What to do if one's stuck?

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Xax

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Does anyone have an idea what one could do if stuck and don't know how to reach the next level?

Have you ever had the feeling that none of the shots you take are really good anymore? That your own work bores yourself and you'd somehow like to change by 180 degrees but dont know how? That lots of stuff that others do is so much better but just don't know how to achieve this?

Maybe admitting it to oneself and starting to write in first person is the first step? 🙂

How do you photograph? Do you do it right from the gut or do you think about every picture you take, think about the technical circumstances and the picture you'd really like to take? Would it help to completely let go and just take pictures of anything that "feels" right? Would it help to just see the results later? I've started photography with DSLRs and went to film Leicas, not that it really matters but somehow I feel that the rangefinder doesnt do it for me anymore... I don't know why but it feels "dull". I wait for the pictures but when I see them, I really dislike them.

So I've just read that photography is about the photography itself and not about the photographer nor the photo. I don't understand. Any opinions?

PS: Although photography is a hobby I am a cinematographer in my dayjob, maybe that's also dulling me down?

Someone here can help??

cheers, Xax
 
IMHO, you have to think about what it was that made photography fun for you in the first place. I remember when I was a small child, I had a 110 camera that just had a shutter. No manual controls or autofocus at all. I absolutely loved using that thing.

As I grew older and took some photography classes, I started getting buried under the weight of professors who were Ansel Adams-wannabes and online photography forums that obsessed over what a picture "should" be. I enjoyed the process less and less the more I got into the technical side of photography (particularly other people telling me what my picture should look like). That and my move to digital almost killed any love I had for photography. So, I stopped.

When I came back to photography last year, I bought a film camera and determined that I did not care one lick about what others thought of my pictures. I was only going to make pictures for ME. That and I fell in with some LOMO people who introduced me to that style of photography. These two things put me in a lot more relaxed state of mind when shooting and has made me infinitely happier.

In order to get unstuck, I think you really have to think long and hard about who you are and how it translates to the type of photography that you want to make. Stop thinking about what other people say your photography should be and just start thinking about what inspires you. If nothing is inspiring you in your life at the moment, feel free to take a break from photography. There's no dishonor in that.

Surely, you must have some vision of how you see the world that you'd like to share with other people. I think you just need to figure out what you have to say. I hope that helps.

Sorry for the long, drawn-out response.
 
When my working contract run out at the end of last year, I thought that I would have enough free time to take photos while searching for the next job. But my style was (is ?) taking photos on my way home from work with the occasional stop at a bar on the way home. So my dilemma was having enough free time but no more the "feeling" of relaxing from work while taking photos. The interest in taking photos got lost and I wasn't able to "see" anymore interesting scenes.

Since a few days I have moved to a new place, a new position and new town. Once settled down, I hopefully will start seeing again ... 🙂

I think a break for some weeks or month without thinking about photography is helpful to find something new and interesting.
 
Thanks for the responses, keep the long ones coming!

I guess the most important two things to let go from is the technical stuff and the whatothersthink stuff. My head just starts processing technical data as soon as I take the camera in front of my eye, any ideas how to stop that?
 
Xax said:
Thanks for the responses, keep the long ones coming!

I guess the most important two things to let go from is the technical stuff and the whatothersthink stuff. My head just starts processing technical data as soon as I take the camera in front of my eye, any ideas how to stop that?
Click to expand...

How about this for an exercise? Buy a cheap toy camera (~$5) or disposable that doesn't have any focus/shutter/aperture control and just go out and shoot whatever is inspiring you on that particular day. It might be a cheap way to break you out of your funk and you might get some interesting results!
 
I started wood turning a few years back - after some time gathering an array of tools and failing to make anything that I was proud of an older gentle man gave me some advice....

Throw away most of the tools, keep 3 and learn how to use them. Only when the tools are 2nd nature can you then become creative.
Im going through a similar process in photography now, Im getting rid of all my DSLR gear, keeping my 2 bessas and 3 lenses (all new to me). Hopfully the simplicity will force me to be creative again.

Gary H
 
"So I've just read that photography is about the photography itself and not about the photographer nor the photo."

