Lost Inspiration

me15 said:
A very similar tail to mine, although rather than the 7 rolls of film I've had my X-T1 in my hands just under a week. Previous to this I'd shot with a Canon DSLR so the change to Fuji has brought joy in learning to use a different, although in some ways similar, piece of kit, learning to become familiar with it and understanding it's strengths and weaknesses. It's been like learning to shoot to a reasonable level all over again, but in a pleasurable way.
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Funny you should say that I just got my XT1 today and not had a chance to play with it yet. Between the XT1 and the OM2n I think I'm going to thoroughly enjoy myself
 
big soft moose said:
i'm feeling a bit of this at the moment - Ive got a newish body, some new lenses, I just lack the arsed - mind you to be fair its not just photography, lately I seem to lack the arsed for everything... some days getting out of bed and dragging my arse to work is the key acheivement of the day
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Did you write this for me? Because this is spot on how I have been feeling this year. Done nothing, gone nowhere, not interested.
Many times I've come on here for the purpose of selling my gear and would have done had it not been for the wife convincing me not too.

Still, nice knowing I'm not alone and that one day I'll be back. One day!
 
Chris...let me assure you, that you are not alone
I could give you a very comprehensive opinion of photo forums, but I would not waste my breathe
Just take the pics YOU want and enjoy them. Do it for yourself, not for others.
 
Ruffy said:
I have been away from the forums...and my camera for so long that I have lost all interest, don't get me wrong, I love looking at all the fantastic images and it nearly gets me kick started but I just can't get going again.

Have I lost interest altogether or has anyone else experienced this before, don't want to sell up, just...in fact I don't know what to do :(
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Having been in and out of hospital for most of this year photography was the last thing on my mind. Did I loose interest ? yes more worried about health problems. It has only been in the last 2 weeks my wife got me out to see places as I can no longer drive and having a camera around my neck has renewed my interest.

My suggestion is to go with someone to somewhere interesting ,ie castle, and take a camera with you, anyway that is what renewed my interest
 
Ruffy said:
I have been away from the forums...and my camera for so long that I have lost all interest, don't get me wrong, I love looking at all the fantastic images and it nearly gets me kick started but I just can't get going again.
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There's just no answer to this - it's a far too personal a matter. So you're not getting it up in the camera department - so could the answer be splints or viagra?

You're on a journey called life, and it ain't necessary at any point in that journey to take or make photographs. Why would you want to? There are trillions of photographs in the world already (and naturally, most of them are frigging incompetent). Do you really want to add to that store?
 
The Greek said:
Did you write this for me? Because this is spot on how I have been feeling this year. Done nothing, gone nowhere, not interested.
Many times I've come on here for the purpose of selling my gear and would have done had it not been for the wife convincing me not too.

Still, nice knowing I'm not alone and that one day I'll be back. One day!
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oddly enough getting a ban from the forum gave me the requisite kick up the arse -Ive been out every night this week taking photos instead of wasting time arguing about pointless s*** in OOF, whether i'll bother posting any here remains to be seen.
 
realspeed said:
Having been in and out of hospital for most of this year photography was the last thing on my mind. Did I loose interest ? yes more worried about health problems. It has only been in the last 2 weeks my wife got me out to see places as I can no longer drive and having a camera around my neck has renewed my interest.

My suggestion is to go with someone to somewhere interesting ,ie castle, and take a camera with you, anyway that is what renewed my interest
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Good shout mate...
can't say Ive got my mojo back completely just yet
its tough...sometimes its just better to take a step back
and evaluate, take it easy and maybe just...just
be a little less competitive
 
I had a few hours to myself yesterday (9th Sept) for the first time since I came back from holiday on 19th Aug but as luck would have it there was complete cloud cover and what light there was was flat and dead. I nearly just gave up but I ended taking about 50 shots at the coast just for something to do but although I tried hard there's really not one keeper as I have any number of flat dead light shots of my local area.

Annoyingly today the sun is shining this morning.

I might not be able to get out by myself again until December or January and until then photography wise I'll probably be limited to a shots of flowers in the garden. I have a holiday in April though :D

Free time, good light and being able to be in front of something worth taking a picture of seem to rarely coincide for me these days but I keep going for the day it all comes together, rare though they are.
 
I've started to get back into it. I live near the peaks and always relied on someone to go with. I've now planned several outings, mapped the routes train times etc... I went out recently with flat light but still took the images. Its now a case of revisiting them when light and time are on my side. Even though I've been once to a place I know where to try and get a different perspective next time. I'm doing this so in autumn and in winter (if there is snow) I know where to go, what to take.

I don't see flat light as a missed opportunity but more of a chance to explore for different shots to take in the future. I can always use my flat light shots as reference for future outings.
 
33L said:
I don't see flat light as a missed opportunity but more of a chance to explore for different shots to take in the future. I can always use my flat light shots as reference for future outings.
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Yup. This is what I did, my day out produced no images I was completely happy with but I was happy with the compositions and if I get the chance to take the shots again in more photogenic light I'll do it.

