Creative block

[Smudge04015]

So, I can't believe I'm the only one and I know it's be asked before... What do you do to overcome a lack of inspiration? The weather has been all over the place this week, literally lol, t-shirts and upper 60's on Wednesday and a foot of snow yesterday. I've got bright sun, blue skies (no clouds whatsoever) and incredibly over-exposing snow. I've been trying to learn LR and PS but need to take a break. I'm still brand new to this hobby and love it but right now, I'm in a rut.

~B

 

[Brownie]

Hole up and ride it out. This is my worst and least productive time of year. I live in SE Mich, so our climate is similar to yours. To add to it, I suffer from SAD. If you're a male in the northern hemisphere in winter, you're probably lacking vitamin D. I am taking a multi-vitamin on my doctor's advice to get more D, and after two weeks I think I feel a difference.

1. Try some low-light or flash photography
2. Watch some tutorials or How-To's
3. Do something not directly related to photography but will yield results later. Example: I set up some bird feeding stations over winter. Hardly any action at all until just lately. This morning I walked out to install a squirrel baffle, and found a Downy Woodpecker, a Black Capped Chickadee, and a House Finch feeding. As soon as the weather becomes acceptable, I'll set up my blind and have a go.
4. Plan a garden to attract backyard photography subjects like animals, birds, and insects.
5. Buy some photography accessories. You'll feel better, trust me...

Whatever you end up doing, just know it'll come back. Everyone goes through it.

 

[Hank]

I was just recently introduced to this youtube channel called The Photographic Eye and this video in which your question is answered quite well. You might get something from it.
Like Brownie said, everyone goes through it.

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

Find something else to distract my attention, though it's not easy normally. At the moment I'm decorating and actually we have perfect weather for photography but I'm not getting out really. I should, but it's also cold so I'm less inclined

 

[Boojum]

"Always wear a camera." Take photos you may think stink. Do not delete them. Go back to them in a few weeks or a month and you will see some of them have improved. Just keep taking photos. The ones which are bad you can learn from, learn what not to do. I get dry spells and when I go out I do find good things to point my camera at. I'll bet that you do, too. Believe in yourself.

I take photos to please myself. Sometimes they please other folks, too. Hammer on that shutter button. ;o)

 

[Smudge04015]

I really appreciate everyone's feedback. Just seeing I'm not the only one helps! Thank you

 

[Brownie]

I really appreciate everyone's feedback. Just seeing I'm not the only one helps! Thank you

Since you're new, you've probably never done a challenge? There's one here in the forum, but it's monthly, too slow for me but link is below.

There are plenty of challenges on-line you can do at home. Find a weekly challenge and commit to at least one photo per week. It gives you purpose and forces you to look for opportunities, etc. It can pull you out of the doldrums.

This month's 'Black and White' challenge.

Photography Challenge - Black & White

A big thanks to everyone who joined in with the reflections photography challenge last month. There were some amazing images posted! So for this month (Feb 2021) the challenge is black and white. This is not a competition so there will be no winners announced, it's purely for fun and...

www.alphashooters.com

 

[Smudge04015]

Hole up and ride it out. This is my worst and least productive time of year. I live in SE Mich, so our climate is similar to yours. To add to it, I suffer from SAD. If you're a male in the northern hemisphere in winter, you're probably lacking vitamin D. I am taking a multi-vitamin on my doctor's advice to get more D, and after two weeks I think I feel a difference.

1. Try some low-light or flash photography
2. Watch some tutorials or How-To's
3. Do something not directly related to photography but will yield results later. Example: I set up some bird feeding stations over winter. Hardly any action at all until just lately. This morning I walked out to install a squirrel baffle, and found a Downy Woodpecker, a Black Capped Chickadee, and a House Finch feeding. As soon as the weather becomes acceptable, I'll set up my blind and have a go.
4. Plan a garden to attract backyard photography subjects like animals, birds, and insects.
5. Buy some photography accessories. You'll feel better, trust me...

