Here in California we are experiencing a horrible drought. When it does rain, it causes my heart to beat fast and tears to fill up my eyes. Yes, it is that bad. We are offered money to take out our lawns and put in drought-tolerant plants. All over my neighborhood, people are pulling out fresh green grass, and putting in succulents. The yards are still beautiful, they are just different.
My photography sometimes goes through periods of drought. Right now I am stuck in a strange place. I am not wanting to take my camera out. My scanner broke last week. I was terribly behind in my scanning and now it feels as though I’ll never catch up. I ruined a roll I was excited about by trying to scan it over and over again. I’d placed that roll on a teak table in the garden, and had forgotten that all about it. These hiccups have caused me to go into a self-imposed drought. Unlike the drought here in California, I can do something about my lack of want and desire to shoot. I can end my drought.
One thing that works for me is to find a list to follow like the one Holly posted one last week. These lists help me look for things I wouldn’t usually be looking for. I keep my eyes open a little bit more.
Or I shot one thing for a few days. I might want to pick a color like Hannah did. Sometimes just looking for yellow on a hike can bring me out of a photography drought. It is my backup water supply.
If these go to tricks don’t work, I ground myself from shooting. I take a fast from the camera and go out to my favorite spots without it. To walk my favorite garden during the golden hour without my camera reminds me of all the light I love to chase and how my soul hurts when I can’t capture it.
Do you feel like you can get into photography droughts? What are some ways you seem to find your thirst to shoot again?
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yes i do. i recently had a long eriod of more than two, nearly three years really when i almost didn’t take any pictures. that was the longest, but i had shorter “off” periods there and then. nothing helps for me at times like these. it just not the same. It doesn’t feel right to me to join any group or to press myself to take a photo because i have to take a photo. I just wait for time to come when i take a photo because i really want to take a photo..for me it is time that helps. inspiration comes back, sometimes slowly, other times suddenly.
my epiphany is always the same: at the times when i think i am not taking any photos, i find out in my archives much later, that i really take some photos, without thinking much.
also, inspiration from others helps to me. i tend to look a lot at photos that others are taking. it can go months without seeing anything special, but one day one day i see a photo that speaks to me, or many photos by the same person that awakens something inside me. i look and look and i get more alive. then i go myself and take many photos.
I love that you keep shooting!
These are glorious Staci. I think everyone has periods of drought and that’s part of the creative process, scary as they may seem. Fingers crossed yours ends soon. x
Thank you! We leave on vacation Saturday. I am hoping that helps.