @janellsummer]

Thank you MBHS Volleyball for a fun morning taking senior player photos!

https://t.co/nVKUBgI8Xw

[Janell Kortlever @janellsummer]

@RylandSpencer The view from the hill on the left of those bleachers is amazing.

[Janell Kortlever @janellsummer]

@LHSlionsports This is awesome! What an honor. Such a great year for whatcom county boys and girls basketball having a couple of the best right here!

[Janell Kortlever @janellsummer]

So many college recruiting photos with the worst or no lighting at all. Colleges, call someone who really knows ocf/ video lighting & listen to them. Let them teach your media people. A small investment can make photos from your visits look worlds better than all the others.

[Janell Kortlever @janellsummer]

@CJohnBenintendi The best school I work with. I love them!

[Billy Oppenheimer @bpoppenheimer]

This is one of the greatest displays of the creative process I've seen.

It perfectly demonstrates something known as the "Creativity Faucet."

When you go to the studio, John Mayer was asked, what do you do to generate ideas?

“Well, I don’t always do it,” he admitted, “because

it requires a stupid bravery all the time.”

He strums a couple chords without singing. A nice melody begins to form—“you can sit here all day [doing this] and go, ‘Okay, maybe that’s something.'”

“But if you don’t go,” and then he improvises vocals,

“Sunlights beating on the corner of the walls / and I’m a Mr. know-it-all / heaven calls / get yourself right / get yourself right,” he stops playing, raises his finger to his mouth, and explains, “if you’re not ouija boarding immediately, you’re wasting time.”

“You just stare at the corner of the wall,” he says, before he improvises some more,

“Stare at the corner of the wall / try to get it going on / but I can’t sometimes / you just keep going 'til you get something / maybe I’m a little bit shy / maybe someday I’ll tell you why,” he stops singing, “you gotta keep forcing it, forcing it, forcing it.”

“It doesn’t matter [what comes out of your mouth]...You gotta get fearless, fearless, fearless, fearless…It’s hard to do.”

Takeaway 1:

In the clip, we see John Mayer's ability to generate vocals steadily increase.

It's a perfect display of what Julian Shapiro—who (among other things) is incredible at deconstructing how things like creativity work—calls the “Creativity Faucet.”

Essentially, creativity works like “a backed-up pipe of water,” Shapiro writes. “The first mile is packed with wastewater. This wastewater must be emptied before the clear water arrives.”

At the beginning of a creative session, almost always, bad ideas come out of the faucet first. The John Mayers of the world have the discipline and “a stupid bravery,” as Mayer said, to get through the backed-up pipe of bad ideas, to empty the wastewater, to “just keep going 'til you get something,” as he sang.

Takeaway 2:

To let out bad ideas, to empty the waste water, Mayer said, you have to “get fearless, fearless, fearless.”

In another interview, Mayer was asked how he defines writer’s block.

“Writer’s block,” he said, “is when the two people inside of you—the writer and the reader—when the reader doesn’t love the writer. Writer’s block is not a failure to write. It is a failure to catch the feedback loop of enjoying what you’re seeing and wanting to contribute more to it.”

A creative block is not a failure to create. It is a failure to accept that you must empty a lot of bad ideas before good ideas can flow. It is a failure to get fearless, fearless, fearless, fearless.

- - -

“You gotta keep forcing it, forcing it, forcing it...You gotta get fearless, fearless, fearless, fearless.” — John Mayer

Follow @bpoppenheimer for more content like this!

[The Sporting News @sportingnews]

The inside of Jayden Daniels' jacket tonight has photos of him hitting the Heisman pose.

This inside of Michael Penix's jacket tonight has the names of all his Washington teammates.

[College of Idaho Athletics @YoteAthletics]

Destination: West Palm Beach, the @yotesfootball business trip is underway. #ComeWinWithUs

[Janell Kortlever @janellsummer]

@landonschafer5 @BrandonHuffman @RecruitRadarPNW @CascadiaPreps @Murdock_02 Send your film to College of Idaho! They have an all league corner graduating that we’re going to miss next fall. C of I is playing in the NAIA semifinals in Florida tomorrow. Top 4 in the nation this year.

[Janell Kortlever @janellsummer]

@IceZebra77 @KyleSentkowski @8nicknovak That is awesome!

[College of Idaho Athletics @YoteAthletics]

We’re IN! @YotesFootball is in the NAIA Football Championship Series as the No. 11 seed. The Yotes will have a first round bye and have a game on Nov. 25. Be on the lookout for ticket information and more game details in the coming days. #ComeWinWithUs

[Janell Kortlever @janellsummer]

@CI_Equipment @yotesgameday @DLSportsDesign @YotesFootball Yes!!! All whites for a night game looks so good in photos and video! It also helps the autofocus track better for more keepers.

[College of Idaho Athletics @YoteAthletics]

FB | @YotesFootball has jumped into the NAIA Top-10, checking in at No. 8 in the latest rankings! #ComeWinWithUs

[College of Idaho Football @YotesFootball]

White Out game this Saturday!!! Make sure to wear you best White Yotes T-Shirt as we take on Southern Oregon University. #YoteSteel

[Janell Kortlever @janellsummer]

@_haileypalmer_ @SBLiveWA Oh hey nice photo! 😉 I took that!

[Janell Kortlever @janellsummer]

@CJohnBenintendi This year they also have the 2A golf champ too!!! What a great year for the Lions!

[AK @iamAKort]

College of Idaho wraps up spring football with second scrimmage https://t.co/5hbGR7u7ro via @YouTube

[College of Idaho Athletics @YoteAthletics]

Men's Basketball | @YotesHoops are NATIONAL CHAMPIONS! #1 fans, #1 team in the nation. College of Idaho wins the program's second national title (other title: 1996) with a 73-71 win over Indiana Tech. #ComeWinWithUs #BattlefortheRedBanner