How do you get out of a rut?

[Ducky]

You should be cheered up by now so I won't offer any advice, although the hedonistic pleasures sounds pretty good to me.

 

[Dave Wilkinson]

My solution was simple - but may not have general appeal!, after my heart attack ( in March ) I found myself sitting around the house a lot during recovery time, so I bought a banjo and started making a hell of a noise as I taught myself endless chords!. Well....now I can't put the damn thing down! but you ought to hear me play 'ragtime' - while the negatives are scanning!😀
Dave.

 

[Zero Nakajima]

My wife limits my 20 month old son's TV time, and he is very unhappy. He wants to watch all the time.

I personally don't see anything wrong with it. Well, maybe I do.

When I was a kid, they had wonderful, intelligence enhancing shows like "You Bet Your Life" with Groucho, "The Little Rascals", with Spanky and Buckwheat, "The Three Stooges", with Moe, and all sorts of other stuff. "The Twilight Zone" was the finest TV ever made. "Star Trek", "Combat" with Vic Morrow (while he still retained his head), "The Rat Patrol", Max Fleischer cartoons, Betty Boop, early Disney, CAPTAIN KANGAROO, SOUPY SALES, WONDERAMA, HOWDY DOODY.....THAT was TV.

Now my little brat watches horrible factory produced garbage cartoons, the odious "Sesame Street", and other pure, unadulerated garbage produced by nimrods and morons. It IS bad for him.

And dont' get me started on video games. Utter dreck.

I have an old round-tube black and white TV. I hid a VCR inside and I play old shows from the 50's on it when people come over. I have a big rabbit ears antenna on it.

"This TV only receives old shows" I tell them. Most of them believe it, don't question it.

Obviously, they were "Sesame Street" watchers.

 

[FrankS]

20 months? Wow, I can remember when he was just born. Time flies.

 

[flip]

I have recently tried to force myself to embrace styles that I'd not tried before. It's hard for me. But I am sure it will open-up new opportunities and avenues of interest.

 

[Roger Hicks]

I finally have to admit it.
I'm stuck in a photographic rut.
There is no inspiration.
Work is hell and my love life is dead.

How would you get out of rut like this?

Dear Pierre-Christian,

Depressing how it all happens at once, isn't it?

I always found the job the easiest bit to change. Until I went freelance.

Love has generally come when I least expected it. On our first date, my wife and I spent a lot of the time explaining to each other why we didn't want to get married again. We both had good reasons (and ex-spouses). We've been married since 1982.

Since then, I reckon I've known four or five people I might have been serious about if I weren't so happily married. A French schoolteacher. A friend's widow. A Tibetan civil servant. An old friend, also widowed in her 30s. I'd probably have noticed more, if I'd been looking.

If changing the job isn't an option, there are two photographic possibilities. One is to leave it for a while, until the inspiration comes back. It always has, for me. The other is to throw yourself into it, take lots of pictures. Force yourself to use a particular (perhaps unfamiliar) camera or lens, or to shoot only close-ups. Never worked for me, but it does for some people.

With the 'leave it for a while' approach, try doing some of the things you've been meaning to do, but haven't got around to. Fixing things that are broken. Trying to make things. Indeed, travel. Have you ever been to Paris? Eat five nights in a row in Chartier's. I'd be surprised if, after a few days, you hadn't met some interesting people. Not necessarily a mate for life but maybe someone through whom you will meet said m.f.l. Actually I met mine through a chain of circumstances which began with joining Mensa at 16; leaving in my early 20s; meeting a French Mensa member in Cambridge before I left; staying with him and his new wife in Los Angeles in 1981... Be open to the sheer aleatoriness of life.

Stop chasing material things. Time spent working to buy possessions, and time spent maintaining them, is time spent not enjoying them. Or anything else.

Be aware of when you are happy. Yesterday I was riding a moped along an un-tarred (but Macadamized) road through sunflower fields. Most had lost their petals and were ready for harvest but there were still a few that were radiant. I thought, "Why can't it always be like this?" And then I thought, "It can. It's just that it's hard to let it be like this."

Sorry if this sounds Pollyanna-ish. It isn't really. I have always suffered from depression: the current term is bipolar. Three very good friends (including one of the ones I might have married) are on lithium, and I count my blessings that I can stay off that stuff.

Finally, remember the old Hindu saying: "With the cessation of desire, all things become possible." Or the Buddha's refinement of that:

(1) Life involves unsatisfactoriness (The Noble Truth of Suffering)
(2) The cause of suffering is longing for what we don't have (The Noble Truth of the Cause of Suffering)
(3) If we can stop longing for things (desire) we can stop or reduce suffering (The Noble Truth of the Cessation of the Causes of Suffering)

The Means of the Cessation of the Causes of Suffering is the Fourth Noble Truth but it starts getting a bit technical and Brahminical at this point, so I wouldn't bother to go any deeper unless you really want to.

