Breaking out of a slump - do something or just wait it out?

[Steveh]

Hi all - I'd like to get some tips from those of you who have been through slumps in your photography and come out the other side (or not 😱) on how you dealt with it.

I always blow a bit hot and cold with my photography but a couple of months ago it was as if somebody just clicked a switch and I seemed to lose all interest almost overnight. I stopped looking at photography websites, haven't picked up any of my cameras, just nothing there. I can't really put my finger on why though - some of it may be the awful weather we've had in the UK for the last few months and getting into another interest that has been taking up a lot of my free time, but all my photography "mojo" just seems to have vanished.

So two questions:

- has anyone got any useful tips to break the slump?

- should I even try?

The second one is the bigger one for me - there's no particular reason I "have" to take photos, so do I just have a complete break and let things follow their course? I have a holiday in Morocco at the end of May and a three day photography workshop in London booked for mid-June so I'm hoping they will shake things up, but they don't, then what? Just let photography go and wait for it to come back to me, or do something to force it?

Part of my problem I think is knowing that the only way I can really take my photography to the next level is giving it more time and attention than I currently have to give it - I've started work on a couple of projects but I have a demanding job and a long commute that take up most of my time during the week, and at weekends my family want their share of my time so if I manage to grab three hours on a Sunday morning I'm doing well. Realistically I may not really have time to really get stuck into photography until I retire, which is a good decade away, and that can make it hard to find the immediate motivation.

Help and thoughts appreciated! BTW I don't think "try using a different camera" is the answer - I have a pile of cameras of all kinds, film and digital, but no interest in picking up any of them.

Selling them all has crossed my mind, as a "cold turkey" solution - has anyone ever done that?

 

[daveleo]

This will sound like a joke, but it's not.
I am in a slump most of the time, and have learned to stop worrying about it.
I take pictures all the time of what's going on in my life, but we aren't talking
about that (I don't think?).
Unless you are a gifted artist, you can't expect to be inspired all the time.
Have fun puttering with pictures until that next bolt of inspiration strikes you.

Also, I read picture books and magazines to sort of cultivate my own visions
(if they ever appear).

 

[johannielscom]

Hi,

Think I can relate. Recently sold off most of the camera gear except for a few camera's I really love and want to hang on to. Just phase one of cleaning up my mind on what it's all about, all distractions went out the door.
This didn't bring the desired change about, I'm still ambivalent on my work and even photography in general.

One cause of this might be my earlyfourties re-valuation of what's important in life, seems many more men have that issue around that age 😉, another might be the fact that I've finally set out to write on a story that has been gnawing at the back of my mind for several years now (while I've had the ambition to write for as long as I can remember), and apparently I can only spend so much creative energy before it depletes.

I've decided not to force the matter. All day long I see shots, and I still practise my skills to frame, compose and read light without having a camera at hand all the time, so I'm still a photographer!

 

[Richard G]

You could just have a break. One of the other very good photographers here has done this recently, perhaps also on account of the winter. If once a year you take a picture like that one of London Bridge, you're doing OK. Re-read something classic like War and Peace. The first appearance of Natasha makes me think of light and reflections and smiles and postures and would have me back with a camera. Or listen to music. Satchmo or Strauss (R). And failing that, Morocco in May. I have a very demanding job also, and the creativity can be suppressed in you. I go out for a walk at lunchtime and take some photographs, but I haven't taken anything good at lunchtime for a while now. Don't sell your stuff. Just wait. They say poets should not give up their day job, and not just for the money it brings.

 

[PaulW128]

Steve;

I could've copied and pasted your post and presented it as my own. I'm in the same slump as you, also have a busy job with a 2hr each way commute. I'm on RFF all the time, read posts, get inspired, feel the creative spark start to brighten, then it dies until the next one. Keep thinking that a new camera will help make me break out, but I know better

I'll be reading responses to this post to see what others say

Thanks for posting
Paul

 

[JoeV]

I find either shooting a digital, or alternatively Harman DPP in a view camera or pinhole box camera to be great therapy for the photographic slump. Which serves as a reminder, today is WPPD (hint, hint!).

~Joe

 

[MartinP]

I'd suggest going in to London to the Natural History Museum, and looking at the Salgado exhibition. Give yourself at least six hours.

 

[Sarcophilus Harrisii]

I sympathize with your situation and although you will probably get some great advice from members, you may not get an answer, because what helped the next fellow may not help you. Sometimes the flame dims, sometimes it dies out.

I know in years gone by I immersed myself in motorcycles & riding same. For over twenty years riding, buying, maintaining, & enjoying same devoured a big part of my leisure time. After a half a million kilometres or so on over forty bikes in all sorts of weather and a couple of nasty stacks (early on) injuries & aging meant that, eventually, I'd simply had enough. My last remaining bike, a much-loved Moto Guzzi 850, morphed into a Tele Rolleiflex, (amongst other things), but not without a little regret.

