How do you recharge your creativity?

[Steve Sherman]

I would second the vote for Art and Fear.

Forget the digital non sense unless that is the medium you left for Large Format.

Forget going in a direction which would demand a new learning curve such as digital, rather revert to the size or medium immediately prior to your present phase of photography. An area of photography that is second nature to your skill level.

Setting out to make new work within the context of a project is good advice, set a beginning and an end date and assign a number of images which will conclude your project.

Go shoot and don't edit until you are done shooting. See the project through to finished and mounted prints. If it's not fun then the work and your future in photography are in serious jeopardy.

If it is fun then the second project will pop into your head somewhere in the middle of the first project.

Cheers

[paulr]

I've had to deal with this a few times over the years, including right now. It would be easier if I hadn't lost the manual to my brain ...

My first approach is to do something else. Possible a whole different kind of photography project. If that's not enough, then a different creative pursuit altogehter.

Ten years ago I got blocked, so I ditched the camera and studied music. I wanted to be a jazz cat but never made it past the garage band stage. Still it was a fun break. i was hoping music theory would somehow inform my photography after that. It makes a good story but I can't say it happened.

Right now I'm taking a break and working on writing projects that I haven't even defined yet.

When I get back to photography, I think I'm going to leave 17 year of urban landscapes behind and do something completely different. Something I don't even know how to do yet. I seriously doubt it will involve a large format camera, but it will almost certainly involve some kind of text, and get me labelled as a pretentious, has-been poser by at least a few people i know around here

But whatever ... sometimes you have to let go of what you know to move forward. The old work won't stop existing.

[jim kitchen]

Folks,

All anyone must do, would be to take a few moments to review some of the fine images that populate this forum, and ask yourself a question or two about the author's technique, their inherent yet consistent style so completely visible in their image presentation, their subject matter, whether it happens to be a serene waterfall or flower by Ken Lee, a stoic well crafted contemplating portrait by many talented others, or a simple graffiti brick wall within New York City, complete with the image maker's endless imagination, quality techniques, and their image's simple composition.

I explore these images continuously because these images read like a book...

I would also like to suggest that you do not try to mimic these benefits, but explore the images that intrigue you deeply, by asking the authors the right and most obvious questions. There are too many gifted helpful image makers within this forum that distanced themselves from all the technical left brain issues, allowing themselves to explore where their right brain may take them, and where they may be able to lead you away from your momentary doldrums with a succinct answer. If your attempt fails with great misery, I would also like to suggest then, that you throw your dead, and totally incapacitated horse overboard, allowing you the opportunity to keep your wavering ship on course, and therefore allowing you to move steadily forward with purpose.

Just my two pennies...

jim k

[tgtaylor]

The last thing you want to do is buy more gear. What’s that going to do for you except make you poorer? And whatever you do, don’t “jump around” like some mindless monkey shooting things that you have no interest in. What’s that going to do for you? Change your mind about your personal vision? You want to be somebody else?

The best and probably the only was to rid yourself of what I call “the photographer’s blues” is to go out and shoot. Yeah, just head out the door with the camera with no preconceived idea of creating a “masterpiece” and shoot everything you come across that appeals to you. Again, don’t “Jump around, photograph from lots of different angles, use a slow shutter speed and swing the camera during the exposure, lie on your back, aim the camera and make some photographs without looking through the viewfinder…” That’s the last thing you want to do. Instead think. What is about that scene that catches your attention? Should I include this or that in the composition…? Maybe use a viewing card or lens finder to compose. You may not shoot “thousands” of photo’s but you will like what you do shoot. And that’s the point isn’t it?

A couple of weekends back I was faced with the same problem: Here it was a Saturday night and I’m bored, haven’t been out with the camera is a week or more, haven’t a clue what to shoot and, photograph speaking, already pissed away half of the weekend. What’s more, it’s August and the sky during the day is cobalt blue with harsh sun. Then it popped into my head that infrared film and hard sun go together and Mare Island Naval Base , now closed , is about an hour drive and would make an ideal subject for infrared film. Imagine those old military buildings and abandoned cranes under an infrared sky. So Sunday morning I left the house armed with my Pentax 67II kit and 4 rolls of Rollie IR and 1 roll of Tmax thinking I’m going to fire away like a machinegun. While driving I remembered a waterfront scene along the way that I had previously shot at night that should make a good infrared image so I stopped and spent some time finding the composition which appealed. Then there was a C&H Sugar plant close-by that I had also shot at night and spent some more time hiking around to find a composition that worked for me.

So it wasn’t until high noon that I pulled into Mare Island - perfect timing for infrared. At around 5:30pm I exposed the 10th frame on the first roll and called it quits for the day and drove back to the house where I immediately developed the roll in Xtol 1:3 for 14 minutes @ 68F. Yeah, I only shot one roll but that roll I am very pleased with. And that’s the point, isn’t it?

That's what recharges your batteries!

Thomas

[Pete Roody]

Simplify: One Format and One Lens
Join Other Photographers: The easiest way to get out of a rut is to shoot with other photographers. You take them to your best locations and they show you places you never shot. It also gives you someone to show your work to and just to bs with.

