Topic: Creativity - where does it go?

[LT]

I'm having a bad lull in motivation around picture taking.  I just cant seem to get inspired by my local surroundings.  Maybe this is because of the eternal gllom and grey skies that we've been having in the SE but I'm just not able to get on with it.

I've tried looking at others work, I've tried just wandering with a few cameras, but nothing.  Still Life just bores me - I need to be out there, walking and seeing, but it aint happening.  I'm going on holiday in a few weeks and have a lot planned there, but that seems to be my thing these days - take lots on holiday, but none for the rest of the year.

I was listening to a radio programme yesterday where a landscape photographer was being interviewed - she said "if you arent inspired by your local surroundings, then you might as well give up" - EH?  She did live in south west Eire, so maybe she has a bit of an advantage ....

What do other people do to keep themselves inspired?

[Susan B.]

I go through this ALL the time. Heck, I have sunny skies most of the time and I go through it on a daily basis.
If environment is a key part of your inspiration (which I suspect it is knowing your work) and you feel as if you've been there, done that---then that's probably a good part of it? The other part can be personal-- Whether it's lack of time, exhaustion, life stuff or just needing a new toy to play with the spark those creative juices it all plays a factor for me.

I try to shoot every weekend, but I'm bored to tears with Los Angeles.
So I drive just a tad further, go down another street I've not been on and try to find new spots within LA.
I also try to shift my personal take and perspective on places I've been many times.
I assign myself thematic or creative challenges with each shoot. Or I attempt to go for a particular mood, then I raise the bar higher each time. I think that keeps me challenged--upping the personal challenges and stakes. For example, I can get tired of the same fingerprint I have on my work--so I'll build a new camera and shift around the blur. That always gives me a thrill. Easy -- I am. I even shoot glass to spice it up. Funny, huh? Right now, I find myself jonesing for a nice, little compact rangefinder. The total opposite of my look. But (if I had the camera and the cash at the moment) I suspect it will just help my work grow in all regards. So maybe go out and shoot some uber blur? Some pinhole?
I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's all about playing for me. If the fun is gone--I hit the dulldrums and lack inspiration.
Maybe ask yourself, what would make it fun again for you? What could pose a challenge photographically to you right now? Does that challenge interest you? Heck--then go try it.

One other possibility....When photographers reach a point in your work when your work is continuously exceptional-- like yourself-- it becomes harder and harder to top yourself. If I was to put myself in those shoes, it might become harder and harder to pick up the camera and just play, since I'd expect to be better or equally as good in this roll than the last. That's how plastic can help--you can't place expectations on anything, since they are so damn unpredictable. If plastic is boring you--then find another avenue to help you get past the need for perfection so you can play again. (that is, if that's where the dulldrum problem hides)

Of course, all of these suggestions could be completely off the mark for you, since I'm just coming from my own dulldrums experience.

Hey. Here's a wild hair idea. Try to shoot something "invisible"? 

Your fan,
Susan
 

[Ed Wenn]

Druid, I'm sad. I get a real thrill out of pressing the shutter. I often do it even when there's no film in the camera. I love the way it feels and I like hearing the click, or clack (...or the THUNKKK if I'm using my Kiev-60  ) That said, I know where you're coming from, but we all go through it and my way out is similar to SB's; I buy, make or mod up a new camera so that I can start all over again. The new Graflex is keeping me interested almost on its own at the moment although I'm getting almost no time to shoot anyway at the moment as you know.

Of course the downside of this is that I never manage to get really comfortable with any single camera because I'm constantly changing or rotating them. A friend recently said he thought photography should be all about the image to the point where the camera is so much a part of you that it's irrelevant to the process. I can imagine that this is how people like Bresson operated, but me....well, I don't have their eye and the camera is really important to my overall experience, so when I'm bored I'll try out a new one, or a changed one, or at the very least one I last used 6 months ago.

[This-is-damion]

same here as well!!!  i get burned out/stuck in a rut -call it waht you like, but the same bland scenary of suburbia  kills me sometimes, the same journey to work, the same people, tick tock tick tock -wheres my life gone.....well you know what i mean.

but yeah sometimes i just cant be inspired, then you perhaps try to force it, which makes it worse, 

when it gets like this  i always try to do soemthing different, weather its a day out, or picking up a new/old camera (like ed)  makes the usual routine a little different and therefore put a kick into it again.

but it can be difficult though! 

i think the ultimate answer is variety..however you can find it!

