The Lull
Picture this, you’ve been photographing for a while now and things are starting to change. At first, it was new and exciting, you felt like you were learning a lot, growing a lot. Every picture seemed to be magical no matter what you did. It was like eye candy all over the place. You couldn’t believe those photos came out of your hands. Then, after a while, the magic of the images fades away. The images that once seemed impossible to take, become the new standard for every picture you take. One great photo just isn’t enough. Was it even a great photo to begin with? Or were you just enamored with how much progress you made?
What was once a joyous learning experience has turned into a battle to keep pushing forward. How do you take better pictures? Why does it feel like you're stagnating? Why does it feel like nothing will ever be as good as the past? Why does it feel like you’re stuck?
This is an inevitable point all creatives will reach in their journey. It’s a dangerous period because it can lead to either great growth or to you dropping a hobby entirely. Photography is no different. In fact, I’d say photographers go through several periods of ups and downs. The important thing is finding some way to stay motivated in the inevitable lulls. It’s extremely easy to keep photographing in the high periods, but this blog post will give you different ways to stay engaged with photography when it seems like all your photos suck ass.
From personal experience, I’ve found three different ways to stay motivated.
Setting specific, attainable goals
Try a completely different genre of photography
Finding inspiration outside of photography
Specific Goal
Setting specific goals is by far one of the easiest ways to stay motivated with your photography. Most of the time, photographers (especially newer photographers) set out with the goal of taking great photos. It seems pretty harmless. It’s got good intentions, open-ended enough to be a long-term goal, and allows for a large creative space.
Let’s take a step back and think about it for one second. What does it mean to take a great photo? A good one? Bad? Mediocre? Timeless? All of these are broad, non-definitive descriptions of photos. The goal post of a great photo will always change so even though this is typically done with great intentions, it can lead to long-term disappointment with no clear end in sight.
So what are some better options? Let’s start by getting less broad from the jump. Instead of chasing a great photo, let’s define a specific goal with each image. For example, let’s say you want to take 10 portraits using nothing but natural light. That’s a clear specific goal that can be measured for progress. Additionally, across the 10 pictures, you can see growth across the photos as you get more practice inside.
Let’s switch genres. Let’s say you want to focus on photographing cars. Instead of mindlessly going to a car meet and trying to take nice pictures of cars, focus on a specific aspect of automotive photography. Focus on getting 10 compositionally sound detail shots. Or instead, focus on motion and play with your shutter speed. Maybe you want to take a number of shots in scenarios you normally avoid like rain or in traffic. The possibilities are endless, just set specific measurable goals for your photography niche.
New Genre
Getting creative in new genres of photography is a particular favorite of mine. The more specialized you become in a style of photography, the more accustomed you become to that niche. For example, I typically shoot media/portrait photography as my bread and butter. When I’m on set preparing shots for a film poster, there are certain expectations and guidelines I will always follow. I’m always considering how to light my subjects in a consistent tone as the rest of the film. I’m always considering how to get character/emotion across in a single still. And I wouldn’t dream of going against the wishes of the producers I create images for. At this point, I do it subconsciously, but the end results keep my clients, and myself, satisfied. However, knowing what it takes to create a great shot in my niche results in some preconceived notions/mental barriers on every shoot I walk into. Despite my best efforts, you can never quite shake that feeling off. After all, following these rules helped get you so good at your specific niche in the first place.
This is why trying new genres is so fucking fun.
Even if you are somewhat familiar with a genre, it’s hard to hold your safe to the same standards as your primary genre. For instance, when I go out and photograph landscapes, I know fuck all and jack shit about landscape photography… Well not really, but I know a lot less than professional landscape photographers. And that’s a good thing! When I go out to take landscape photos, it is a way for me to get a small dose of feeling like I’m learning something new. Additionally, I’m free from feeling like I must adhere to some standards of the genre. I can just focus on taking a visually pleasing picture for my eyes. Whereas a professional landscape photographer could easily come in and take something jaw-dropping, that’s just not what I’m interested in. Let the photographers who specialize in a specific niche focus on doing everything perfectly. When you’re the newbie, enjoy being a tourist. Who knows, maybe you’ll find some new inspiration to take with you.
Outside Inspiration
Sometimes, the best way to get better at photography is to get away from it altogether. When you’re out of photo ideas, it’s tempting to hop on Instagram and start swiping to find new ideas for images. For me, checking out Karl Shakur’s latest post is always has me awestruck and inspired to go and take photos. However, sometimes, seeing other great photographers only leaves you feeling disappointed in yourself. “How come my photos aren’t as great as theirs?” Whatever the reason is, sometimes, you just need to find inspiration from somewhere else.
There are endless possibilities to find inspiration for your photography. For me I typically pull from either film/tv, music, or art. These are artistic mediums I have a serious connection with. I have two film degrees, I was a musician for a decade and went to music school for 3 years, and I have always had a passion for art. Deep personal investment goes a long way because it generally means you understand the language of the different mediums, you can find ways to connect photography with something that’s seemingly unrelated, and it means you’re less likely to turn away from it when it gets difficult.
For example, I recently completed the Kiss Land Collection (more about that in my next blog post). The images created for that series were entirely inspired by the album Kiss Land by the Weeknd. I had to find creative ways to bridge the gap between sound and music. Because I had a personal connection to both, it was fun and engaging trying to make that happen. Was it perfect? No, but at the end of the day, I was more than happy with the images gathered. In fact, it’s led me to a path of pursuing more work in a similar vein. I strongly encourage every photographer to find inspiration outside of other photographers. It’s incredibly rewarding and refreshing when done correctly. And I think the best images I’ve created thus far came directly from it. I’ll admit, that this may be one of the harder ways to get out of your creative lull as it will take much more work, but in the pursuit of excellence, hard work should never be a deterrent.
At the end of the day, these are all ways to help alleviate some of the downs that come with photography. However, I’d also like to remind you that these are band-aid fixes for a larger issue every photographer will come face to face with. Imposter Syndrome. While I haven’t personally found a cure, otherwise I’d happily share it with everyone, try and remember a couple of things at all times. First, photography is a lifelong pursuit. It’s not something you can figure everything out in a weekend. When you think you’ve figured it out, there’s always something more to learn. Second, creative lulls are not the devil. Sometimes your brain needs a moment to catch up to you. Take these periods as a chance to reset and go full force again when you’re mind is ready.. Lastly, keep on shooting. The only way to guarantee you’ll fail as a photographer is to stop shooting altogether! Till the next post dickheads.