I love using photographs for prompts for both writing and designing. For me, seeing a photo is a surefire way to spark a story idea or to jump start a design. (If you're looking for photo prompts, one of my favorite websites is: Every Photo Tells a Story.)
Here's a photo I took last month:
On the surface, it's a beautiful tree in bloom. If someone else had shown me this photo, I might be prompted to select some white pearls and green Lucite leaves for a bracelet or maybe write a short story about a couple falling in love in the spring.
However, since I took the photograph, it's hard for me to see only what is there on the screen. When I see this photo I took at the University of Dayton, I remember the whole moment—the heavy dew on the unbelievably green grass that morning, the click of the shutter, the flash of wings in my face as I accidentally rousted two birds from their nest.
I think that's the reason I like using photographs as creative prompts. We're all looking, but no one is seeing the same things.