 

[beck]

I'm sitting on that same bump with this cold weather...can't seem to get it together...so I had to resort to blunt force trauma and destroying some negatives sitting around...haha...well, beats freezing your pants off. I'm actually waiting on a Yashica Mat to arrive in the post some time next week...I need a new challenge and I'm sure I'll be fumbling around trying to figure out whats best for it.

Great to be here and thanks for the invittles, Susan...looks rather cool...and promising. Big ups to everyone! Oh, and hows about a drunkin' smilie eh? For Ed...you know. 

[astrobeck]

I usually watch an old movie.  The scene set ups and lighting usually do the trick and kick the brain cells in a new thinking direction.
So the next time I haul my cameras out, I have some shots and set ups in mind to try out.

For me, it's all about the light and getting the mood.  Around here the subject matter is fabulous, so I have no room for complaining on that level.

What do other people do to keep themselves inspired?

[beck]

Hmm, pretty much what you've said, beck...thumbing through all the Art and Photography books, discovering new techniques, etc...and longing to get a shot like Dorothea Lange's, Migrant Mother. Looking over at Don Brice's blog, man, his latest work is pretty darn close to that..and then some. I'm always inspired, when I'm not juggling dumb emotions that seem to get in the way...and I'm working on a project I hope to start soon and when the weather breaks and using that Yashica for a little bit of documentary photography...that makes me laugh, but I'm crossing my fingers I can pull it off here where I live. I've already scoured all the projects, hang outs, front porches and the like, and seen some possibilities...now all I have to do is either wear a bullet proof vest...or kill them with, kindness. 

[beck]

I thought I'd add some artificial flavoring to my Holga  and instead of having myself work outside the Holga, as in Photoshop, I thought maybe, what if I were to add a bit of distortion inside my Holga. And well, I tried to do just that. I'm a big fan of scratches and photos that look millions of years old...and not knowing a whole lot about manipulations, or the darkroom, I took a overhead transparency and measured and outlined a square from the mask that I never use from the Holga...I then got some black oil paint and dry brushed the inside edges of this square, thinking the brush strokes would show up on the film...well, before I get to that...I then placed this piece of plastic behind the mask, nearest to the lens/shutter....and not thinking it would work better had it been closest to the film plane...fixed in front of the mask, instead of behind, are you guys catching on yet? Well, I shot a test roll...and well, it did the opposite of what I hoped for and created a blurry vignette around my compostion. I may have to try the other way and see what it does....here, have a look. I think I'm going to apply a heavier application next time around...

http://rebecca.my-expressions.com/index.html

[Ed Wenn]

I usually watch an old movie.  The scene set ups and lighting usually do the trick and kick the brain cells in a new thinking direction.
So the next time I haul my cameras out, I have some shots and set ups in mind to try out.

Old movies...indeed. Bang on. Not made the connection before, but I know what you're saying...works for me too.

[LT]

I read a book - that's all it took.  A book called " a concise history of photography"  gave me lots of ideas, the sun came out yesterday - 1st time I';ve seen him in a very long time - I'm sure he helped things a bit too!.  Anyway - I put on my thermals (there were arctic winds blowing through the trossocks), loaded up the sqai with a load of fp4 and took myself down to Standard Quay and Iron Wharf - nothing like a little creek action to get the Taylor creatives a flowing.

the best 4 are in my February grabs http://www.filmwasters.com/grabs/v/03/Leon+Taylor/

Thanks for the tips everyone.

[Susan B.]

Excellent. Glad to see you got over the hump with a little help from a good book and sunshine.
I dig the last two btw. Classic Taylors.

 

[JOhn Reeves]

Hey guys. First post over here. Which side of the atlantic is this thing? Lotsa buttons and flashing lights . . .
I know that you got your bug fixed, but I'm stumbling in here a bit late:
I've been hitting the books lately for inspiration & substance. Bill Jay, A.D. Coleman and Robert Adams are keeping my head busy. There's also Lawrence Weschler's new book. Weschler looks quite deep into his topics and encourages connections with other subject matter.
Another inspiration has been the museum. I've got great photo collections around me in KC and right here in Lawrecne. The biggest inspiration is the long drive to new places/landscapes and repeated passings of the same place to notice what's changed.
Another booster: I've been a Saturday painter for the last year or so. Oil paint and still lifes require a lot of focus and determined energy.

