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and as of lately have had no sense of creativity. This has made me all but loose an desire to even pick up my camera.

I have developed a real pi**y attitude towards the craft. For example, I have a pair of red tail hawks nesting less than a block away from my house, and all I can think is, "Gee, another bird picture!"

How do I redevelop the love and passion? Oh I know some will say just force yourself to go out and shoot, but I think there is something much deeper going on here.

Any thoughts?

Gary

I have run into the same roadblock. I don't have an answer. The last lunar eclipse helped out since I didn't know if my camera could even capture a suitable photo of the moon or not. A few new flower pictures to impress my wife and that has been about it. I know I have a lot to learn and many things to experiment with but I just can't seem to get motivated. I, too, am open to suggestions.

I feel everyone goes through "down time" (including myself), but really don't feel it's a bad thing. I think many times it simply means a person is maturing, and doesn't want to take the same type shots over and over again. So trying something different (even if it's the same type shot) regarding time of day, and type of light might help. When you're making it more of a challenge it might do the trick.

Life events can also play a big part in slacking off, and often when our personal life gets better, so too does inspiration. Or at other times, people use it as an escape from everyday hassle. While I can't offer a cure, maybe look inside and see where the motivation came from to begin with, and you'll understand better why it seems missing now.

One thing I've always found which helps is browsing the internet, and reading articles. Eventually something helps spark a feeling which makes me want to shoot. If not I find I learned new things, or remember things I'd forgotten once the urge returns. There's more to it than just snapping a shutter, and though it comes natural to some... I've never been one of the lucky ones.

Hopefully, whatever it is you'll find an answer soon.

I agree with Dang about browsing works of others for ideas. Also you might look at what you would like to say with a photograph or a series of photographs. Also, as you click that shutter, what emotion are you feeling that might be conveyed via your image.

Right now I am trying to master a new IR-Only camera and the processing of the images. I have a few ideas perking on things I want to try. Just need to have time to get to them.

Another thing you can do is creat an IDEA box or folder. Drop images, words or even objects into this box/folder and use them to spark a new direction or revisiting something with a new twist.

HTH--Rene

crazy old man with the crazy white hair who invented the atom bomb said "I'd rather have one ounce of creativity than all the intelligence in the world"

Remember too that down time is not always bad. a week, a few months even just look at and do other things. Take a break, look for other interests, the good thing about photography is that it often can be integrated in to other interests.

Maybe just sit down at your computer and sort through your library of images, often they can help inspire you... lord knows when I (all too frequently) feel like I'm taking the same old boring crap I can look back and see a hundred or so images I know I took that are far from crap.
Maybe take the time to also learn some more photoshop skills using your "back catalogue".


Alternatively maybe think of a photo project (and maybe combine it with a Picture a Day gallery) that you can concentrate on and not worry about other photography pursuits... if you have near your house or work a river, or beach, or woods or sea port or what ever, something that changes day to day and week to week just visit that place every morning or evening (or every other) on a stroll.... even if the first few days or weeks you take generic snap shots you'll start to see things that you might think "that would make a good sunrise photo" or I could bring a macro lens and shoot that close up on the weekend.

Another way is just take a single lens with you as you do a photowalk - preferably just a prime - of a focal length your not used to working with.... don't even be tempted taking your standard/favorite glass... and look for what you can do just with what you have at hand.


Creativity is not a gift, it's a skill, a collection of knowledge and enthusiasm to apply both technical and artistic tricks you've learnt.
If you're not pushing your self your just falling back on to the same old tricks. Take time out to forget your current tricks or take a sharp turn to learn new tricks.

Good suggestions. We should all be as lucky as Rene (congratulations, bet you'll love it!) and have a nice new toy to play with. Unfortunately, we don't always... Nothing sparks an interest faster than new gear, and while it allows us to try new things, it isn't a permanent fix (not that anyone suggested it was). So... for suggestion of a different type shot, try something like this:

Original here: http://www.pbase.com/dang/image/94408753/original

While I know it's not a shot that has a lot to say, it's a fun project none the less. I'll probably re-shoot it later with a black background (rushed a shot to post), but didn't have one handy. It can certainly be improved on.

You're a lucky man without any sense of creativity... and pages which have been viewed a total of 1181435 times!

It's not so serious! I had a quick look on your galleries: maybe a majority of model images, but the creativity seems OK everywhere.

So, what's the reason of your post? Do you want to change your style? Do yo think that you've exhausted your "capabilities"? Are you now, bored to photography?

Please, answer the question, thank you in advance... and keep shooting!

Regards.

alain_lestrade wrote:So, what's the reason of your post? Do you want to change your style? Do yo think that you've exhausted your "capabilities"? Are you now, bored to photography?

These are all great questions I wish I could answer. Can't really place my finger on it at the moment.

Guess It goes to show no matter how creative a person is, anyone can hit a slump occasionally. But I seriously doubt you'll ever exhaust you're capabilities.

Some ideas: Try crawling around your house with your camera at ground level. Subscribe to a word-a-day website and then take a photo to illustrate the word. Pick a color and shoot everything you see that is that color (the law of averages says you'll come up with some keepers). Try some socially responsible photography. Pick a theme (one of the galleries I remember was devoted to people smoking cigarettes..yucky but interesting). I hope this helps.

I see you have picked up your camera again Now if I could just get over my own dry spell..

janetharris wrote:Some ideas: Try crawling around your house with your camera at ground level. Subscribe to a word-a-day website and then take a photo to illustrate the word. Pick a color and shoot everything you see that is that color (the law of averages says you'll come up with some keepers). Try some socially responsible photography. Pick a theme (one of the galleries I remember was devoted to people smoking cigarettes..yucky but interesting). I hope this helps.

I see you have picked up your camera again Now if I could just get over my own dry spell..

It's one of those been there, done that kinda things. Yes I have picked up my camera and have shot somewhere around 1,500 shots. The thing is I just feel like none of them are artistically worthy of being posted for others to see. It's like I can still take pictures but not a one lives up to my personal standards. Almost like I've stopped growing.

"It's one of those been there, done that kinda things. Yes I have picked up my camera and have shot somewhere around 1,500 shots. The thing is I just feel like none of them are artistically worthy of being posted for others to see. It's like I can still take pictures but not a one lives up to my personal standards. Almost like I've stopped growing"

DITTO!

I know how you feel!
Let me know if a cure is discovered!

Regards

Steveengland

gpaai wrote:It's one of those been there, done that kinda things. Yes I have picked up my camera and have shot somewhere around 1,500 shots. The thing is I just feel like none of them are artistically worthy of being posted for others to see. It's like I can still take pictures but not a one lives up to my personal standards. Almost like I've stopped growing.

So put your camera down and leave it alone for a month. It's not going to kill you. Or maybe you think it will, and you should explore why you think that.

Volunteer for something as a photographer. Something where the art is not the important part. As an example, I do judging photography for an airshow and flyin every year. The art is not important, documenting the planes is important. If it weren't for the more than 200 planes that are being judged (over 5 photos of each) it would be easy (yea, this is one of the reasons why I have over 11,000 photos in my lightroom software... Most of them are junk.)

By doing this I was able to work on technical aspects without worrying about whether the images were "artistic".

And occasionally, eventually, you'll find interesting things to photograph.

moffetb wrote:I have over 11,000 photos in my lightroom software...

I have been considering lightroom. What purpose does it serve that Photoshop cannot provide, and visa versa? Thanks!