Posts
One of the hardest things for me to accomplish as a photographer is to stay inspired to shoot photographs. The first question one might ask is “if it’s hard to stay inspired maybe I shouldn’t do it?” Unfortunately as human beings we seem to adapt to this attitude in almost anything we do. It doesn’t matter what the situation before us…eventually we become bored, or less than enthusiastic, and it gets harder and harder to remain inspired.
A recent article by Alain Briot has put forth a few ways to try to let inspiration enter our consciousness. One is by putting ourselves in a location where inspiration comes naturally…i.e. the Grand Canyon (come on now…haven’t you ever said to yourself “I could take photographs like that if I lived there!”) Places seem to me to have a ‘spirit’, and many times if we are open to that spirit we can let the location inspire us to a new level of vision and creativeness.
Certain people seem to be able to inspire, just by their very nature. Have you noticed how people behave when a young child (or better yet newborn baby!) is brought into the room? The whole room turns attention to the newcomer, and inspiration once again can flow from such a situation.
How about a new piece of gear? My photographer friend Bea recently got me interested in pinhole photography. Nothing like a new idea or new piece of equipment to make me get off my rear and become inspired! (See my first pinhole photo above...)
How about music? It’s really very difficult to listen to certain types of music without becoming inspired. If you doubt this, take a young child and turn on music with a good sound and beat….before long you’ll see a response in the form of movement or voice! The ‘Mozart Effect’ has been pretty well established by scientific studies…and can be put to good use in this situation.
Finally….how about just giving yourself the time and space to become inspired? How often in this day and age do we stop long enough to hear those kinds of voices? No telling what comes our way each day that could have been most inspiring…yet gets lost in the everyday splatter of our lives.
We are all capable of amazing things, and by putting ourselves in a position to let inspiration enter our consciousness we can much better reach toward our real potential. That's the 'gas' that keeps the motor running! It's not as much a luxury as a necessity if we want to remain involved and be creative to the point of moving forward. Happy shooting!
A recent article by Alain Briot has put forth a few ways to try to let inspiration enter our consciousness. One is by putting ourselves in a location where inspiration comes naturally…i.e. the Grand Canyon (come on now…haven’t you ever said to yourself “I could take photographs like that if I lived there!”) Places seem to me to have a ‘spirit’, and many times if we are open to that spirit we can let the location inspire us to a new level of vision and creativeness.
Certain people seem to be able to inspire, just by their very nature. Have you noticed how people behave when a young child (or better yet newborn baby!) is brought into the room? The whole room turns attention to the newcomer, and inspiration once again can flow from such a situation.
How about a new piece of gear? My photographer friend Bea recently got me interested in pinhole photography. Nothing like a new idea or new piece of equipment to make me get off my rear and become inspired! (See my first pinhole photo above...)
How about music? It’s really very difficult to listen to certain types of music without becoming inspired. If you doubt this, take a young child and turn on music with a good sound and beat….before long you’ll see a response in the form of movement or voice! The ‘Mozart Effect’ has been pretty well established by scientific studies…and can be put to good use in this situation.
Finally….how about just giving yourself the time and space to become inspired? How often in this day and age do we stop long enough to hear those kinds of voices? No telling what comes our way each day that could have been most inspiring…yet gets lost in the everyday splatter of our lives.
We are all capable of amazing things, and by putting ourselves in a position to let inspiration enter our consciousness we can much better reach toward our real potential. That's the 'gas' that keeps the motor running! It's not as much a luxury as a necessity if we want to remain involved and be creative to the point of moving forward. Happy shooting!