[Susan B.]

Heya John,

We're being hosted by a company I found in the U.S.

Great inspiration ideas---museum always does it for me.

Great to see you!

[tread]

Wow, hey guys, first post here...interesting topic. I think we all get buried with what we consider the mundane of our own surroundings. This place is just danged boring where I am so I find myself trying to look closer. You have to figure Weston was bored when he was shooting bell peppers and the pooper but look what magnificent art altering work he created. I'm sure the images are out there, sometimes they just seem nearly impossible to "see" when we have a camera in our hands...

great work folks. looking forward to all the inspiration that is sure to come from these pages.

[Ed Wenn]

Great to be here and thanks for the invittles, Susan...looks rather cool...and promising. Big ups to everyone! Oh, and hows about a drunkin' smilie eh? For Ed...you know. 

Hey Becky, thanks for the smunkin' drile....much appreciated.  It's cold here too - froze my English butt off over the weekend lugging my Graflex RB around some public gardens in zero temperatures, but it was worth it (despite the frostbite and the enlarged right forearm - we're talking Popeye style...that RB is heavy!!).

We're glad to have you here and that stuff you're doing with the Holga is very, very cool. Be sure to keep us up to date as it's exactly the type of thing that filmwasters is all about.

[beck]

Ah, smunkin' drile...that should be under your profile pic, Eddy. Ha. Or mine. Thanks for the words about the semi discovery Holga...I'm trying. A test roll really and perhaps I can go ahead with plans...with better weather.

My you have yourself a big, um, camera. Hollers out to everyone signing up.

[sparx]

The biggest motivation destroyer for me isn't a lack of ideas but a lack of equipment and time. Since I went the MF route things have really slowed down for me.

By the time i'm home at night it's a real drag to set up the dimroom, print the pics, scan them in and then post them up for the world to marvel at and thank their God they've seen my work  . But when I shoot 35mm I can just dev the film in the kitchen and whack it onto the neg scanner that same evening without having to faff around with re-organising a room.

I want to stop this though. I want to make more time to indulge in a little dimroom love and get a decent printed protfolio together. Meanwhile, if anyone has a MF neg scanner going cheap (ie free) I would be willing to give it a home 

[LT]

Hey Marcus - good to see you here.  Now - if there's any free stuff going, I think the site owners should have first dibs

[gary m]

I go thru this every winter. For a long time I always thought..well here is the end to another of my many hobbies. For some reason, I cannot let go of my love of photography. It is the only hobby, more of a passion if you will, that I cant do without.

The only thing that I have found for myself to get thru these times of non shooting, is to get inspired again. I look thru tons of photos in books that I own, photos online, magazines, etc. Then all of a sudden, there is a big spark when I see a photo that I havent taken, and I say to myself, cripes! I can do that, but better

It feels nice to put the camera down from time to time, but it feels so much better when you pick it up again

Hope to see you inspired real soon 

[Tammy]

I have all sorts of ideas and no time to try to execute, but this comes in waves.  I also don't know HOW to execute most of my ideas, which leaves me more in the exploration mode (like all the time) and sometimes I just get frustrated.  I've decided to keep a small book to sketch out my ideas, but if I take any time at all in getting around to the ideas, they aren't as interesting anymore.   I am going to take an artclass this year, and maybe a class on watercolor.  I think that this might help me, personally, become more creative somehow.  Maybe a workshop with other like-minded photographers? 

I'm like Ed.  It's all about using a camera, which is why I have so many, I guess. click click clilck.   Once I get the film shot off, I drag my feet on processing and even more so on printing.  I think it's because when I have the time to do either, it's wee in the night or I'd rather be taking more pictures.  I think that if I could get more excited about the images I'm making, then I'll have equally more interest in printing them off.  Each different format requires some sort of different way of seeing and processing, and although that is interesting in itself, I'd rather take an image that is totally removed of camera and format, and is just an excellent image.

-Tammy

-Tammy

[CarlRadford]

Leon,

Go to Andrew Sandersons website immediately: http://www.andrewsanderson.com/ if this doesn't inspire you then nothing will! Then walk around the house and look at things as if you do not really know them. The image from your darkroom for instance - how many of those do you see! Get a pinhole. Take out only one camera and one lens - if John blakemore can make entire books and exhibitions out of them then so can you. No-one doubts your technical ability - you just need to keep practicing your 'seeing'. I love being home as I look more closely than I ever did when I lived there - just look again, and again and again.

