Damien Demolder
Tharg the Mighty
Reged: 22/08/2001
Posts: 1022
Loc: Essex born and badly-bred
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Writers get ‘block’, tennis players get ‘elbow’ and athletes get ‘foot’ (maybe not quite the same thing!) and photographers get something else that leaves them totally uninspired and quite unable to take/see a picture, even when it is staring them in the face. I wonder what we should call it.
Does this ever happen to you? If it does, how do you deal with it?
Go to the home page to register your vote, and let us know what makes your inspiration dry up and how you over come it.
Thanks for playing
damien
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See my photographs at www.wordsonpictures.com
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beejaybee
Marvin
Reged: 18/07/2007
Posts: 4982
Loc: Really Here In Name Only
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Quote:
photographers get something else that leaves them totally uninspired and quite unable to take/see a picture, even when it is staring them in the face. I wonder what we should call it.
Depression 
Quote:
Does this ever happen to you? If it does, how do you deal with it?
Yes - on average about 3 days in the week I can't see the most obvious pictures, 3 days I'm a snapshotter and one day I can see nice images (even if I don't have a camera).
It just comes back - not being distracted by sundry problems helps, so does a good sleep, so does a good walk in fresh air away from crowds. But it's not as though I have a magic formula for fixing dysphotia (or whatever you're going to call it).
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sjaszczak
A Real Gentleman
Reged: 08/06/2005
Posts: 1122
Loc: York
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I decided to separate "inspiration" and "skill" for the purpose of the poll and ended up going for "occasionally".
Most of the time (hence, "occasionally"), I can see a good shot...but my problem is turning what I see and what's in my imagination into a good photo.
That's what I'm working on!
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Steve
My Flickr
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Terrywoodenpic
A whiff of silicon...
Reged: 21/01/2006
Posts: 370
Loc: Saddleworth UK
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I have never experienced a total block.
It is a bit like my other interest "woodwork"
sometimes a problem seems so great the only way to tackle it is just to start doing something in the form of a prototype.
The act of doing always seems to show the way.
The same applies to Photography. Think what is new in your neighbourhood that you have not photographed. Take the camera and go and have a look. The light might be wrong, it might need something you have not brought with you.
Just thinking about it in practical terms, gets the juices flowing.
What makes you bored and lethargic and blocked, is doing nothing at all.
It could be called "blocked vision". Nothing has changed except your own vision. The opportunities are still there, you just can't see them.
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63 happy photo years from amateur to professional and back to amateur
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Hotblack
Dead Horse Flogger
Reged: 07/03/2006
Posts: 7352
Loc: Upstairs in the spare room.
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I get occasional periods where I lack inspiration. It depends how I'm feeling mentally as to how I deal with it. If I'm feeling good I don't worry about it. Given a few days it usually comes back. A few good walks usually get the juices flowing again. A weekend away visiting friends (and therefore a different landscape/environment) usually does the trick, too.
It can worry me more when I'm feeling depressed. I usually find that having a project to work on means I lose myself in the process of photography which lifts me enormously. This usually inspires me enough to get me out again with the camera.
I have an ongoing project which I work on occasionally at home at such times as I need a lift, setting up small still lifes. I have a list of situations/scenarios to set up so that I don't have to think of new one's when there is no inspiration to do so. That way I have something to work towards. At that point it's making the effort to get going that's difficult but I keep things simple so that it doesn't take much effort. I use the dining room table, some discarded mount card as backgrounds and natural window light.
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Cheers
David
David J White Photography
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FujiSigmaNolta
I can pan!
Reged: 21/06/2005
Posts: 1494
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Yup, I occasionally suffer from bouts of lack of inspiration but it's more when I am mentally tired.