Tashi Delek (which is a Tibetan greeting meaning 'May it be auspicious')

Amitiés,

R.

 

[larmarv916]

Well it sounds more like "mid life crisis"..but who knows. But for starters, life could always be worse. So next..and I do not know you so, I could be way off the mark, but here goes. In a creative path there is always places in time where you come to a desert. you can either cross it and experience that event or choose to turn in the direction that offers you a source of interest.

So..yes go back to just looking at the world. If you are forcing yourself to shoot images...as why? Next maybe put together a creative support group, in your area..a sort of gallery of critics night..add a glass of wine and now you have a therapy group of sorts? Everyone has this issue and it's a cycle.

Next is try a different creative medium. Like drawing or music..just something you have some background or need to try. You will be in a different circle of people and they may or may not have any connection to photography.

I saw a comment from another RFF member..the gallery is a sharing and is a support group of sorts. There is no contest underlying the RFF concept. Not that I know of...or see. Also photography is difficult like any art process. Because it is so personal in it's process and public in it's need to acceptance, on some level. Talking about your work always helps..even to people who are not actually into photography.

So good luck and just follow your instincts All the Best...Laurance

 

[Zero Nakajima]

He always speaks very highly of you, too.

20 months? Wow, I can remember when he was just born. Time flies.

 

[Zero Nakajima]

Sorry if this sounds Pollyanna-ish. It isn't really. I have always suffered from depression: the current term is bipolar. Three very good friends (including one of the ones I might have married) are on lithium, and I count my blessings that I can stay off that stuff.

You were pretty rough on them, eh?

 

[David R Munson]

My initial serious advice:

• Take a step back from the camera temporarily. Don't stop taking photos, necessarily, but distance yourself from the process short-term, just enough to let yourself decompress, as it were. Forgive any misgivings you might have with yourself about shooting or not shooting or the perceived quality of what your images end up being. Harbor no inward resentment or frustration. Let it all go. Every bit you hold onto will keep you anchored in the rut that much longer.
• Write. Get a journal/notebook/whatever and just start writing. While Julia Cameron has made a more structured activity of this in her book "The Artist's Way," my advice is more of a raw just write. Start writing. It will be difficult. Keep writing. It will suck. You won't want to continue. Do it anyway. Start writing, keep writing, and keep it up until you start to work through the big mass of crap that's built up and is clogging your mind. I have come to think of the mind as a whole as being like a stretch of shore on the ocean. On the sand is the conscious mind. In the deep is the subconscious. Where the waves break and wash ashore is the active edge of perception. We wind up with a lot of useless stuff washed up on our mental shore, and writing serves as a rake to clear the detritus from our sand. The clearer the beach, the more at peace we are, and the better prepared we are for when the subconscious sends something important rolling in on a wave.
• FEED YOUR MIND. Feed it with anything and everything you can find that stimulates you. Find art that makes you feel something. Take in as much of it as you can. Listen to music that touches you. Listen to as much of it as you can. Watch films, go to museums, take trips, read books, go to concerts, listen to music, etc. If something activates any part of your mind that makes you perk up and be interested in something beautiful, follow it. Do not ignore it. Most of us expect our creativity to maintain itself, when in fact it needs a steady diet of good fuel. Feed your mind and it will respond.

My less-serious but still (to me, anyway) useful suggestions:

• Have a beer. Have three.
• Watch your favorite funny movies.
• Go out for a really, really good meal.
• Do something awesome you wouldn't normally do.
• Next day you have off, allow yourself to have it truly OFF. Do only what you actually want to do, even if that consists of absolutely nothing at all. Do not allow yourself to feel guilty for this in any way.

Suggested reading:

• The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron
• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig (his discussion of "gumption traps" may be especially useful, and it was a life-changing book for me and many others)
• The Un-TV and the 10mph Car by Bernard McGrane

 

[Zero Nakajima]

If you need a good book, try this:

"You Can't Win", by Jack Black. Recommended by William Burroughs.

http://www.amazon.com/You-Cant-Win-Jack-Black/dp/9562915093

 

[FrankS]

He always speaks very highly of you, too.

I'm sure he'll be attending a gifted class soon.

Cute little guy. Bi-racial children (like ours) often are.

 

[larmarv916]

I can offer one other small bit of perspective. An art teacher once told me that the reason we sketch is not so much to develop an idea but rather to rid our minds of the ideas that block our path to a subconscious goal. So that is to say, if you just shoot a roll, put it on "ice" for 2 weeks. shoot anything that just pops in to mind...it is like sketching. Soon you will have forgotten why your shooting..but rather just observing and hunting for things of interest.

