How does one get ideas?

Interviews have asked me how I get ideas for pictures and to this day I am not able to answer satisfactorily. Over the years I have discovered that ideas come through an intense desire for them; continually desiring, the mind becomes a watch-tower on the look-out for incidents that may excite the imagination - music, a sunset, may give image to an idea.

I would say, pick a subject that will stimulate you, elaborate it and involve it, then, if you can’t develop it further, discard it and pick another. Elimination from accumulation is the process of finding what you want.

How does one get ideas? By sheer perseverance to the point madness. One must have a capacity to suffer anguish and sustain enthusiasm over a long period of time. Perhaps its easier for some people than others, but I doubt about it.

My Autobiography, Chalie Chaplin