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Regards,
Luis
My Flickr mess
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ChrisBrookes
veteran
Reged: 05/11/2005
Posts: 1587
Loc: Oswestry Shropshire UK
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A lot of the time I am totally uninspired and dejected, for long periods of time I churn out rubbish, going out on days where I know the conditions aren't "right". But I go out anyway, saying to myself,I will know where to go when the conditions are right. I think the best solution to this problem is to look at others work, look at your own work, and make yourself expand your horizons, thats what I try to do! And then I end up chastising myself for wasting time trying to do stuff that I thought would not work anyway! But hey at least I tried!
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Chris Brookes 
http://flickr.com/photos/chrisbrookes/
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Dave_Cox
old'n'grumpy
Reged: 12/07/2006
Posts: 3107
Loc: somewhere in Sussex
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I often get a bit despondent about my photographs, usually at the end of a few hours processing the results. I look at the shots and think "these are straight record pics, not photographs that have any merit in their own right".
Then I get the odd one that gives me a kick and makes it all worthwhile, then I feel better the next time I go out.
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Growing old disgracefully!
http://snapper56.deviantart.com/gallery/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dave2006/
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Ephemeral
addict
Reged: 21/07/2007
Posts: 665
Loc: North East England
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my main problem is finding time in the day to actually do any photography and when I've had a few days of meeting various deadlines and not taking photographs I find it very hard to gather the energy to go out and work on any projects
this week - two websites and two 2000 word assignment to be ready for Friday, plus taking down an exhibition, mounting and hanging the new one, an executive committee meeting, picking up some frames from Newcastle, mounting several of my own prints which have sold this week, filling an application form for a new job
time management can only take you so far 
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The Ephemeral Moment - www.ephemeral.co.uk
Random Goldfish - www.randomgoldfish.com
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Gold1
No Glass
Reged: 26/05/2008
Posts: 89
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Well I found that the initial high pressure, fast pace, full on terror of full time professional wedding photography scared the photographers block right out of my system five years ago. Don't sit around waiting for it to just happen. I suggest that a good dose of difficult new challenges, with some tight deadlines and a bit of sticking your neck on the line is by far the best remedy. It's amazing what you can come up with when you really have to!
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sey
nag picker
Reged: 22/12/2004
Posts: 2847
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Quote:
Well I found that the initial high pressure, fast pace, full on terror of full time professional wedding photography scared the photographers block right out of my system five years ago.......................
hehe, that's enough to scare every tiny morsal of photography inclination right out of one, permanently
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sey
"sometimes a brain is more important than a fancy camera" - Philip Greenspun
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beejaybee
Marvin
Reged: 18/07/2007
Posts: 4982
Loc: Really Here In Name Only
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Quote:
Quote:
Well I found that the initial high pressure, fast pace, full on terror of full time professional wedding photography scared the photographers block right out of my system five years ago.......................
hehe, that's enough to scare every tiny morsal of photography inclination right out of one, permanently
Yeah, I thought the same, with a rider to the effect that they'd have needed to send someone in a little yellow van out to collect me 
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NorthernNikon
Bulls Hitter
Reged: 16/12/2005
Posts: 6180
Loc: Harrogate, North Yorks
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Author Peter DeVries said:
Quote:
I only write when I'm inspired, and I make sure I'm inspired every day at 9 a.m.
Citing lack of inspiration is just an excuse for not being arsed. Professionals don't stay in bed because they feel "uninspired".
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www.BarneyAllen.com the new home of ComicShots.
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TarquinBiscuit
Sometimes I feel like screaming
Reged: 03/02/2001
Posts: 9417
Loc: Staffs/Derbys border
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I never get photographer's block.
If I don't know what to do, I restrict myself to a single prime lens, often inappropriate to the place I'm going to, and just "see what I can find". It works every time, and I have done some good shots in the past which I would never had envisaged had I taken out my ordinary 'gear'.
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Clive BSRIPN
Cover of the Rolling Stone
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Done&rundleCams
Senior Member
Reged: 20/12/2001
Posts: 16752
Loc: Vancouver, BC
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.... you wouldn't guess by the majority of my pictures 
Cheers,
Jack
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Life is a Photo-op
MY BLOG: www.nakedmanonawire.blogspot.com
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