[HolgaJen]

Leon,

Go to Andrew Sandersons website immediately: http://www.andrewsanderson.com/ if this doesn't inspire you then nothing will! Then walk around the house and look at things as if you do not really know them. The image from your darkroom for instance - how many of those do you see! Get a pinhole. Take out only one camera and one lens - if John blakemore can make entire books and exhibitions out of them then so can you. No-one doubts your technical ability - you just need to keep practicing your 'seeing'. I love being home as I look more closely than I ever did when I lived there - just look again, and again and again.

There's some really beautiful stuff on his website~ wow!

[LT]

thanks for that link Carl - andrew is a very talented artist indeed.  You know, what you say about "seeing" in the house ... sometimes I see my house and other times I see a million pictures - sometimes I cant see the wood for the trees.  It's weird the way the photgraphic eye seems to switch on and off of it's own accord.  I'm pretty keyed up for this weekend though - the weather promises to be favourable, so I'm off out to find some pics

[Ailsa]

I work kind of in reverse to most of you - I love taking pictures in winter, in the soft, flat light, and am at the stage where I'm dreading the onset of spring and all that awful bright sunshine! 

There's nothing like a sprinkling of frost and snow to get my creative juices flowing - and I spent my 15 minute train ride to work from Brighton to Lewes this morning screaming inwardly as I was whisked past the snow that was covering the South Downs. It's pretty much gone now.

I too find inspiration on my own doorstep difficult to find sometimes. However, I'm lucky enough to have a place that is both fresh and familiar at the same time - it's the area where my parents live in France. I go there five or six times a year, and it's where I burn most film. I was there a month or so ago, in the middle of a snowfall, and took some of the best photographs I've taken in years. So, fortunately, if I'm ever feeling drained of inspiration, I've usually got a weekend in France to look forward to, when I know the juices will start flowing again.

I'm pleased to hear you're over your bump, Leon. What I was going to suggest was going to those same places that you're a bit fed up with photographing, but at night instead of during the day. You might find you view them in a completely different way. Also, you wouldn't have to be out suspiciously late as it still gets dark fairly early. Make the most of it before those bl**dy clocks go forward!

[FrankB]

- and I spent my 15 minute train ride to work from Brighton to Lewes this morning screaming inwardly as I was whisked past the snow that was covering the South Downs. It's pretty much gone now.

I'm glad it wasn't just me! (Actually, that came out wrong! I meant "I share your pain" or something similar but less transatlantic!  )

Newton-Le-Willows to Liverpool - Sunrise, magical light, heavy frost liming the branches and hedgerows, the ghost of a mist in the hollows of the fields...

...and I'm going to go sit behind a desk all smegging day!   

[Dave_M]

- and I spent my 15 minute train ride to work from Brighton to Lewes this morning screaming inwardly as I was whisked past the snow that was covering the South Downs. It's pretty much gone now.

I'm glad it wasn't just me! (Actually, that came out wrong! I meant "I share your pain" or something similar but less transatlantic!  )

Newton-Le-Willows to Liverpool - Sunrise, magical light, heavy frost liming the branches and hedgerows, the ghost of a mist in the hollows of the fields...

...and I'm going to go sit behind a desk all smegging day!   

The snow has been so bad up here that I've been off work since Wednesday. However I can't take the car anywhere so I'm limited to taking photographs within walking distance (with 2 small children I might add!). I think I'm getting "photographic cabin fever". Still managed a couple of rolls though 

[FrankB]

Okay, this is bad.

I haven't made an exposure or a print this year. A combination of mucho life-stuff + tiredness + lack of time has killed my motivation (and what little creativity I ever had) stone dead. 

Deperate times call for desperate measures. A new(ish) 55mm TLR lens nestles in my Lowepro. I have some Ilford Warmtone Dev on order along with some more 12x16 trays to ease the fibre workflow a bit.

I will go in the darkroom tonight. I will go in the darkroom tonight...

[LT]

that's it frank - you keep telling yourself, and you'll have no excuse after the dales in April ...

[FrankB]

Rather tired when I got in but managed a couple of hours and a couple of pretty fair work prints on plastic paper; enough to break my duck so I'm calling it a win! 

Cream crackered now, and so to bed...

Many thanks for the support, mate! If I hadn't committed to it on here I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have happened tonight.