GreenNinja67 said:
If the lights a bit flat shoot mono and up the contrast.
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To be honest I have thousands of shots like that and what I want is good light not to have to perform near miracles on the pc to polish a you know what. On other occasions I've concentrated on close up shots when the light is bad but the lens I had with me last time I was out doesn't focus particularly closely although I do have the option of doing heavy cropping.

It's worth hanging in for the times when free time, good light and being in front of something worth photographing all come together.
 
Find another expensive hobby chap..... Fishing is a good one lol
 
I don't see mono conversions as a panacea for poor light.

I'm not even sure about saying "poor light" anyway. Where there's light, you can photograph (I think that's a Stieglitz quote). It may not be what you went out to photograph, but every type of light is the best light for something. Light is only a problem in that sense if you've set out with a definite image type in mind; and I believe that that's a good way to wear blinkers and miss all the amazing things that you're determined not to look at (because you don't want them).
 
StephenM said:
I don't see mono conversions as a panacea for poor light.

I'm not even sure about saying "poor light" anyway.
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I suppose if I lived somewhere where it was sunny every day that would be poor light :D

For me poor light is when there's no sky and colours and scenes appear muted and lacking in any real contrast and drama. I get a lot of this is the north east of England. When the sun comes out there's a chance of light and shadow and colour and contrast and you can even have these things on cloudy and even stormy days but it's the white / grey out days that I don't like. If you don't encounter these conditions too often you can marvel at the dreariness of it all but when it's coincidently like that every time you have a free day it gets a bit... much.

I'm not the greatest photographer but I can play with composition and angles and camera to subject distances and depth of field but when I've done that a few thousand times I long for... a nice day.
 
That's possibly because you have a specific requirement for the subjects you want to photograph. If you photographed church interiors or inside woods, you might appreciate "dull" days more. The difference between us, I think, is that I go out with a camera to see what I can find, and take things as I find them; perhaps you go out with a very definite idea of what you want to photograph, and look no further?

I'm interested in composition, angles etc. yes; but only as tools to reveal my "take" on my subject - which starts out in the light in which I find it.

I still maintain that there's no such thing as "bad light" - just inappropriate light if you're dead set on a particular effect. And that's not the light's problem :D
 
StephenM said:
That's possibly because you have a specific requirement for the subjects you want to photograph. If you photographed church interiors or inside woods, you might appreciate "dull" days more. The difference between us, I think, is that I go out with a camera to see what I can find, and take things as I find them; perhaps you go out with a very definite idea of what you want to photograph, and look no further?

I'm interested in composition, angles etc. yes; but only as tools to reveal my "take" on my subject - which starts out in the light in which I find it.

I still maintain that there's no such thing as "bad light" - just inappropriate light if you're dead set on a particular effect. And that's not the light's problem :D
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No, you're right. Light doesn't have problems. It just is what it is but there's a reason why people talk about light and mood and golden hours and other such things and there are reasons why we get up early or stop up late and why we walk for miles or sit in the same spot for hours just waiting for the right second to press the button and there are reasons why we go back to the same scene or subject again and again, well, some of us do. It's all about the final image.

When the only source of light is hidden behind a complete blanket of cloud and the sky is completely white or grey with little or indeed no visible detail at all that is going to affect just about any shot taken be it sea, land or urban scape, bird in flight, bug on a leaf, old man smoking a pipe or gorgeous girlfriend reclining on the bed and anything else unlit by flash or strobe or box.

The difference between a grey out no sun day in Middlesbrough and the sun striking the reeds in the wilderness of Kazakhstan, the Buddha outside a temple in Thailand or a bridge over the canals of Bruges in a thunderstorm will show in the final image and that's not just because of the subject, it's the light and each look may be good to a point but also each can become monotonous and on balance I'd say that the drab grey day in Middlesbrough is generally less good for available light photography. In fact I don't think it's even a close call. When going for a look that flat light will give you it is no doubt a wonderful thing but at the moment it's not a look I like to see on my free day and in fact I can't remember the last time I got up and thought "I do hope there's a grey out today." Maybe never.

There's only so far I can go on a day out and only so long I can be out and too many grey out days do get me a bit down and there is definitely a limit to the number of grey out shots I want to take at the moment. At the moment the thought of a "nice" day in my local area be it fine or stormy (but please not another grey out day) and the thought of my next holiday keep me going. Just about :D I don't think that shows a lack of imagination, effort or insight on my part, it just means I'm sick of my free time coinciding with grey outs.
 
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We're not going to agree on this one. The big difference seems to be that you have a very specific type of photograph that you want to take, and very specific lighting that you want to use to take it. I have neither, so am happy to use any light. In fact, I don't get up early or stop up late for that type of light, because I'm not looking for the effect that it creates. My photography can take place equally well in overcast conditions or at midday, so for me there's no such thing as bad light. I do still wonder if your area is so lacking in photographic possibilities that you need the light to such an extent, but the closest I've come is driving through from Sunderland to Whitby in the evening. If you are determined on a specific type of photograph and a specific type of subject, then, yes, you need a specific type of light. I just take the world as I find it, and look closely to see what the light reveals.
 
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