Whatever you end up doing, just know it'll come back. Everyone goes through it.

What do you do for a bird blind? I see some amazing photographs of birds and I think to myself, how the hell did they get that!? The thought of a blind never occured to me until you mentioned it.

 

[Brownie]

What do you do for a bird blind? I see some amazing photographs of birds and I think to myself, how the hell did they get that!? The thought of a blind never occured to me until you mentioned it.

Any good pop-up hunting blind will do the trick. Even the cheaper ones have zip open windows and are fast to put up and take down. A pop blind and a lightweight umbrella style folding chair can be packed into the woods, too. I bought a cheapie camp shelter for $32 from Walmart for the backyard. Ok, if you have only one direction to shoot, but if you want to shoot in several directions get a hunting blind.

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

So, I can't believe I'm the only one and I know it's be asked before... What do you do to overcome a lack of inspiration? The weather has been all over the place this week, literally lol, t-shirts and upper 60's on Wednesday and a foot of snow yesterday. I've got bright sun, blue skies (no clouds whatsoever) and incredibly over-exposing snow. I've been trying to learn LR and PS but need to take a break. I'm still brand new to this hobby and love it but right now, I'm in a rut.

~B

I got Covid in January (mild case) and even though that cleared up in a week, I quarantined for the month. I haven't been inclined to go traveling or mixing with many people since. I'm slowly coming out of my shell, but I honestly didn't pick up the camera at all for over a month. I feel like I'm in a rut too, and I don't know if it was the self-imposed hermit lifestyle or simply lack of practice.

So I empathize with you on being in a creative rut, and I hope the feeling passes soon!

 

[Smudge04015]

I got Covid in January (mild case) and even though that cleared up in a week, I quarantined for the month. I haven't been inclined to go traveling or mixing with many people since. I'm slowly coming out of my shell, but I honestly didn't pick up the camera at all for over a month. I feel like I'm in a rut too, and I don't know if it was the self-imposed hermit lifestyle or simply lack of practice.

So I empathize with you on being in a creative rut, and I hope the feeling passes soon!

That stinks! We're definitely over-saturated with Covid everything at this point. Dealing with it in my house right now, adds another layer to it. I'm certain I'll come out of it, as you will too. We've crossed the threshold from February to March and things are going to start improving quickly. I broke through it this weekend at an indoor facility with gymnastics on one side and an indoor football (American) team practicing. No real great photos but I got some reps in and played around with different settings, learning as much as I can. Hang in there, you'll break out soon too!

 

[AlphaWorld]

if it has just snowed you might do well trying to shoot images that are black and white without having to process Them that way

 

[Boojum]

There are limited opportunities in my area for photos. That is until I go out. When I am out I see area things which strike me as photographable so, click. I had lunch with an old friend yesterday and compared two lenses, a '57 Jupiter 8 and a Canon 50mm LTM f/1.8. They were hung off a Leica M240. I found much to my surprise that the Jupiter was more color accurate and than the Canon and plenty sharp.

Many photos were of places I have photo'ed before but there were changes in details and weather, i. e., it was even rainier.

While these two are from a Leica they are with the Jupiter 8 which will work fine on the A7 3.

Jupiter 8, f/5.6, Camera Leica M240

Up the Columbia past the Astoria Anchorage on another foggy, rainy day. This is a color photo, we just ran out of colors here in town. The pelican is a sculpture.

flickr.com

Up on the hard

Astoria, West Mooring Basin. The lens is a Jupiter 8, 50mm, f/2.0, 1957, KMZ. Sunlight is rationed here.

flickr.com

These are not great photos but they are way better than nothing. As Overgaard recommends, "Always wear a camera." And believe in yourself. Just get out there and start pushing that shutter button with the camera pointed at something interesting, even a little interesting. You can do it.

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

I have family in town and taking them on a bit of a road trip this weekend. I will take the camera and probably a single lens, just to see if I can spark some creativity.

