Recharging your Photographic Batteries
It’s way too easy, photographically speaking, to lose your way a little. I find it very easy to become stuck in a rut with my work and it’s clear from discussions with the others (and a wider photographic audience on the web) that plenty of other people feel the same way too. The important thing is to recognise the symptoms and to work to counter them to stop yourself from feeling stale.
Mark has already mentioned one great blog post from Chase Jarvis: Shake Your Tree. It’s something that I’ve referred to a couple of times myself… Whilst my video-making antics in Cornwall might have seemed like I was solely looking to ridicule Mark (as if I would!), another part of it was curiosity to see if I could adapt to a different medium other than stills photography. Another good project that I’ve only just remembered is Learning to Love You More, which features a wider range of 70 different assignments for you to attempt.
It’s said that familiarity breeds contempt. My own personal opinion is that the best way to avoid the contempt is to move away from your familiar comfort zone. You love landscape photography? Then book a model and try some portraiture. Find yourself fixated by your histogram? Then tape over your LCD display and shoot fully-manual for effect (Hell, you could even shoot some film!)…
Ultimately, photography is a creative art and unless you actively challenge the boundaries of that creativity, then you’ll become stuck doing the same-old every time. Push yourself harder, reap the rewards…