After bikes, a certain eccentric French car marque (perhaps the most eccentric) consumed my spare time & energy for the best part of eight years. I taught myself to maintain & repair their unique systems, and very successfully at that. I acquired an example of one of the marques ultimate models & drove it daily for years. But eventually, having mastered most aspects of their mechanicals, & with two young children deserving my time, it got to a point that spending weekends underneath a car was no longer fun.

And so for the last few years photography has been the main interest & I have slowly improved, I've got what I think is a solid handle on theory & technique &, through a combination of timely purchases, dogged determination to succeed in fixing examples I couldn't afford to buy in perfect condition, making a few sacrifices, & a bit of luck, I've also amassed some very nice kit which I both adore for what it is, & love using to (sometimes) good effect.

But the crux is: I know from prior experience that I have a tendency to immerse myself so fully in whatever it is I've become obsessed with, that I end up burning myself out. It becomes an all-consuming passion.

I really don't want this to be the case with my photography because, for the first time in my life, my interest involves something creative. And unlike (for most people) riding motorcycles, or bending over bonnets & getting under cars, photography is something I'll have a fighting chance of being able to do into my dotage. And it's an activity I never have to stop learning about for the rest of my life.

So for what it's worth, if you're not enjoying it, I wouldn't try to "force" yourself to make images. Some will disagree, but I'm not sure you can. I think that it either is, or it is not, and if it is not, you cannot make it so by "trying harder" or "forcing" yourself. (I say this in the context of making images for yourself, as distinct from Eg. Supplying images a client has requested from you to their criteria.) Besides, by taking yourself to task and persevering with something you don't presently feel any inclination for, you're likely on a shortcut to making it into chore you could end up hating.

I'd do what you plan to. Take that workshop. Go on your overseas trip. See what happens. It's your call, of course, but personally, I'd never, ever contemplate quitting all my kit. Unless you are completely & utterly certain that you never, ever, want to pick up a camera again, at the bare minimum: review your portfolio, cull it down to your best ten (or fifty, or whatever) images, and ascertain which camera/lens you took most of them with. Keep that kit. Ten years isn't such a long time in the scheme of things & when it arrives it will seem but the blink of an eye.

Of course, if any of the equipment involved constitutes a Rollei Wide, or a Master Technika, you should discard all aforementioned suggestions & forward these to me for safekeeping.

Sorry for the long response. Hope it helps. 😉
Brett

 

[mdarnton]

I go on binges, a couple of years on, a couple off. The thing I hope I have learned from the last time is don't sell the Leicas (I've done this three times, and each time getting back on has hurt a LOT more).

Otherwise, I don't worry about it anymore. There was a time that I defined myself as a photographer, but I don't do that now, which took the pressure off. If you don't have anything to say, don't talk (and don't worry about it), I guess would be the best rule in photography.

 

[anjoca76]

I find that when this happens to me, it has more to do with being bored with my surroundings than anything else. I'll look around my neighborhood and the routes I normally take each day and realize I've photographed everything a million times. What usually snaps me out of this is travel. Even just a day trip out of town--or heck, even a few hours in a part of the city I rarely visit.

Or sometimes I'll decide to start a little project, like shooting a whole roll of portraits, or whatever.

Working with a new film is fun too. For example, I've been playing around with Fuji 400H lately, trying to get that overexposed pastel look I see examples of online. Because using that film like that means going for a very specific look, it allows me to worry less about the subject than it does the exposure and lighting.

I tend to believe that writer's block has less to do with photography (or writing, or drawing, etc.) than it does a more general malaise about other things in one's life. Try to find something that excites you--and bring along your camera, just in case!

 

[MartinP]

Oooops, I forgot to mention that another very useful idea would be to come to Prague next month for the RFF Euromeet. See the thread in the travel forum.

 

[Murchu]

Am still in the middle of a pretty big slump that has lasted about a year. I know what triggered it, but that does not help. Still though, things are coming back to me, albeit slowly, and in fresh ways.

Lulls are part of the creative process, but if seriously stuck, stronger measures may be called for. You can't force the creative juices in my experience, but you can coerce them. For me, going back towards the roots of what I like, helps, and its not long before I start feeling creative again and keen to experiment in new or fresh ways.

Acknowledging creative growth is a cycle is always a good place to start, I find, and refining your passion, letting the deadwood fall away, and letting new influences and inspiration in, are valuable parts of that cycle. Also sometimes I find, you need to take a step back from creating, and just be a consumer for a while, as whatever you do, always feeds into your creative bank.

 

[Keith]

I was going to shoot a lot of film this year and currently have well over a thousand feet of 135 and plenty of 120 waiting on standby ... but I'm also in a bit of a slump and have been since Xmas.

I still take the odd photo (digital) but my heart's not really in it at the moment ... what to do?

Good question ... good post!

 

[Steveh]

If you don't have anything to say, don't talk (and don't worry about it), I guess would be the best rule in photography.