 

[Brownie]

One thing you can do during these cold winter months is go to an indoor event, a museum, a guided tour, anything that allows a camera. I'm shooting at Autorama tomorrow, I plan to spend several hours there.

 

[Boojum]

I have family in town and taking them on a bit of a road trip this weekend. I will take the camera and probably a single lens, just to see if I can spark some creativity.

I so strongly believe what Overgaard says, "Always wear a camera." And believe in yourself. The great Eddy Merckx, an amazing world champion bike racer, was asked by a fellow how he could become great like Eddy. Eddy replied, "Ride your bike a lot." The same applies to photography. And remember also the Jesuit motto of learning, "Repititio, repititio, repititio." You will never learn anything while that camera sits on a table. Pick it up and start clicking. And cut yourself some slack. I had a pro friend who said he at first expected every photo on a roll to be a winner. After he was in the game a while he became pleased to get one good one per roll. Remember, you are doing this to have fun. And if you do not use that camera enough the Camera Cops will come around and seize it so get hopping. ;o)

 

[Brownie]

I so strongly believe what Overgaard says, "Always wear a camera." And believe in yourself. The great Eddy Merckx, an amazing world champion bike racer, was asked by a fellow how he could become great like Eddy. Eddy replied, "Ride your bike a lot." The same applies to photography. And remember also the Jesuit motto of learning, "Repititio, repititio, repititio." You will never learn anything while that camera sits on a table. Pick it uip and start clicking. And cut yourself some slack. I had a pro friend who said he at first expected every photo on a roll to be a winner. After he was in the game a while he became pleased to get one good one per roll. Remember, you are doing this to have fun. And if you do not use that camera enough the Camera Cops will come around and seize it so get hopping. ;o)

"Hey buddy, how do I get to Carnegie Hall?"

"Practice, son, practice."

 

[Boojum]

"Hey buddy, how do I get to Carnegie Hall?"

"Practice, son, practice."

That is an old vaudeville joke and it started as, "How do I get to the Paramount (Brooklyn)." The answer was the same, of course.

There is an old story about Robert Frost out chopping kindling while not too far from him sat a young fellow gazing off into the distance. The interviewer asked Frost why he didn't get the young fellow to chop the wood. Frost replied that the other fellow was a poet. The bottom line is that waiting for inspiration is like waiting for gas for your car when you have run out. Uh-unh. You just have to get out there and do it. Soon it will become almost natural and then automatic. Soon you may even forgive yourself for not being perfect. My pro friend's response to my statement that light was important was, "Yeah, it's only about 95%." LMAO Light, color, composition. If it is red, take a picture of it, Rule #1. ;o)

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

I so strongly believe what Overgaard says, "Always wear a camera." And believe in yourself. The great Eddy Merckx, an amazing world champion bike racer, was asked by a fellow how he could become great like Eddy. Eddy replied, "Ride your bike a lot." The same applies to photography. And remember also the Jesuit motto of learning, "Repititio, repititio, repititio." You will never learn anything while that camera sits on a table. Pick it up and start clicking. And cut yourself some slack. I had a pro friend who said he at first expected every photo on a roll to be a winner. After he was in the game a while he became pleased to get one good one per roll. Remember, you are doing this to have fun. And if you do not use that camera enough the Camera Cops will come around and seize it so get hopping. ;o)

As usual my mother out did me with just her cellphone pictures, but I took a few images for the hell of it.
You're right, I'll never learn anything while the camera sits on the table, and I don't want it to become an expensive paperweight!

 

[Boojum]

As usual my mother out did me with just her cellphone pictures, but I took a few images for the hell of it.
You're right, I'll never learn anything while the camera sits on the table, and I don't want it to become an expensive paperweight!

You are your only judge. Give yourself a break and remember not to compete with recognized pros. They may be great to aim for but to expect to be the same will only cause us to stop taking photos. Even the bad ones are lessons. They say, "Don't do this again." ;o)

I appreciate Overgaard's approach. He does ~100 photos a day. I had a friend who was a professional pianist. As a kid he practiced until two in the morning. Guess what? He could really play that piano.