[Michael S]

This is an old problem, not unique to photography, and I think this malaise has affected everyone, including myself, who has worked in the creative arts. Last year a friend cajoled me into giving a one hour presentation to a group of young photographers on the topic of enlarging negatives in the darkroom for alternative photographic printing processes. Eventhough I was the one imparting information to them, they were completely overwhelming me with their energy and enthusiasm. It was absolutely infectious and I couldn't help but come away from that experience fully charged. I was reminded that I, too, had been so youthful and energized once, and I wondered where all of that enthusiasm had gone in my own work and my life. Now I know why successful photographers offer workshops, and it's not just for the money. A circuit is created and completed when one effectively mentors a person in the craft and both become the recipients of the energy which flows between them. If you take that step outside of yourself, you become more fully engaged with the universe.

[Brian Ellis]

I would second the vote for Art and Fear.

Forget the digital non sense unless that is the medium you left for Large Format.

Forget going in a direction which would demand a new learning curve such as digital, rather revert to the size or medium immediately prior to your present phase of photography. An area of photography that is second nature to your skill level.

Setting out to make new work within the context of a project is good advice, set a beginning and an end date and assign a number of images which will conclude your project.

Go shoot and don't edit until you are done shooting. See the project through to finished and mounted prints. If it's not fun then the work and your future in photography are in serious jeopardy.

If it is fun then the second project will pop into your head somewhere in the middle of the first project.

Cheers

Yeah, forget going in a new direction to get out of a rut. And by all means make sure you don't learn anything new. Just do what you've done before, that should work.

Using film to do what I suggested defeats the purpose. As long as film is used - even 35mm - you always have to think about how much of it you have at hand, how many more frames you have available, how much it cost, how much time, trouble, and expense it will be to process and print it, etc. The whole point of making the suggestion I did was to get away from those things, get away from the familiar, and make photographs.

[Brian Ellis]

The last thing you want to do is buy more gear. What’s that going to do for you except make you poorer? And whatever you do, don’t “jump around” like some mindless monkey shooting things that you have no interest in. What’s that going to do for you? Change your mind about your personal vision? You want to be somebody else?

The best and probably the only was to rid yourself of what I call “the photographer’s blues” is to go out and shoot. Yeah, just head out the door with the camera with no preconceived idea of creating a “masterpiece” and shoot everything you come across that appeals to you. Again, don’t “Jump around, photograph from lots of different angles, use a slow shutter speed and swing the camera during the exposure, lie on your back, aim the camera and make some photographs without looking through the viewfinder…” That’s the last thing you want to do. Instead think. What is about that scene that catches your attention? Should I include this or that in the composition…? Maybe use a viewing card or lens finder to compose. You may not shoot “thousands” of photo’s but you will like what you do shoot. And that’s the point isn’t it?

A couple of weekends back I was faced with the same problem: Here it was a Saturday night and I’m bored, haven’t been out with the camera is a week or more, haven’t a clue what to shoot and, photograph speaking, already pissed away half of the weekend. What’s more, it’s August and the sky during the day is cobalt blue with harsh sun. Then it popped into my head that infrared film and hard sun go together and Mare Island Naval Base , now closed , is about an hour drive and would make an ideal subject for infrared film. Imagine those old military buildings and abandoned cranes under an infrared sky. So Sunday morning I left the house armed with my Pentax 67II kit and 4 rolls of Rollie IR and 1 roll of Tmax thinking I’m going to fire away like a machinegun. While driving I remembered a waterfront scene along the way that I had previously shot at night that should make a good infrared image so I stopped and spent some time finding the composition which appealed. Then there was a C&H Sugar plant close-by that I had also shot at night and spent some more time hiking around to find a composition that worked for me.

So it wasn’t until high noon that I pulled into Mare Island - perfect timing for infrared. At around 5:30pm I exposed the 10th frame on the first roll and called it quits for the day and drove back to the house where I immediately developed the roll in Xtol 1:3 for 14 minutes @ 68F. Yeah, I only shot one roll but that roll I am very pleased with. And that’s the point, isn’t it?

That's what recharges your batteries!

Thomas

You misunderstood the suggestion or I didn't make it sufficiently clear. I didn't suggest just mindlessly clicking the shutter at whatever happened to be in front of the camera at the time. I thought it was obvious that anyone making a photograph would have some interest in the subject matter. My suggestion was to make the photograph in different ways than one has done before without worrying about the outcome.

It's great that making 10 infrared photographs and processing the film in xtol at 1:3 for 14 minutes at 68 degrees was all it took to recharge your batteries. Somehow I don't think that would do it for me but I wouldn't knock your suggestion if it worked for you.

[iml]

I find a new place to shoot, or a new project to force me to shoot. Or spend time printing older stuff in the darkroom, experimenting with different approaches. I don't always want to take new pictures, but I can usually get inspiration back by working on old things and working out how I can improve them. That generally gives me an impetus to shoot more.

[jnantz]

I pick up a Kodak Reflex Brownie and a roll of Efke 127 and go out and try to find the world I grew up in.

exactly ...
but i do it with a agfa sureshot ... or a delmar box camera