Where did you read that? It can't be the only truth because photography is about what you think it is about. For me it is about storytelling. Photography is just a tool. I had the same problem of not knowing what i want to say or whom i want to address to. Then i have realized that i can only take pictures of what forces me to react (the gut approach). And the last thing i want to have is other photographers as my audience. They are too much concerned with how a picture looks.
Right now i'm more reading than taking pictures. Various literature, history books and probably the best source of theory of photography, americansuburbx.
 
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I've found that Flickr and photography books help. While you're not out to copy what others have done, the images can inspire you to go out and be a little more free-thinking with your pictures. I'm kind of in the same boat - I'm taking lots of boring pictures of flowers and the sky lately, but then I see a series of pics that make me want to go out and break from my comfort zone.

As an aside, Taschen - the great coffee table book people - have a 'scratch and dent' sale at their company stores this weekend. Check out the website to see if there's a store in your area. Could be a good way to pick up a few photo books at a nice price.
 
Thanks for the americansuburbx site, will try to devour that. The quote I read wasn't really the truth for me, it was just in a foreword of some book and I just didn't really get it.

I have so many photography books and keep buying them but it's almost as if they frustrate me the most. It's stuff I really like and it's stuff I'd want to be able to shoot, but fail to do so. And then I resort to looking up what equipment they are using and go down that route again, only to know deep down that it's wrong.
 
IMO, you may interested to try to add more limitation to your equipment (may be a very old camera which have nothing extras but a simple viewfinder), find the way to get the most out of that camera and use it all the time and walk more. This works for me.

cheers,

kitaanat
 
There's no recipe for making great photography. You wont find that in photography books. It's your thinking about the subject what makes your vision unique. Photograph only what's important to you. Here's what i did. It's not unique, but it's mine. It's sincere. Can you tell? 🙂
 
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I have had a couple of periods like this, so I can sympathise.

One thing that helped me was to completely change from "serious" cameras to "toy" cameras for a while. I used a Holga and various other cheap and cheerful things with lots of wierd & wonderful lens defects, but nothing in the way of automation or focussing aids. It gave me a new look at how photography actually works, what makes an acceptable or great image and it showed me that it's not the kit or even the film that makes the shot. It comes from seeing.

On another occaision, I sent out a personal email to some photographers that I admire (including one or two here), and asked them what they do when they are stuck - just like you have, but more privately. I found their ideas helped me to see some areas for development & exploration. I even decided on a long-term project for a B&W book covering a specific topic, but that's a couple of years away from even having the bare bones yet.

Do look at the world around you, and in your town, neighborhood, etc. What makes it tick, what's special, do you have something unique or especially interesting? If so go out and shoot it in lots of different ways and see if one style takes your eye. Look at the work of other photographers and find an approach you would like to try.

I think above all, don't worry about it. Take a break (and even a beer) and take the pressure off for a while. They say a change is as good as a rest, you never know.......
 
Xax said:
I guess the most important two things to let go from is the technical stuff and the whatothersthink stuff. My head just starts processing technical data as soon as I take the camera in front of my eye, any ideas how to stop that?
Click to expand...

Sure. 🙂

Take your most primitive camera and a wide angle prime lens -- no zoom. Choose a film or ISO setting so that 1/250 at an aperture of around 11 is correct. Turn off autofocus, if any, and set your lens to the hyperfocal distance[1].
Take a walk, preferably in town, and start taking pictures -- not caring about exposure or focus settings. You may even try some shots "from the hip", or better from the belly, wearing the camera hanging from the neck. Every ten minutes (or when the light changes dramatically) or so you may check whether the exposure is still correct. The point is NOT to do that while taking a picture.

Hope that helps. 🙂

[1] Explained here, e.g.: http://www.dofmaster.com/hyperfocal.html
 
Xax, I have some of those feelings - last week was particularly difficult. It's not enough to have friends and family love and use your images, when you personally expect more.

First, maybe your dissatisfaction is because part of you is already at that "next level". Perhaps your expectations are higher now, and your eye is becoming more critical of the images you see, including your own. If this is true, that's a good thing, be thankful!

I did a few things in the past week in response, and to hopefully move forward. From a technical side, I dusted some books off that were on the shelf, and acquired a few more relating to composition and visual design, especially for B&W. Also picked up a few on the other end of the spectrum - the philosophy of photography. Finally, pulled out a few published works from photographers I really enjoy for additional inspiration.