 

[Clix Pix]

I have never considered myself to be particularly creative, but over the years I have realized that, yes, there is at least some little spark of that within me somewhere.... A lot of times I'll see something that on the surface isn't all that interesting at first look, but then once I start exploring it, camera in hand, I can find all kinds of interesting ways to view it, shoot it and later share the finished image. Sometimes the creativity doesn't come out until I'm working with an image, editing it, and an idea will come to me: what would happen if I do [x] or [y]? I play around with things and sometimes fun stuff comes out, other times not so much so. Thank goodness for nondestructive editing!

A good example would be something I shot last week. I had been rummaging in a closet for something else and found this stone thingy which is meant be either a liquid soap dispenser or a hand cream dispenser. I looked at it for a moment and thought, "huh, this has interesting markings and could be an intriguting image." I set it aside, found what I'd been in search of in the first place and then later turned my attention back to this thingy. I grabbed the A7R IV and my favorite macro lens and quickly set up to shoot. Ah, oops, after only a few shots I realized that I'd forgotten to at least clean the thing off first, and, yep, it needed a good washing. Did that, got back to the shooting....

Later, in the editing phase, I reviewed all the images I'd shot and for some reason I kept returning to one in particular, actually one of the early ones I'd shot before I'd even cleaned the thing off. I liked the angle at which I'd shot it. So, just for the heck of it I went ahead and edited it, and somewhere along the line the thought occurred to me to take this into a B&W conversion, see how that would look. Bingo! Something interesting came out of all of this after all....

• ILCE-7RM4
• FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS
• 90.0 mm
• ƒ/5
• 1/800 sec
• ISO 10000

 

[Boojum]

I have never considered myself to be particularly creative, but over the years I have realized that, yes, there is at least some little spark of that within me somewhere.... A lot of times I'll see something that on the surface isn't all that interesting at first look, but then once I start exploring it, camera in hand, I can find all kinds of interesting ways to view it, shoot it and later share the finished image. Sometimes the creativity doesn't come out until I'm working with an image, editing it, and an idea will come to me: what would happen if I do [x] or [y]? I play around with things and sometimes fun stuff comes out, other times not so much so. Thank goodness for nondestructive editing!

A good example would be something I shot last week. I had been rummaging in a closet for something else and found this stone thingy which is meant be either a liquid soap dispenser or a hand cream dispenser. I looked at it for a moment and thought, "huh, this has interesting markings and could be an intriguting image." I set it aside, found what I'd been in search of in the first place and then later turned my attention back to this thingy. I grabbed the A7R IV and my favorite macro lens and quickly set up to shoot. Ah, oops, after only a few shots I realized that I'd forgotten to at least clean the thing off first, and, yep, it needed a good washing. Did that, got back to the shooting....

Later, in the editing phase, I reviewed all the images I'd shot and for some reason I kept returning to one in particular, actually one of the early ones I'd shot before I'd even cleaned the thing off. I liked the angle at which I'd shot it. So, just for the heck of it I went ahead and edited it, and somewhere along the line the thought occurred to me to take this into a B&W conversion, see how that would look. Bingo! Something interesting came out of all of this after all....



View attachment 17585

Isn't it amazing what we can do when we let down the barriers?

 

[Smudge04015]

I really appreciate the feedback from all of you! Some great ideas but, more importantly, I guess we all go through it. Think in abstract, or even more importantly, stop thinking and start doing. If you think that every picture you take has to make it onto the cover of a magazine, you'll never grow and learn. Get out (or in) and press the button!

I'm quite happy I found you all!

 

[Clix Pix]

Today was another one of those "experimental" shooting sessions. I have this poinsettia plant that I've shot from time to time since Christmas and it is still flourishing. Today I decided to see if I could discover something different, shoot from a new angle, whatever.... Out of the several shots that I took, one in particular intrigued me, so that's the one I processed and in the end I find it interesting, even if no one else does.