Thanks to everyone for the feedback so far. Mdarnton - your quote above sort of sums up where I am with this - and much more briefly than my original post 😛

I'm just not sure I have anything much to say at the moment. I can produce technically competent, well composed pictures most of the time, I have a pretty good eye, I get my pictures mentioned in the RFF pics of the week thread quite often (does it get any better than that 😀?), but it's not as if the world is going to stop spinning if i never pick up a camera again. Do I have anything to share with the world so significant that the world will be a worse place, or me a less fulfilled person, without me sharing it? I very much doubt it.

Johan/Buzzardkid yes, I'm that age as well, and I think I have a similar issue about not being able to focus on more than one thing at any time beyond work and family - perhaps I've just run out of bandwidth. I think there's also that element of realising that, at my kind of age and with three kids and a mortgage I'm not suddenly going to give it all up and become a travel photographer. Part of growing older is accepting that your range of choices diminishes and you've probably shut some doors.

Brett, just did what you suggested in going over some of my favourite recent shots and the results are illuminating actually:

Shot 1 - the one Richard was referring to - taken right next to my office with my RX100, largely happenstance in the weather but (I guess) some skill in pulling all together:

Shot 2 - got up from my computer table after a long night at the PC and a couple of large whisikies (= creativity unlocked?), suddenly saw this, RX100 again:

Shot 3 - HTC one mobile phone, just playing around on the way between meetings, saw the guy with the long coats and reacted instinctively:

Shot 4 - my daughter in a hothouse, saw the shot and made her stop while I clicked, rest of the family shouting at me to get a move on. X-Pro 1:

Shot 5: taking the kids to London at school half term, bored kids telling me to get a move on (do you see a theme here!), saw this and worked the subject for a couple of minutes until I got the shot that worked. RX100 again:

So of five photos on RFF that are most "me" (and incidentally the most popular in terms of comments etc.), NONE of them were taken on an actual photo trip, they were all things that popped up when I was busy living my life. And three were taken with a point and shoot and one with a camera phone.

Have been pondering as I write the above para and I think there's an answer floating around somewhere if I can just grab it 😉.

 

[Murchu]

Part of my problem I think is knowing that the only way I can really take my photography to the next level is giving it more time and attention than I currently have to give it - I've started work on a couple of projects but I have a demanding job and a long commute that take up most of my time during the week, and at weekends my family want their share of my time so if I manage to grab three hours on a Sunday morning I'm doing well. Realistically I may not really have time to really get stuck into photography until I retire, which is a good decade away, and that can make it hard to find the immediate motivation.

If you can't incorporate your photography into your life, perhaps try incorporate your life into your photography. Its nice to think of photography as some isolationist pursuit that needs hours dedicated to it, but for most of us thats not realistic. Instead why not turn your camera on your commute/ your family life/ etc. I find photographers like Josef Koudelka particularly inspirational in this regard (photographing the non-exotic), as well as being reminded of passing through SFO many years ago, and seeing a whole wall of wood block work, made my an artist over many years, during his hour long commutes to work every day. Lemons and lemonade, and all that.. 🙂

 

[Steveh]

I wasn't meaning to spam the thread with images but doing that exercise really helped focus my thinking straight away so I thought illustrations would be instructive . And it is my thread!

And if we're really going to get into the psychology of this, I have a whole drawer full of expensive high end camera equipment that I mainly own because I bought it as displacement activity - because sitting at your office desk clicking the buy button is less time-consuming than actually going out and making images you can be proud of. I suspect I'm not the only person here who can relate to that either......

 

[Steveh]

If you can't incorporate your photography into your life, perhaps try incorporate your life into your photography. Its nice to think of photography as some isolationist pursuit that needs hours dedicated to it, but for most of us thats not realistic. Instead why not turn your camera on your commute/ your family life/ etc. I find photographers like Josef Koudelka particularly inspirational in this regard (photographing the non-exotic), as well as being reminded of passing through SFO many years ago, and seeing a whole wall of wood block work, made my an artist over many years, during his hour long commutes to work every day. Lemons and lemonade, and all that.. 🙂

Thanks Murchu - that seems to be the lesson that's staring me in the face! And actually, focusing on the fact that I have a licence to do that rather than having to define myself as a photographer and go off on photo trips with a bag full of gear is very liberating. The fact that the objective evidence also seems to suggest that that's when I produce my best work is a bonus 😀.

Score one to the RFF hive mind - but I'd still love to hear other peoples' (non gear based) views and opinions on this as I'm sure it's something we've all faced.

 

[Exdsc]

Start working in color.

 

[Steveh]

Start working in color.

😀😀😀

I hadn't even noticed that common theme.

I don't consciously not work in colour, my favourite shots just always seem to end up in black and white. Very fair point though!

 

[johannielscom]

Turning things around certainly helped, Murchu and Steveh.

At first I tried to get all daily debris out of my head and write, but stuff kept creeping up on me and by the time I had handled it all and sat down, my head was crammed.

Now, I try to go to bed early and get up early, so the day hasn't started yet and writing is easier.

I can imagine something like that would work for photography as well, but haven't tried since my focus is on writing more now. Just a thought.