Started shooting film again after a bit of a break (the undeveloped rolls were piling up).

Set the digital rangefinder to B&W mode. Will review and edit in B&W as well, and just save the color raw files for archive purposes. Planning to work in monochrome for the next month or so and will re-evaluate after that - hope to develop a better eye for light, shadow, tone and composition. I like what others have said about constricting the toolset.

Changed style a bit, especially for street shooting. Watching for "the moment" more - expressions, context. Already got a couple shots in past week that show some promise.

Thinking about a few options for projects. Hope to pick one and create a mini galllery with a handful of images in my home. Maybe the showing will just be a dinner party with friends.

Got the printer set up after a long period of not being used. Will pick a few images and publish them for myself.

Started carrying a spot meter.

Looking at craigslist and the classifieds for darkroom equipment and for relatively low-cost medium format gear. Thought about picking up a couple Mamiya's such as my father shot with 35 years ago when I was a child, and spending a day shooting with him (he never really got back into shooting once that camera sank in the river, replacement would be relatively cheap these days).

Good luck and have fun!
 
Hi Xax,


As you said, talking about this is very important, and maybe half the work to get there... My opinion is that photography requires (we require in front of ourselves) a constant development in two complementary fields: technics and aesthetics... Sometimes we need more in any of both fields, but we should not forget how much we've already done... I feel both of them, technics and aesthetics are important always: no matter if you're doing very slow 8x10 tripod landscapes, or fast prefocused small camera/lens streetshooting, or MF digital sudio flash fashion sessions... There are technical problems we need to solve both in slow or fast or studio work... Some expected and some unexpected, but we need to know how to get through... In the same way, aesthetics are required, and serve any image no matter its nature... Any photographer doing great images, is there because he's already went through both things: great images don't come when you “just shoot carelessly”...


From this point of view there are two things that can be helpful: one is the exercise of shooting a series of images inspired on one specific image you admire... Then analize how close you got to that shot, make your results public, hear opinions, and start to separate the elements that gave that original shot its strength, in order to add strengths to yours little by little... Then, do the same series once again and check progress... The other way, is dreaming of an image, without any model by anyone... Dreaming of something you'd like to get... It can be fun and free, and doing it that way is sometimes necessary... I've found the first option gave me more while I was a student... For example, when you see a great portrait, it's not easy to know all the technical and aesthetical elements that compose it... But when you have experience enough to separate those elements in your mind, then there's a huge part of the road left: putting all that on film instead of ideas or words...


You talked about seeing others' work and liking their images... You could try to imitate some shots... Decide your goal... A precise one... Pick no more than one or two great images, and set those limits to yourself... In photography, imitation is not really imitation, because we need a different but real scene, so there's a lot of creation and personal work and efforts no matter if you imitate... Imitations in series were the most rewarding exercises for me when I cursed my career... The hardest ones too... And showing results to others is the real thing... It's interesting to show results to photographers and non-photographers too... Nothing's related to gear... Good luck!


Cheers,


Juan
 
I'd second that you might try to pick up one subject, stick to it and try ways how to express what you'd like to express about your particular subject. Try the David Hurn's book On being a photographer - there is one chapter about choosing your subject. It was very helpful to me.
 
If I was stuck, I'd print up (meaning in the darkroom a.k.a. spare bedroom) some older negatives, thinking around some theme or other. Maybe intended as a present for someone, or for up on the wall. In any event, thinking about stuff that was shot before and giving it a new look and purpose can help. Then again . . . pinhole. Big paper negs and contact prints - not to mention making the camera 🙂
 
A cinematographer, eh? Aren't you the guys who gave us the "short attention span theater"? Cutting from one scene to the next where the mind is barely able to register the image in 1/5 second before the next frame shows up?

Just kidding, but maybe there's a little profundity in with the silliness. Could be you're thinking in cinematic terms where there is continuity of action rather than a "decisive moment" to be critically examined by the viewer in detail and at leisure.

I also believe in limiting options to increase your creativity — you know — the old one lens, one camera routine. Try it. It works for many of us.
 
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