• ILCE-7RM4
• FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS
• 90.0 mm
• ƒ/4
• 1/500 sec
• ISO 1600

 

[Boojum]

Your camera, your plant, your photo. It pleases you. That's enough. The chances of your becoming one of the greats are not big but you can crank out good photos which do please you and will please others. Cartier-Bresson did not start out as a star. Meier was unknown during her lifetime, for all practical purposes. If you are amusing yourself, mission accomplished. If you amuse others, too, so much the better. And the electrons for digital cameras are plenty cheap so use them up.

Just have fun. This is not supposed to be an ordeal. I started with a tiny 126 box Brownie, developed and printed my own film. It was fun. Now I can just print the images more fun. I regard my camera as a fancy, fun toy.

 

[Clix Pix]

Absolutely agree! I go out shooting and sometimes come home with something which is very promising and interesting, only to find that it's not so great after all -- and other times I go out and come home with several images which are quite pleasing. In the end, though, for me it is more about just being out there, using my camera gear and enjoying nature (in nice weather) and having fun. The resulting images are almost a by-product, although of course I do get frustrated when I haven't found much interesting to shoot.

I also like to challenge myself, keep the creative juices flowing, and on days when the weather is not good, I'll look around and see what I can find in the house to shoot and if I can make it interesting. I may start out not knowing exactly what will come out of this, and have a lot of fun experimenting with the camera and a lens or two. In the end there might be an interesting image or there might not, but I had a fun time working with the camera to see what would happen!

 

[Boojum]

That's how I do it. I try not to take myself too seriously but at the same time be responsible to myself and not just click the shutter. Even so, it does look sometimes like I just click the shutter. No matter. No harm, no foul. And as Overgaard points out, we learn from our mistakes. Or keep making them. Learning is better. Just have fun with the damned things and forget about the grade book. The quality will come. Everybody, even royalty, started at square one.

 

[Brownie]

That's how I do it. I try not to take myself too seriously but at the same time be responsible to myself and not just click the shutter. Even so, it does look sometimes like I just click the shutter. No matter. No harm, no foul. And as Overgaard points out, we learn from our mistakes. Or keep making them. Learning is better. Just have fun with the damned things and forget about the grade book. The quality will come. Everybody, even royalty, started at square one.

We all take snapshots from time to time. Some of my best shots have been grab-shots. When you think about it, some of the most iconic photos in history were just that. The soldier/nurse kiss at the end of WWII and the little girl from the Vietnam war come immediately to mind.

 

[Boojum]

We all take snapshots from time to time. Some of my best shots have been grab-shots. When you think about it, some of the most iconic photos in history were just that. The soldier/nurse kiss at the end of WWII and the little girl from the Vietnam war come immediately to mind.

Yes, the immediacy of the moment. Too many are war. The Chief of Police in Saigon executing that Viet Cong. I watch the PBS Viet Nam War series now and again to be reminded what I missed by a hair. I was very lucky. Others were not. The photography and videography were excellent.

But for ourselves, we do not need permission to take our pictures. Just take the damned picture. If ant hills are your thing, take pictures of ant hills. If it is birds, take pictures of birds. If it is people on the street, take pictures of people on the street. Take the pictures we like and for ourselves. We will get better and maybe even expand our area of interest. But it comes down to the Jesuits and Eddy Merckx, it is in the doing that one gets better. Remember, we are to be having fun with a complex, fun toy. Guys love complex, fun toys. Cameras really fit the bill. So let's have fun. And with the blind hog rule we'll get good photos, too. More and more. Just do not let that camera whip your ass. It is just a toy. ;o)

 

[Brownie]

I don't know how people who do street photography do it. I feel so creepy taking shots of mostly unaware, but sometimes watching, and a few times glaring subjects. It's a lot more obvious in a small town, I recon it's easier to get away with in a city. Not my cup-o-tea, but admire those who do it.