Mon Aug 30, 2004 5:26 am 
http://www.pbase.com/image/33047856
And it occured to me that she might not be the only one experiencing
this, that "running out of ideas" perhaps hits all of us at one time
or another... it's like the photographer's version of "writer's block."
Some years ago, I hit that wall too. And got pretty stuck there for
quite a while. But what eventually got me "unstuck" was just a slight
shift in thinking from one where I'd been thinking "I have to go
out and make some images today" to one where I started asking
myself a few questions.
How the whole process came about is long and drawn out and
I won't bore you with that. But the bottom line is that I eventually
started asking myself a few question which got the "idea cooker"
going again.
Specifically, I asked myself three questions:
(1) What's going through my head?;
(2) What do I most value?, and;
(3) What's here today but perhaps gone tomorrow?
***************
WHAT'S GOING THROUGH MY HEAD?
Many times what grabs our eye and makes for a good Photo-A-Day
is the sort of thing that visually stands out or calls to our attention.
A change of lighting, for example, can make even the ordinary seem
extraordinary. And so look for things around you, not for what they
are or how you'd use them, but rather for how they appear. The shovel
leaning against the shed in the backyard might sit there for months
and just always be the same old, same old shovel. But if we watch
the shovel in terms of its appearance, on any given day, the way
it looks will change many times depending on where the light it.
And at least some times, in some lighting situations, that ordinary
shovel leaning against that shed will appear extra ordinary. And
that's the moment to shoot -- when the lighting is such that
the ordinary appears extraordinary.
But also consider all those things in your daily life which catch your
eye because you either find them amusing, or cute, or ironic, or
even disgusting. This too is the stuff images are made out of because
our purpose in photographing is to communicate to others, and
certainly there is a challenge there that if we see something that
is amusing, cute, or ironic, can photograph that in a way which
conveys what we see to others.
So ask yourself: "What's going through my head?" because listening
to our own self-talk usually tells us what things are grabbing our
attention, and from that, what things might be worth shooting.
***************
WHAT DO I MOST VALUE?
When others tell me they've run out of ideas for what to shoot,
one of the first questions I have for them is "What do you most
value?"
Perhaps its your car? Well, then photograph that.
Or perhaps you most value the the beauty of the morning, like
the mist rising over the local field as your taking your morning
walk.
Or perhaps you most value that hour you might take to do you
exercises each day and so the subject matter for at least a few
of your PAD shot might well come from where you spend this
time -- at the gym.
Or perhaps its your children which you most value. Well, geez,
anybody who has kids and values them at all has a seemingly
never ending source of subject matter to photograph.
And what about your spouse, or significant other? Over a given
year just a focus on that one person alone could be used to
construct a whole PAD gallery (not that most of our spouses
would be patient enough to endure that without killing us first,
but nevertheless, if it's something we value, then most certainly
it seems as good a subject as any when one is experiencing a
photographer's version of "writer's block."
For me, Scouting has been a part of my life for over a quarter
of a century. And so perhaps no surprise if sometime during
the year, images from camp life might end up popping up in
my PAD gallery.
But we each of us have our own things in our daily life which
we most value, and these are the things worth photographing,
and all the more so anytime we might feel "I've run out of ideas
of things to shoot."
If you're looking for things to photograph, consider what things
in your daily life you most value.
*********************
WHAT'S HERE TODAY BUT PERHAPS GONE TOMORROW?
Look back at your old snapshot albums or the old family albums,
and particularly to those images made when we were each younger.
And in those photographs, you will most likely find a whole multitude
of things which were there at one time in life, but perhaps sadly gone
today.
I look at my own family albums, for example, and wish I had more
pictures of common things like the bedroom I grew up in with my
brother, or the station wagon Dad use to drive, or the rather odd
shape of the kitchen we spent so many years using, or just more
images of myself and my siblings when we were kids and involved
in a seeming endless array of activites.
And then I look around my own place today and ask: "What's here
today that perhaps won't be here next year, or in 5 years, or in
10, or 20? " And when we look at daily life around us from that
perspective, suddenly there is a whole multitude of things which
might be worth photographing right before us right now because...
well... before we know it, they too might be gone.
And at least some of those things are worth photographing if for
no other reason than just to have as a keepsake; a memory. And
all the better if the way we shoot them and the way we light and
compose those photographs makes for interesting images in and
of themselves.
***************
So it is from asking these three questions...
(1) What's going through my head?;
(2) What do I most value?, and;
(3) What's here today but perhaps gone tomorrow?
... that there is rarely, if ever, a reason that we might run out
of ideas for things to photograph.
And most of the time when it seems we're run out of ideas, it's
not so much that we actually had nothing to photograph,
but more the case that we just haven't been paying attention
to ourselves, or just asking ourselves a few simple questions.
Hope that's of help to any here who seem to find their PAD
has them hitting the photographer's version of "writer's block."
Usually just a few questions to ourselves can solve that one.
CJ
