Loss of enthusiasm due to Covid?

Just curious, as this thing drags on do any of you feel less enthusiasm for the visual? In the past I might seek out casual landscapes or common objects that I thought could make a nice image. Now, unless something really wows me, I don't seem to pull out the camera at all. Certainly not interested in going anyplace where people congregate. The time of year probably doesn't help, fall is over and winter hasn't begun so everything is dead and/or grey. If it weren't for documenting things for reports at work, I'd be shooting near to nothing. Am I alone?

I haven't noticed less enthusiasm on my part. I live alone and am used to spending a fair amount of time alone, so the lockdowns didn't affect me as much as some others. I live in San Francisco where the weather is moderate. Though we could desperately use the rain, so far, November and December have been unseasonably warm and clear and beautiful. My favorite activity is walking and hiking throughout the city and in many of the great parks and nature areas around the Bay Area. I do that alone or with friends. Since everyone I walk with is vaccinated, we feel comfortable now being together outdoors with no masks. I don't usually take pictures on those walks, but I do get inspired by the light and scenes I pass as I go.

 

At the beginning of the lockdown, I started a project photographing SF City College, an eclectic urban campus very close to my home. It is still deserted of students and has suited the mood of the pandemic quite well. I spent hours day after day exploring every nook and cranny of the campus and getting to know the varied architectural style buildings like new friends. It's been a great project and has kept me focused and busy for over a year now. I'm amazed at how differently things look in the different seasons, different times of day, different weather conditions, etc. And, not only do things look different, I seem to see differently each time I go back.

 

Maybe you needed a rest from photography and that's what your lack of enthusiasm is telling you. Hopefully, you can put enthusiasm toward something else of value and I imagine you'll get back to photography when the time is right.

Absolutely.......My give-a-sh*t is entirely broken by the daily onslaught, and the torrent of vitriol coupled with the strange fantasies expressed by half the country drive me deeper into cocooning.

Of course there's a new variant, how could there not be when viruses are ignored and most leaders seem more concerned with keeping the pizza shops open than demanding simple adherence to known solutions.

We travel into the country here to be away from people and alone with the majesty of a few butterflies, picnic off the back of the truck, and shoot a few of whatever I can find.

I was never going to be an artist photographically, but after a few nips from the flask it all works for me that day.

I've always been a miserable antisocial git (so I'm told) so avoiding people is not to difficult. I find myself taking more photos lately not that they are any good but I enjoy the process, got to keep feeding the No Word forum.

 

Everything I see has a story ready to be captured: enthusiasm can be influenced by outside events, if I allow.

 

WW

How many pictures of masked people can a person take? I took my usual long walk today and found nothing new or interesting out there.

I took my usual long walk today and found nothing new or interesting out there.

You probably don't have an expensive enough camera! :)

You probably don't have an expensive enough camera!

That's exactly the problem! When I hit a wall in the past a new camera got me back in action. No new cameras for me in the near future.

That's exactly the problem! When I hit a wall in the past a new camera got me back in action. No new cameras for me in the near future.

Or ... you could take this as an opportunity to let something besides the camera lead your way forward.

I have been left so TIRED. It's not the lack of enthusiasm but the lack of energy....

 

I have spent a lot more time in ACR, however.

Things are mostly normal out here in Montana. Winter cold and icy roads always slow down my photography. The virus, not at all.

No, the remains of my photography and that virus don't get along at all.

For a while I had been wondering if I maybe should replace my 70-200 with a 100-400 for social distancing's sake.

This summer I felt somewhat ready to maybe get into wildlife photography with a 150-600 but to my great dismaymI didn't encounter the colony of almost tame bunnies or rabbits Imexpected tomstill populate the fields on my bike path to work like over a decade ago, when I useed it last time.

Lockdown & curfew dragged heavily on me. I recall dry-swimming some shots of the empty city during my commutes home, halfassedly planning to shop for a luxury tripod oncenstores might reopen.

So in a nutshell: I haven't shot anything. I didn't eat out or socialize either.

Once upon a time, before COVID, I made sure my camera was in the car before going anywhere, so I could stop and shoot if I passed something interesting. Then for over a year there was nowhere to go, with or without a camera. During that time I became heavily invested in video and live-streaming, sharing almost clandestine events with an unseen audience. That involved a lot of gear and learning new skills, leaving almost no room for still cameras and little time to use them. Since September, schools are open and events abound, but audiences are reluctant to attend, or severely limited in occupation density. The interest in live-streamed video greater than ever, and on-line audience size is often greater than live attendance.

 

I manage to find a day or two between jobs (and editing) which I can use for photography of my own choosing, mostly in uncrowded rural areas. I can use my aerial tripod (aka drone) where legal, without interference, to see familiar places from a unique perspective. Then it's back to work again, which I actually enjoy and find endlessly challenging.

I will not let fear rule. IMO, eventually everyone will get one version or another regardless of precautions taken. The vast majority will survive. I will live life as always. If I had the misfortune to be living in one of the restricted states I wouldn't stay there long. Fortunately for reasons having nothing to do with the virus, I lucked out.

