Stuck in a creative funk [Archive] - Rangefinderforum.com

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EcoLeica

03-26-2007, 03:38

Hey everyone must have been through periods where they have hit the photography brick wall ( I have it bad at the moment) and just cant seem to find anything that inspires their creative juices and gets them truly excited about photography. So i thought it would be a good idea if people could share their various methods on how to get back into the creative saddle

ClaremontPhoto

03-26-2007, 03:54

I know what you mean exactly. Painters and poets and songwriters have it too.

Personally I look around at photo places online such as Vazaar (http://www.vazaar.com/) and get ideas there for themes that I can pick up and adapt.

Often I just go out with a camera looking for photos. Most times I come back without any photos. That's life.

Finally I go to an art event or museum and enjoy textiles, or ballet, or ceramics. And the next day I may make photos again.

DMG

03-26-2007, 03:58

peaks and troughs, I find that I just come out of it. Even when I'm not out photoing I've either got my face stuck in a photo book or trawling the web. Sometimes switching cameras helps if you've got that choice, for example this weekend I only shot MF.

rover

03-26-2007, 05:03

Good thread for the Photography General Interest Forum.

Oh, and the weather is turning. I don't know if I was in a creative funk, or just suffering for a want for more photo ops. I have gotten out a few time recently and I think things are turning for the well. Doing more shooting of the "ordinary" making the seemingly average to me a little different. Seems to have sparked me a bit.

gregg

03-26-2007, 05:17

I received the book "Photo Idea Index" by Jim Krause as a gift. It has some great idea starters that have helped inspire me in my own directions. Krause has published similar books on other design areas as well.

Biggles

03-26-2007, 05:20

lubitel

03-26-2007, 05:21

In such cases I pick up a completely different camera like Holga or Lubitel or half-frame-weird something and try to have fun again. Or I just take a little break from photography and try drawing.

FrankS

03-26-2007, 05:24

Go on a holiday or visit a new place for fresh visual stimulation.

charjohncarter

03-26-2007, 06:32

I get in the car and go some place where the shots are like fruit on a tree. For me Sierra Nevadas, Monterey, any CA mission, San Francisco, or go to the horse races. A change of scenery seems to do it.

Sparrow

03-26-2007, 06:45

I’ve had a thirty-some year career being creative for a living, as a 2D designer that is, I found that a big mortgage and children work really well

:D

ChrisPlatt

03-26-2007, 07:10

Don't look at others' great photos - it will only make you feel worse.

Take a trip somewhere *without* any photo gear, and just observe.
When you return, eventually you'll start thinking of all those great photos
you *should* have taken...

Chris

anselwannab

03-26-2007, 07:36

I do the Weekly Assignment (some weeks) over at Fred Miranda. It's Glass & Crystal this week, a new one will probably be posted on wed-thursday. I go off tangent a lot and end up with odd pics, like for "Insects" is came across two construction cranes that looked like Praying manits arms.

I'd go the opposite way of an exciting place to shoot. Take a mundane thing and shoot the crap out of it by expermimenting with all the photography variables. You might want to shoot digital to keep the cost down. Sometimes what gets my juices flowing is taking something and really delving into it. If you can find the beauty in a trashcan or a piece of litter, you can do anything.

Mark

Keith

03-26-2007, 07:46

Have a long hard look at the things around you that you can photograph ... if you feel that they are not worth photographing ... maybe you're in the wrong place? :)

Biggles

03-26-2007, 08:19

Have a long hard look at the things around you that you can photograph ... if you feel that they are not worth photographing ... maybe you're in the wrong place?

That's a bit extreme. Maybe it's simply a question of buying a new hat?

http://rangefinderforum.com/forums/image.php?u=5265&dateline=1174058296

(My favorite avatar on this board, after peter_n's and the various cat-manifestators.)

rover

03-26-2007, 08:31

That's a bit extreme. Maybe it's simply a question of buying a new hat?

http://rangefinderforum.com/forums/image.php?u=5265&dateline=1174058296

(My favorite avatar on this board, after peter_n's and the various cat-manifestators.)

Meow...

But actually I think Keith is on to something, because I bet if you look you will find something to shoot.

Saturday I took a walk around an old soap factory now turned into apartments. I was disappointed because I could see from the road a water wheel and bridge over the stream, but it is all fenced in and locked for the residence only. Worst was next door, the old Board of Education building. It is a nice old building, but defaced with a modern entry way and doors. Old class ruined for modern energy efficiency. Well, as I walked back away from the factory through the parking lot of the BOE building the sun was shining down through the grate floors and steps of the fire escape. The light and shadows against the brick building was wonderful, and I think I found some nice shots, of some place I would have just previously rather not been.

