Raid—I love that bit of advice. Most of what I photograph are 'big' things—buildings, cityscapes, vistas, and the sort. focusing on something tiny within that landscape is a fresh view.
There's a lot of great suggestions in this thread, and I'm trying to think what I can contribute. One quote I come back to is from Garry Winogrand, "I photograph to find out what something will look like photographed." That ethos bothered my professor when I was learning on LF, but reminds me of when I first picked up a camera and pointed it at literally everything. Sometimes it's not the subject that's interesting, but the contrast, tonality, texture that draws you. The subject could be anything, and could render itself abstractly in the final image.
I'm a lifelong city dweller, so you'd think I'd have a never-ending source of inspiration in the street, but it does get overstimulating and tired at times. I read somewhere that hundreds of photos of Pike Place Market are uploaded to Instagram a day, and when I visit I just want to grab some kale and a bottle of wine and get out, and think, "well, everything has already been photographed by now." I've carried a camera with me nearly every day for as long as I can remember, but the last few years I just wasn't shooting anything. Partly, I was more interested in experiencing whatever I was doing than futzing with a camera, but it can be both.
And with Seattle weather being what it is right now, stalking the streets for hours just makes you damp and cold. Travel is fresh and exciting, but simply out of the question right now. Lately I've turned to whatever I can find inside my house to burn film or batteries on. Sometimes it's experimenting with lighting on whatever I'm cooking for the day. This morning, it was chasing the cat around with an old Nikon D2. I know these aren't ever going to get printed, but it's in that spirit of seeing what things look like photographed. Lull times are time to experiment.
The other approach I'm fond of is that of Bernd and Hilla Becher, whom I learned of in architecture school: pick a single subject and photograph the hell out of it. You might get interesting images out of it, or learn something new on the subject, or develop a new interest to turn into a photographic idea.
A few things snapped me out of my funk, none of which required exotic travel or packing in a ton of gear. Last month I was at the state fair, and the sheer sensory experience was enough inspiration to photograph whatever caught my interest, even down to the bizarre hot tub displays. The last few weeks, I've been stopping by the zoo, and while there are plenty of guys with thousands of dollars of kit trying to photograph the animals through plexiglass (with flash!), I've been turning my camera away from the exhibits and towards them and the other characters that visit. Lastly, as I've started my final semester of grad school, I've made an effort of shooting social gatherings with my colleagues as a bit of a keepsake, but without withdrawing from the event. That one's been fun: I bring a Sunpak potato masher flash and everyone hams it up for the camera.
Sometimes you just have to give yourself an assignment, even if you know it won't be printed. And that's the fun of it.
