My Creative Inspiration: Ringan Ledwidge

1. Is my favourite ever number 7, Kenneth Mathieson "Kenny" Dalglish - a Scottish striker who played for Liverpool FC from 1977-90. Unlike other number 7s, he wasn't flash like Ronaldo or as handsome as George Best or as heavily permed as Kevin Keegan, but, creatively, the man was a genius.

He was renowned for "never being more dangerous than when his back's to goal". I always liked that idea as a kid and think it really applies to creative solutions - they often come when you're backed into the most uncompromising corners.

2. Magnum Photos is an international photographic co-operative set up in 1947 by Robert Capa, David "Chim" Seymour, George Rodger and Henri Cartier-Bresson. The latter described it as "a community of thought, a shared human quality, a curiosity about what is going on in the world, a respect for what is going on and a desire to transcribe it visually". Think of any pivotal moment in recent history and at least one or more of Magnum's photographers would have been there, capturing the moment in ways words never could.

3. Aged 15, rammed into the back of my mate's brother's crap Ford Escort hurtling up the motorway to Manchester to see The Stone Roses at The Hacienda. Excited and laughing like a drain.

4. I studied graphic design at Ravensbourne College, which was renowned for being very good at Swiss typography. Stupidly, I hadn't really looked that far into what Swiss typography was. During our first project, I found out. It involved pushing four lines of 8pt, black Helvetica type around a white square. We did this for three months. Needless to say, I hated it. Allegedly, it was about understanding negative space. A year later, looking at some photographs I'd taken, I realised that I did. In much of what I shoot now, I can still see the influence of that horrendous project.

5. Omar has run out of Cheerios. Putting on an aqua-blue silk robe, he tells his boyfriend he's going to the local convenience store to get some more. He reaches for a silver gun. Unfortunately, the waist band of his pyjama bottoms won't hold it so he reluctantly puts the gun on top of the fridge and heads off. A small moment from The Wire. Probably the best thing made for television ever. If you've not seen it, go buy the box-set now.

6. My mates. I'm lucky enough to have a lot of very funny and smart mates. Some are in the industry, some aren't. All, though, are capable of following some of the most sublimely ridiculous trains of thought, particularly when aided by a couple of pints. They're also searingly honest and the people whose opinions I value the most.

7. It was a Saturday afternoon. I was aged five. My mum had something to do so she asked my dad to look after me for the rest of the day. So he took me to the cinema. It kicked off well with a double bill of Tom and Jerry cartoons. Then the film began. It opened on a bunch of apes at a watering hole in an arid landscape. Life is OK until one of them works out he can batter a fellow ape that he doesn't like much to death with a bone. He chucks said bone in the air and it turns into a spaceship. You've probably guessed by now that I'm talking about Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. By the end of the film, I was so taken aback by what I'd seen I didn't speak for about five days.

8. Eavesdropping. Rude, I know, but probably one of my favourite pastimes. Take this particular classic I overheard in my local supermarket. A little lad no older than seven and sporting some Reebok Classics that matched his dad's stood in the fruit and veg section holding a large pineapple that he was eyeing suspiciously. "Dad," he said. "What's this?" To which his dad replied: "That, my son, is a pineapple, normally found in tins." Genius. You couldn't write it.

9. Music. A bit general, I know, but as far as inspiration goes, it's right up there. From Junior Pertwee to Bach to Slow Moving Millie (a fantastic new artist I just worked with recently), music really is an essential part of life and creativity.

10. Hiroki Nakamura, the creative director of Visvim. A very smart guy who founded and runs the Japanese clothing label. It's not cheap, but all the products are simple, based on craftsmanship and being environmentally friendly. I like how he rolls.

11. Walking in London. Love it and never grow tired of it. Whether it's a walk to work through a park, nipping out of Rattling Stick to go to a bookshop or just random wandering (which is often the best), London's constantly a source of inspiration or, paradoxically, the supplier of the kind of solitude that allows you to really think.

12. The skeletons that come out of the ground in Jason And The Argonauts. Well, they're just brilliant, aren't they?

- Ringan Ledwidge is a director for Rattling Stick.