Left handed=creative???????

stevewitt · December 4, 2005

Has anyone on here ever heard that left handed people are more likely to have greater artistic and creative abilities VS someone who is right handed. I have no idea if any of this is true but I figured I would ask this in a place where creative people could read it. I am sure that there are several great artists and creative people in this world that are righty's but I am curious what you think. Are you left handed or right handed and have you ever heard of these observations before?

David Mullen ASC · December 4, 2005

Well, I'm right-handed, my dad's left-handed...

The only thing I've noticed over the years trying to shoot inserts of people writing down something is that there seems to be a higher percentage of left-handedness among actors, which is a pain because their hand tends to block from view what they are writing as they write.

David Sweetman · December 4, 2005

I wish i was a southpaw, just so I could call myself a southpaw. Heh that'd be sweet.

Gordon Highland · December 4, 2005

Sure. It's an old theory that, because the left half of your brain controls the right side of your body and vice-versa, and since the left brain is logic and reasoning while the right is subjective and interpretive, that people who favor their left hands are operating with a greater percentage of right-brain usage. Same reason why just before someone tells a lie, their eyes sometimes tend to go up and to their right, because they're accessing their creativity instead of recalling a fact. If you believe that.

I can't say that it's absolute fact, but in my experience, a much higher percentage of creatives are left handed. Then again, some development experts claim that you can actually influence the "handedness" of infants based on what side they lay on, etc.

December 4, 2005

three of the four "fathers" of the Macintosh OS were left handed includeing steve jobs and steve wozniak. I seem to remember reading somewhere that Davinci was a leftie but i might be wrong.

Chris Fernando · December 4, 2005

I wish i was a southpaw, just so I could call myself a southpaw. Heh that'd be sweet.

If a southpaw is walking east, isn't he a 'northpaw'? :blink:

David Sweetman · December 4, 2005

I seem to remember reading somewhere that Davinci was a leftie but i might be wrong.

Yeah, Davinci was left handed, that's why he wrote all his notes backwards -- he figured it made more sense for a left-handed person to write from right to left, that way he didn't cover up what he wrote. Huh, i guess I did learn something in world history this semester after all.

Dickson Sorensen · December 4, 2005

The question is are you right or left eyed? I have noticed that some left handed prefer to use the left eye when looking through the camera and others prefer the right eye whereas almost all right handed people use their right eye unless they have some peculiar eye problem. Are those who are left eyed more creative or do they just have a lot more trouble operating?

Brad Grimmett · December 4, 2005

I know of righties who are left eyed and I know of some operators that switch back and forth between right and left eye. I've tried it and I don't really see the difference, except that if I'm doing handheld I can't see where the heck I'm going, which is never good.

Dickson Sorensen · December 4, 2005

I know of righties who are left eyed and I know of some operators that switch back and forth between right and left eye. I've tried it and I don't really see the difference, except that if I'm doing handheld I can't see where the heck I'm going, which is never good.

There must be a good word for ambidexerity of the eyes.

The easy way to tell which eye is dominant is to line up your finger with a distant object both eyes open. Then close one eye then the other. The eye that shows no movement against the background is the dominant eye. Generally that's the eye that finds its way to the eyepiece unless of course your nose is so large that it smacks the camera.

Keeping both eyes open while you operate is a good habit if you don't get confused.

Matthew Parnell · December 4, 2005

I write left handed, and do most other things like playing sport etc. right handed. Its rather unusual.

Cheers,

Matt.

Brad Grimmett · December 4, 2005

Keeping both eyes open while you operate is a good habit if you don't get confused.

It's only a good habit for certain types of shooting. I used to shoot a lot of sports, and for basketball and football it's a necessity becuase you can see what's going on just outside of your frame with your left eye.

For dramatic stuff I very rarely keep both eyes open. I will only keep both open for special stuff like action or other fast movement. In my experience, it's a really bad idea to keep both eyes open when you're doing any kind of tight stuff or long lens stuff where focus is tough for the puller. If you keep both eyes open there's no way you can judge focus and you're gonna get burned. Also, I think compositions suffer if you take your full attention away.

For steadicam I like to keep both eyes closed.

oscar jimenez · December 5, 2005

Well, Im left handed, more creative or artistic? maybe education and reading can make that happen, by this far I have discovered that Im quite dumb and steping over C stands, Sand bags, etc on the set, opposed to right people, it is funny, may that be that most of the world things are designed for right handed people?

stevewitt · December 5, 2005

I'm right-handed myself, but I've always had a creative side. I like to draw cartoons, make things with wood and of course make beautiful moving pictures. This doesn't mean that I'm great at these things, but I have always felt the need to have a creative outlet. Digital video is my newest outlet. I can't wait to start playing with a NLE program to see what I can create with the footage I shoot. :D