Says the preacher man. :rolleyes:

Says the preacher man. :rolleyes:

Hey, you Stay Safe, I prefer to live life to the fullest!

I prefer to live life to the fullest!

I imagine the ... minority of ... 750,000+ Americans and 5 million + people worldwide who've died of COVID would have preferred to as well. Please, go on living life to the fullest. I'm sure we're all thrilled for you.

I imagine the ... minority of ... 750,000+ Americans and 5 million + people worldwide who've died of COVID would have preferred to as well. Please, go on living life to the fullest. I'm sure we're all thrilled for you.

Thanks for your kind permission. i will.

This is veering off in a direction I hoped it might not. I think part of my funk is that I just got some new Z lenses and everything is sitting there waiting for me to get off my butt and use it. All the credit card and none of the fun yet. If the weather-guessers are right, next week we should at least have some sun. Maybe that will get me out there.

Died of COVID or with it, symptomless or suffocating. There's no distinction when citing cases and setting policy. Statistically you would need 8 or 9 consecutive rapid tests to have 95% confidence in the results, one way or the other.

There's no distinction when citing cases and setting policy.

A bald-faced lie.

This is veering off in a direction I hoped it might not.

 

I agree, with both comments.

 

Moderator note - please all of us take a deep breath, count to ten, and get somewhere back on track to a Photography theme, thank you.

 

William

For the most part, I haven't lost enthusiasm, but have seen the loss of opportunities to photograph. I often shoot at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference, which was cancelled for the pandemic, but should return in 2022. I do a lot of travel photography, but had to suspend all non-essential travel. Will start that again soon, although some will depend on changing international regulations.

 

Some lost passion for photography has nothing to do with the pandemic. I can no longer look forward to photographing, as well as seeing and listening to and being with, beloved writers Ray Bradbury and Sue Grafton. Also unrelated to the pandemic, lost another writer, not well-known but incredibly talented and inventive, in Stephen Vessels, a dear friend, and a favorite photographic subject.

 

In one way I am more into photography than in the past. Before, I could warlk and photograph nature, especially birds, and just relax afterwards. Now, when I do that, I need to apply ice to my knees afterwards, and it hasn't stopped me in the least. The enthusiasm must still be there.

Covid killed my downtown Austin, TX walks but instead I walk the park trails and look for little scenes and things that catch my eye. I don’t think this new variant will catch on. The news media loves this stuff.

Hi Conrad,

 

Even before the Covid period, I went through long phases of more interest followed by less interest in taking photos. My other main hobby is music (1st tenor sax and secretary in 2 Big Bands) and sometimes 'music' takes priority over photography. I also do a lot of voluntary work and the same applies.

 

My primary interest in photography is 'people' - not formal portraits but informal: musicians, attendees at concerts/events, street photos, etc. During our first 'lockdown' in 2020, it was novel to take photos of almost deserted squares, people huddled around a coffee bar open for a takeaway coffee, etc. Later, I worked (voluntarily) with a local actress/director and singer who together had the idea of touring my hometown in rickshaws, putting on a 15-minute open-air 'covid comfort' show at various locations. Their idea was that people during lockdown could watch and listen to the show from their windows/balconies. It was a great success and I thoroughly enjoyed taking photos!

 

In the summer of 2021, things pretty much got back to normal here in NL (except social distancing) and it was then novel to take photos of people picnicking in the park again, the full terraces, etc. The mayor of my town even published a few of my photos showing how local police and other officers kindly (but firmly) asked picnickers in a local park to observe social distancing rules. We're now in our third (partial) lockdown and - especially in winter - nothing much is going on. Supermarkets are open until 8 pm. Everything else shuts at 5 pm. Pre-covid Christmas events (like Christmas markets, communal celebrations, ...) have again been canceled.

 

I'm very much a 'lazy photographer'. If something interesting is going on (socially, weatherwise) then I'll take along my DSLR and a couple of lenses. I've never been one for getting up before the crack of dawn to capture the 'sunrise' somewhere. During the Covid period, so much has been shut down that I've been less motivated to lug around my DSLR to take photos. If I do see something interesting, I just take a photo on my camera.

 

Just a thought:

I recently spent a week in the small village in which I was born (in Wales). I stayed - as always - with my sister and her husband. One of the joys of staying there is walking her dog around the village. Some parts of the UK are well-known for their exuberant external Christmas decorations. One of the things I repeatedly noticed in my home village (but didn't think to photograph) was the number of sad and deflated 'blow-up' Santas.

 

Many years ago, I visited someone who lived on the outskirts of London. In one neighboring street, the residents had also put up 'completely over the top' external Christmas decorations.

 

So Christmas could be a source of inspiration!

 

Mike

Just curious, as this thing drags on do any of you feel less enthusiasm for the visual? In the past I might seek out casual landscapes or common objects that I thought could make a nice image. Now, unless something really wows me, I don't seem to pull out the camera at all. Certainly not interested in going anyplace where people congregate. The time of year probably doesn't help, fall is over and winter hasn't begun so everything is dead and/or grey. If it weren't for documenting things for reports at work, I'd be shooting near to nothing. Am I alone?