How to push yourself

Trying to improve my images and create photos that have an original feel to them.

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So my question is, how do you push yourself in new creative directions? What do you do when your images start to feel a little stale, like you've see it before?

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I'm interested in your thought process when you got out to make photos and how you push yourself to do your best work.

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thanks,

Take on a big project about something that touches you as a human

being. See yourself through the eyes of a humanist. Also, make sure

the roadblocks to successful completion appear almost insurmountable

(ie shooting the whole project with a 50 mm lens). I think you will

find that creative solutions are often sired by compromise.

A great question from Mark and a great answer from John.

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Other things to do:

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Give yourself specific, often goofy, shooting assignments as if you

are a student in a photography program.

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Shoot with some different equipment (e.g., try medium format if you

have never used it) or different lenses (use a 28 mm is you usually

shoot with the 50 or the 90).

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Shoot landscapes if you have been a people photographer, or people if

you have been a landscape photographer.

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Doing just about anything to incovenience your imagination will lead

you in new directions. The hard part is disciplining yourself not to

take the easy routes.

take a trip. speak to people that you never spoken to. keep a note

pad/pencil w/ you (alt. digital voice recorder) to jolt down ideas on

your commute, in bed, doing gardeing work - wherever.

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or just stop taking pictures for a while to see if the inspiration

comes back (i know, drastic)

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read style of book you usually don't read, see a film that doesn't

speak to you, take a art class.

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i'm sure you'll think of something

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cheers,

My answer might be too much on the technical side and too little on

the aesthetic side but it helps me gauge my progress.

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When I first started shooting live dance, I would blanket a two hour

concert using as much as 12 rolls of film. I would be pleased if I had

1-2 usable photos from each roll.

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By usable, I mean properly exposed (constantly changing lighting

situations and low-light situations are tough) and focused images.

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Over time, my roll usage has diminished and my usable shots per roll

increased.

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Now, I shoot a two hour concet with two rolls of film, one per

half, changing rolls at intermission. Out of 72 shots, I usually walk

away with 30 shots that I consider usable and that clients are happy

to pay for.

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Of course, this doesn't mean I come away with 30 absolute gems. But in

that regard, I'm getting better. I would judge a gem as a shot that

absolutely captured the essence of the moment, that gave a viewer a

sense of being there. This of course is pretty subjective.

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So maybe out of 72 shots, I have 10 that I would be willing to

exhibit.

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Anyway, that's how I push myself, but trying to get that ratio of

photos kept to film shot down.

Mark,

Here's a thought that recently worked for me.

I took on a photo assignment for a group of performers I saw at

at very bizarre' Halloween Rave last year. They're called

"Firefabulon". They couldn't afford me so I traded photography,

(which they badly needed for promotion) for a performance at

one of my parties. It got me out of myself and into a photo essay

about them. Thinking outward not inward, resulted in some of

the best work I've done in years. And the look on their faces when

they got their prints was even more inspiring.

Marc Williams

One technique might be to spend a week in a sweat lodge. Water, but no

food. Sometime during the fourth day, you'll start to hallucinate.

While in that state, think about what you want your images to say, and

how you want to say it. Write those things down, because you may not

remember them later. Be sure to use water-proof ink.

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After you get out of the swear lodge, see if you can actually read the

stuff you wrote down while in a trance. If not, go with the other

suggestions and just do something different than you are accustomed to

doing. But, you can do it with greater confidence, because you'll be

50 pounds lighter, and able to scale tall mountains (or, buildings)

with your whole Leica kit slung over your shoulder. ;-)

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Seriously, I think its a matter of breaking patterns to get the juices

flowing again. Introspection about your style and how you see life in

general, and how to translate that into your photography, help as

well. It's mostly a matter of pushing yourself out of whatever rut you

happen to be in, though, I think.

Hi, Mark:

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Good question. Maybe most of us at some time feel that we are doing

nothing really worth the effort. When it happens to me I look at

photos of great masters: HCB and Helmut Newton, in the first place.

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No matter how many times I have seen those photos I still find

something else to get insterested about. And now, Internet puts much

more examples of good photography at our reach than we could buy in

books with all the money we could have available for it.

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That, for motivation sources. Regarding thinking it gets tougher to

explain; it has to deal with concepts and I feel that I can be

photographing for years around a given concept and still not be

really aware of what it is. But when you finally decipher your own

thinking (in my case, mainly because a specially well achieved image

makes it evident) you can continue trying to get photos that

faithfully represent that concept and never get satisfied. I have

identified some few concepts this kind that are strong motivations of

my photography:

<a href="http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?

photo_id=450657&size=lg">lonelyness (mainly in big cities)</a>

<a href="http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?

photo_id=457052&size=lg">time going by</a>

<a href="http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?

photo_id=289110&size=lg">light (it is one of the most intriguing

things I can think of)</a>

<a href="http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?

photo_id=499734">portraiture (I mean being able to concentrate

somebody's moods / character in a single shot)</a>

<a href="http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?

photo_id=384115">communication (or the lack of it)</a>

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aside from more incidental topics like <a

href="http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?

photo_id=450790&size=lg">architecture</a> and

<a href="http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?

photo_id=615112&size=lg">single objects</a>

or <a href="http://www.photo.net/photo/289118">odd

angles of rather familiar images</a>

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Mark (and everybody else for that matter)I know this is kind of a

presumptuous exhibition and I've been laughing at myself since a

while ago but still it intends to be a honest answer to your question.

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And then . . . this a photography site, isn't it ?

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Regards

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-Iván

Stop trying to be original and don't worry about taking great photos,

just spend a lot of time (and try to take as much joy as possible in)

photographing whatever interests you. And learn to live with the fact

that you'll face times when everything you've done looks like the same

old crap; don't be discouraged, just push on through.

Take the day off, buy some sandwiches, drink, notebook and pen. Go to

the biggest book shop you can find. Pull up a chair or find some

floor space. Look through every photobook. Take notes (and mental

ones to) of every image that appeals to your taste. Go away and think

about what you experianced during the day. You will find a

subject/style that gets you excited....shoot it....

Use a Leica O.

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You will get images like you have never seen before !

>Use a Leica O

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Or a Lomo...:-)

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I agree with the own assignments. I just took one to go to Istanbul

and see if I can show the diffrences between traditional and modern

there. Should be a great city for it.

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Also I recommend to sit on a spot for a while and not wander around

in the desperate seach to find a nice shot. If you stick where you

are, it will come to you (Ofcourse not valid for landscape

photography :-)). Just make sure you 'background' is not disturbing.

A common advice to writers who are stuck, is to write anything down

without thinking -stream of conciousness. I find that a similar

process can be applied in photography. If I feel stuck, I grab my

Lomo camera and point it just about anywhere.

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The point is to let your intuition rule, rather than the analytic

part of the brain. The results are not something you are likely to

want to show other people, but it can teach you a lot about yourself

and how you see things.

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Even if you feel these photographs were taken in random, it is still

*you* who choose to point the camera at that specific motif (out of a

indefinite number of possible subjects/angles etc.). Among the

results there are likely to be some which will inspire to try out

something new.

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I prefer to use a different camera than my usual one for this

excercise because it frees me from my conventional thinking.

Excellent answers.

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Best advice I've gotten on this subject was from my friend who is a

musician and songwriter. Stop worrying about trying to take a "good"

picture.

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Basically, anything that gets you working intuitively and not

thinking about it will help.