sepiareverb

03-26-2007, 10:57

Here is an assignment I give to every class I teach- simple, fast, and sure to make you look through the camera differently- 4 rolls of film in one room in 1 hour. The catch is the room- I have several great rooms on campus that I send folks to- my favorite is a small classroom, with a rectangle of desks all facing in. Windows along one whole wall, chalkboard on one side, strange closet door and angled wall at one end and a projector screen on the other end. A bunch of conduit around on every wall. So, pretty empty, but full of lines and rectangular shapes. This is an eye opener, because after you've made about 10 or 12 frames the 'easy' pictures are shot, and you have a lot of film left to shoot- so you start to just see designs in the most mundane things- usually some close-ups of details, then by the start of third roll the eye starts to open up a little, by the end of roll 3 you are usually really shooting complex stuff of nothing. The fourth roll slowly winds down, and the 'moment' passes. But the idea here is to get into that zone- that zen state of mind where you can just make images intuitively. Well worth 4 rolls of HP5 I say- and I try to do this once a year. I was given this assignment by a professor back in '83 and I redo it every time I hit that wall.

john neal

03-26-2007, 11:09

I have been there too - others have mentioned the Holga and changing formats - these worked for me (I went through a whole year using nothing but "toy" cameras. Pinholes saved me (a couple of years ago) from my second trough. Using a Barnack Leica got me out of my recent slough of despond.

While all of these worked for me, I think what they all brought with them was a fresh mental approach, so it was probably that that made the difference, not the piece of kit. What does this mean? Well, probably, that a change is as good as a rest (for me at least).

I hope you overcome your block and move on to great things.

dazedgonebye

03-26-2007, 11:23

I'll offer you the age-old cure for writer's block.

Write. Write anything.
Activity encourages activity. Soon, you will forget what you have forgotten, and the words will flow.

So, go burn a few rolls of film on whatever happens to be in front of you. Turn 90 degrees and repeat.

amateriat

03-26-2007, 11:30

I view the three artistic grams of my brain as a patch of arable land. If all I do is grow photographs in it, it gets exhausted. I need to plant noises and tastes and smells and textures in it as well, and I need to let them dry up and get plowed under. This strengthens the next crop. So, if (when) the urge to go out and make pictures lags, I don't force it. I just pursue other interests, like going to art exhibits and looking for photography books I've been meaning to read or buy, and/or things totally outside photography like canoeing and hiking and barbequeing and pistol-shooting. Music.

Sometimes, I can be away from photography for years. But it's not like I have a quota to fill. What you said.

I also find getting together with a colleague-in-arms, sometimes to look over each other's work, but mostly to just hang and rap about whatever, as potentially inspiring.

These days, somehow, my problem is that I have ideas bursting to get out, yet I'm frequesntly hamtrung by timing/scheduling to pursue many of them. Better that way than the reverse, I suppose.

- Barrett

mw_uio

03-26-2007, 11:42

I would listen to Jim Morrison, The Doors, Peace Frog! Dance around the room and smile and laugh!! :D When you are going out to photograph, only photograph a specific color, like RED or something like that, or just practise your boken shots. Bring a your best friend with you.

Cheers
MArk
Quito, EC

Keith

03-26-2007, 16:00

What I find a bit frustrating is gazing at the world constantly through the set of rangefinder framelines that seem to have implanted themselves in my brain ... especially when I see something that I feel would make a great shot and realise I don't have a camera with me! I like the idea of the 'Borg' implant method where the camera would be part of me.

One of the things that has always amazed me is how much more impact the still image has over all the alternatives ... it plants itself in your consciousness like no moving image can. I think that when you have the ability to freeze any particular moment in life, whether it be artistic or merely a record of an event, you are in touch with something special and no photograph lacks merit! :)

John Camp

03-26-2007, 18:18

Most people, whether they admit or not, find themselves to be the most compelling subject they can find. Some people speak of almost nothing *but* themselves. So get a mirror or two -- you may find yourself fascinated by the resulting shots.

JC

40oz

03-26-2007, 19:07

I either just leave my cameras at home for a month until I can't stand letting certain scenes go uncaptured, or forget about creativity and just try my hand at something I haven't tried - architectural, portrait, whatever. I just try to mimic shots I've seen in the past. Find a willing model and pose them in a similar manner, or find a building that faces west and wait for sunset. I guess I am working on technical facets rather than trying to wow anyone with my amazing talent and sensibilities.

EcoLeica

03-27-2007, 03:04

Lots of good ideas have been put forward and no doubt i will have a go at most of them if the need comes up again no doubt it will (it also gives me a excuse to buy a holga). By the way we should form a support group for rangefinder buffs that experience this ongoing problem.....my names Steve and I have no inspiration haha

As for my current block i think ive cured it
hope you like

Keith

03-27-2007, 03:05

ClaremontPhoto

03-27-2007, 03:27

Read a book, 'Art & Fear' and understand what we all go through. Amazon will have it, and it's a cheap book that addresses this situation.

varjag

03-27-2007, 03:37

How about this.

Look through all the photos you took thus far, and try to find out what the photos you like have in common. It may take a while to recognize, but usually there'll be some common technique, type of lighting or subject matter.

That is your current style. Once you know what it is, you can either work to improve it consciously or alter it.