Stepping out of effort of forcing your expectations through the camera.

Children scribble until they have a need to draw. After which they do not scribble. While they may not be happy about the creative process they gain more appreciation for their own work and others.

Good Luck....Laurance

 

[Clive Cretney]

Dear Peirre-Christian,

This happened to me a few years back and I finally decided to turn back in time for inspiration. Photography has many masters who have been before us and I'm sure many had bad days but were too busy shooting to think about it. Try not to think about it.
For myself, I looked at some work from other photographers and started to explore the why's more than the how's. One thing led to another and more ideas ignited the passion. This opened up many questions regarding originality for sure but after many discussions with friends I decided to move past it . Amateurs copy, professionals steal. The are no original ideas. My work has yet to be original even after 30 years of shooting. It can't be, unless I wish to lock myself away for the rest of my life. As humans we feed off other work, take it and change or adapt it to what we want into something that speaks for our own message.
If the passion is there, it'll come back after a dormant time.
If all else fails, go for a walk without a camera...

Cheers Clive

 

[Dralowid]

Instructions for extrication of self from photography relevant rut

1 Sell all gear
2 After appropriate space (3 months good) buy small cheap P&S camera in supermakret preferably of entirely unkown and uncreditworthy brand
3 Take said item everywhere and use only when close in to live subject matter
4 Print all photographs (not on home computer)
5 Stick YOUR favourites on fridge door
6 Receive admiration and praise from rest of family unit for innate creativity
7 Respond cautiously when wife suggests you get a 'better' camera

..and so on...ad infinitum

 

[Zero Nakajima]

Way to be racist and condescending.

Why? All breeds are improved with the occasional hybrid. Dogs, cows, AND humans.

Don't be a knee-jerk politically correct parrot.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Dear David,

Don't feed the trolls. I understand your point about 'against all better judgement' but consider how funny Zero's remark about my friends on lithium was. (And yes, I realize I'm feeding a troll too.)

And to Pierre-Christian: some people here do want to help, because we've been there.

Cheers,

R.

Ah, where do I begin. I'm going against all better judgment by replying this.

Your biracial children are not superior to my or anyone else's non-biracial children, and I think you'll find that people won't like the implication that they are.

Different colors of humans having babies does not constitute hybridization.

A fresh shot of DNA? Bull**** notion. We are not, in general, inbred. It's not an issue.

A lot of "these brooding guys" seem to have a lot more common sense here than you do. Sense enough, at least, to not derail a thread about a creative rut into crap about genetics, race, and such.

Finally, I'm not "a knee-jerk politically correct parrot." I'm someone who is willing to call bull**** on people when I see it, and right now I'm looking for my shovel.

 

[David R Munson]

OP: I've remembered another exercise I use sometimes when I'm in a rough spot with my photography. At a suitable time of day (usually dawn or dusk for me), I'll put on headphones and go for a long (5-6 miles) walk tuning out everything but what I'm seeing and the music I choose. I tend to like things like Brian Eno's ambient works for this. Anything that helps you get in a quiet, receptive, open state of mind.

It's also a lot of fun when you're not having trouble with your photography.

 

[ethics_gradient]

Happens to me all the time. First of all, I don't get upset about it. I can find things to do when I'm not out taking photos, like scanning stacks of old negatives or processing some B&W film that is long past time I did. If that gets old, break out of your rut by taking yourself outside your zone of experience - and I know you haven't been there done that for everything.

Surround yourself with input, something will catch.

Ever been to a roller-derby match? How about professional women's sporting events? Amateur wrestling tournament or martial arts competition? Professional ballroom dancing? How about a kid's birthday party or a social event? All you have to do is advertise on Craig's List or something like that and say you'll be happy to come to the kid's b-day party and take photos, or whatever, for free, and someone will take you up on it. You'll look at a few things differently, you'll find a way to express yourself through the photos you take, and you will have to stretch a bit if you're out of your usual comfort zone.

I like to query Google for local events the following weekend - anything will do. Sometimes it ends up sucking - I went to a "Kiss Exhibition" that turned out to be a bunch of grotty forty-somethings crowded into a tiny room in a hotel selling each other crap. But other times, I've been amazed and delighted, like when I went to an anime festival. Just look for things you haven't done and go there, whether you think you'll like it or not. Think about how you want to approach it photographically and then see if you have the stuff to do it up right, or to do it in a novel way.

That's what works for me, anyway.

Dig this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wigwam/sets/

That's how we do it.

Have fun, good luck!

This is great advice, thanks!


Zero Nakajima you are a terrible poster.

 

[Roma]

Definitely try to think of a project. Think about it for a while without shooting, and when you come up with something that you truly care about doing a project, you'll get out of this funk very quickly and you'll love shooting your project.
I'm sure!