I have to say that my efforts can certainly be described that way.
My typical approach is to decide what sort of results I want and then work backwards – forwards? – to determine the best tools to create them. Focal length, digital or film, shift lens or standard, large sensor or small, tripod or not: it's a problem-solving exercise designed to achieve the results that I've already thought of. I'm quite happy with my success rate with this approach, but it limits my scope for experimentation and play.
My newest portfolio project breaks that pattern while conforming to it. I'm back to using time and motion to capture images of things that don't really exist, guiding a process that depends on a certain unpredictability. The creative process is playful and unpredictable, but the results are processed, curated, and collected to form a distinct body of work. I choose and guide the results to look the way I want them to, even though the idea started with spontaneous play.
I'm incredibly lucky to have a lot of creatively exciting things going on right now, to the point where I'm gathering media and material far more quickly than I absorb it. That's not a bad problem to have, even though it plays havoc on my blogging time.
Comments, questions, thoughts? You can find me on Twitter or via e-mail.
