This 27-minute talk by award-winning photographer Andrew Zuckerman at the 99% Conference is a fantastic case study on the process of creative work. In it, he share about lessons learned from his WISDOM project, in which he interviewed and photographed “elders” around the world, including Chuck Close, Bill Withers, Jane Goodall, Frank Gehry, Massimo Vignelli, and many more.

“I have no idea what inspiration really is,” he says in the talk, instead describing the roles of rigor, curiosity, fear and hard work in the creative process.

In the closing minutes, he says success is in the doing and the most important perspective to approach work with is a learning attitude: “I need to be interested in the actual subject matter. I want to learn about what i’m doing while i’m doing it. that’s what keeps you going, what keeps you genuinely interested.”

How do you think this posture applies to Help-Portrait events?