When You Hit a Wall

[bobhate]

What do you do when you hit the PaD wall? You get through almost three months of a planned year of PaDding, and then suddenly the wind is out of your sails.

I used to get up early, race around town before work shooting shots of a million things. Photoshop myself to death, narrow it down to 2-3 shots, then proudly post the "winner."

Now, I wake up, my camera is like a millstone. If I get the thing to focus on something I figure I can live with it.

Have I ruined the avocation for myself? What do you do when you hit a wall?

WT

[senorcarnival]

You can't be inspired everyday. Do you think Picasso or Van Gogh were always inspired to paint 24/7. They probably had days they were like, "this sucks, I don't wanna."
By running around town trying to find a subject, then Photoshopping it all, you're only sucking the fun out of it. Instead of running around town, just take your camera around with you, and the photos will follow. If you're not inspired some days, it's ok to post a picture of some old boring household item. It's not supposed to be 365 pictures of blissful, mind-blowing art. Relax and have fun, this isn't a contest.

[prplexd]

Well said.

[troonly]

It's an interesting one. I hit the wall and sort of fell into a ditch, which I'm still floundering in. But the PaD means I still carry the camera, still take shots - sometimes of very mundane things (some of which surprise and delight!). Because lots of people know I PaD I get encouragement and ideas and just can't drop it....

What I have dropped is the hour plus PaD browsing and commenting a day. It is the way to get hits and comments and I did go through the phase of 'counting' hits etc - even did a spreadsheet (I know, I know!), but I just don't have the time.

I now have many many less visitors understandably, but still feel part of a great pbase family, and friends/relatives are increasingly checking out the site.

I think it's the same as the feeling when you take pictures you know have been done a million times, often better.... why bother. But then, just in a while something clicks and there's an image you're proud of...

Take a look back over your PaDs, you'll be surprised by how good some are!

I'm continuing for now - because I'm sure things will click in again and when it's good it's really good Others suggest trying a theme: a colour, things beginning with A, B, C etc, try a few collages (worked for me), bit of macro, flowers (opened up a new world for me), people, candids. I've not missed a day (yet) which is my main motivator at 23.15h on a day when nothings happened! Try some night shots - buy a tripod if you haven't got one.

Good luck Off to visit your galleries now!

[jcboyd]

It does happen WT. I have only been doing a PaD for a few months.

When I started the pad I had two goals in mind.
1. A fresh image taken for each day on that day
2. Each image had to be (in my mind) interesting and artistic

I have had to re-evaluate my goals. Now I want to post something (in my mind) that is
interesting and artistic. If I have taken the image on another day I live with this. This may change also.

Additions to my list of PaD goals:
1. Don’t stress out
2. Have fun
3. It’s acceptable to skip a day or two (or three)

[bobt54]

Feel free to violate your own rules from time to time.

If you go to my pad you will see my stated goals might not be kosher with some of you, but I knew from the beginning that I was never going to get out every day and take a picture. I love photography, but I got a life beyond that as well.

At first I stuck pretty close to the stated theme of making older pictures come to life. However I have since injected newer pictures and sometimes pictures I have taken that day into the pad. In other words, I don't subscribe to anyones rules but my own and I constantly break them and revise them at will.

Tonight I am going to the Prince William County Fair so you will see something from there - a picture taken today and posted today for all you purists out there.

[5points]

Don't force it, just carry a camera look through the lens and show us what you see.

[jypsee]

here's my thought: if you hit a wall with photography, maybe you need to decide why you do photography. Perhaps the practice of photographing is something that you like but it isn't a passion.
On the rare occasion that I feel like I've hit a wall I leave my camera at home; sure enough.... some photo presents itself and, voila! off and running again.
Here's a concrete suggestion: find a spot that you can get to every day and go there every day and make a photo of something at that spot. It will stretch you to find a new angle and do a study....
HTH

[bobhate]

Don't force it, just carry a camera look through the lens and show us what you see.

this has been a great discussion. lots of sage advice. thanks to all.

wt

[gsansoucie]

OK, now I feel I have something to add to this thread.

Today was that "wall" day. We are putting on an addition at our house, I've been recovering from a surgery that I had about 4 weeks ago. I was under doctor's orders to stay off of ladders. I hit the ladders with full force today, the whole day, prepping the outside of the house for siding.

I finished late, then had to head to the dump & Home Depot to pick up supplies for tomorrow. By the time I got home, ate & took a shower I was wiped and really thought about skipping today.

I realized that if I skipped today, I'd skip tomorrow too since I will be working all day again. I'd probably skip the rest of the week since I have a ton of stuff to do each evening.

So I put my creative hat on and decided to take a picture of something that kind of described today. I grabbed some siding nails & my work gloves and set up the tripod here on my desk beside the computer.

I got carried away and took something like 40 pictures of the same set of nails. I tried different "diffusion" settings on my "poor man's diffuser" (white 4 x 6 card stock stuck to my bounce flash with an elastic band). I turned off the flash and did a long exposure. Then I decided to shine a red light on the nails during the long exposure (astronomy nut). That looked cool so I decided to shine a green laser on them (astronomy again). I tried both. Got a lot of cool shots. I decided to play it safe and left the Red/Green accents out of today's PaD. I might post the green and/or red results at a later date.

I was pretty happy with the results considering I didn't have to go to great extremes to get this shot.

http://www.pbase.com/gsansoucie/image/47965857

-=Glen=-

[jeremygood]

I hit the wall last week after 170 days of faithful padding.

I am now on an official PaD break. I do not know when the break will end, but it sure has been enjoyable to not have to worry about it ...

[noearlybird]

I hit the wall last week after 170 days of faithful padding.

I am now on an official PaD break. I do not know when the break will end, but it sure has been enjoyable to not have to worry about it ...

I miss your pictures Jeremy. I often get discouraged and haven't done this for as long as you people have. Some days when I am the most unenthused my camera surprises me though.

I do feel as though I have arrived, my guestbook got it's first spam entry from an online casino today! It's a moment <g>.
Kathie

[bobt54]

Maybe when you have hit that wall creatively it is time to revisit what you have already done. Maybe there is something that you took a few days, weeks, months ago that you tossed aside. Take another look at it. How could you make it better? Maybe it needs to be retaken or maybe it just needs more work in Photo Shop.

[flseabreeze]

With all due respect, I have to wonder at what point PAD started to require that the picture had been taken the very day it is posted. I lurked for nearly two years before I joined, read all I could about rules, etc... and never did I see a requirement that the PAD was actually taken that day.

This is crucial to me - as others have mentioned, it is not always possible to take and post a pic everyday, especially if photography is not your job, but a hobby. If the requirements were that I had to take the picture that day, my PAD would consist entirely of utterly boring and predictable pictures of my desk at work, with a random shot of Sea once every couple months.

[troonly]

There are no rules - just those that suit you.

I choose to have just one, that I take a photo each day. It doesn't always get posted the same day.

My reason? It pushes me to explore new areas, photo things I wouldn't normally, it's a bit of a challenge, and sometimes I get that warm winner feeling - yes! yes! yes! Well nearly anyway.

Some days/weeks it's tough, and some days the images are rough, but overall I enjoy it.

So set your own guidelines and enjoy