daveleo
what?
Don't carry a camera with you for a week or two or three. Go out. Do things. See things. No camera.
At some point you'll find your groove again. Don't force it.
At some point you'll find your groove again. Don't force it.
it's all crap!
- Thread starter back alley
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sreed2006
Well-known
What is it that would make you happiest?
Go do that.
Go do that.
Range-rover
Veteran
Everybody from time to time goes thru this, you'll get it back, have you used your
Minolta film cameras yet. Getting back to the basic always helps me.
Range
Minolta film cameras yet. Getting back to the basic always helps me.
Range
Damaso
Photojournalist
How's the whining going? Make any progress?
v_roma
Well-known
Joe, it may not feel good but I think this is a good thing. Here's a simple solution: buy photo books by photographers you admire. It will help with the urge to spend $ but it is (usually) cheaper than buying gear, it will help you truly improve your photography (in ways that new gear never will), and may get you inspired to get back out there and take photos.
Rodchenko
Olympian
Which gives me another idea. Are there any exhibitions on near you? Frustratingly, in London at the moment there are exhibitions of Lartigue and Paul Klee - this latter at Tate Modern, which is about five minutes' walk from my desk, but neither of which I have time to go see.
bobbyrab
Well-known
Sorry if I have this wrong, but looking at your flickr stream it looks to me like you wander around with a camera hoping to bump into things. Try a different tack, set yourself some commissions out of your comfort zone. Hate flash, try and do something with it you like. Do some dark portraits and force yourself to use reflectors etc. Photograph at night with available light, anything to get you out of your habits.
Godfrey
somewhat colored
Once past the equipment entertainment, photography becomes the same work as all other creative arts: the hard part is always in the ideas, the expressions, etc. This is the point where many an avid amateur photographer has come to the end of their involvement.
To go further, and not just return to shopping therapy, takes deliberation, motivation, and persistence. Study your photographs and articulate to yourself what about them you like, what you don't. Study other people's photographs and do the same thing. Read books and think about ideas, directions—where and what do you want your photography to go, to be about?
And then start working the cameras towards that. This is the hard part. Most of what I have been shooting this past year I haven't shown as it is not yet satisfying, is not yet done. Ideas in forming, becoming... The photography i want to do NOW is slowly beginning to emerge. Again.
It's either that or sell off all the junk and enjoy having the money in the bank again.
Good luck, Joe!
onwards,
G
To go further, and not just return to shopping therapy, takes deliberation, motivation, and persistence. Study your photographs and articulate to yourself what about them you like, what you don't. Study other people's photographs and do the same thing. Read books and think about ideas, directions—where and what do you want your photography to go, to be about?
And then start working the cameras towards that. This is the hard part. Most of what I have been shooting this past year I haven't shown as it is not yet satisfying, is not yet done. Ideas in forming, becoming... The photography i want to do NOW is slowly beginning to emerge. Again.
It's either that or sell off all the junk and enjoy having the money in the bank again.
Good luck, Joe!
onwards,
G
ssmc
Well-known
semilog
curmudgeonly optimist
Don't want gear right now. Want time to think, and that is a scarce commodity.
semi-ambivalent
Little to say
And you're depressed about this? I'd say you've made a breakthrough. Enjoy the gear, it's truly beautiful stuff, but now you can keep it in perspective and direct your energy towards making great images. 🙂
Congratulations,
s-a
redisburning
Well-known
I rage buy camera gear, sometimes.
as long as you can afford it, it's fine right?
as long as you can afford it, it's fine right?
Compared to now
were you have more or less fun with photography
when you were shooting the RD1's ?
Stephen
back alley
IMAGES
so much to think about...i do miss using a rangefinder camera and if i had the money i might think about a used m9 with a couple of lenses...the rd1 might be too old for proper servicing and therefore a more risky proposition.
or maybe it's just a general funk...i did just turn 63 and i'm still waiting to be discovered!
or maybe it's just a general funk...i did just turn 63 and i'm still waiting to be discovered!
back alley
IMAGES
die and be discovered?
just my luck! lol...
just my luck! lol...
john neal
fallor ergo sum
Joe - most people don't even get that lucky........ :angel:
Sejanus.Aelianus
Veteran
Watch Soviet era cinema, the films where everyone dies horribly. Then go out in the sunshine and I imagine you'll find all sorts of stuff worth photographing.
Well, it works for me 😉
Well, it works for me 😉
back alley
IMAGES
this is very true...
kbg32
neo-romanticist
Joe, a mentor once said to me, "Think of depression as digestion of your highs."
It always works for me. Ya just need to work through the low times. It's not about the gear.
It always works for me. Ya just need to work through the low times. It's not about the gear.
