Tags Posts tagged with "inspiration"

inspiration

Find inspiration in street photography cover

I’m not afraid to admit that I am currently going through somewhat of a creative block with my street photography. I am feeling rather listless with regards to the street photos I have been creating of late, and not enjoying the process of shooting much either. Part of this stems from a feeling of general frustration I have with shooting in my hometown – I’ve mentioned before how I find it so much easier to shoot when I’m on the road, and why I think travelling is so important for street photography, but I can’t always rely on travelling to get me out of the gutter, nor can I think I can get away with being a purely fair weather street photographer (both in a literal sense and a metaphorical one). So, there are clearly times when I need to learn how to try and force myself to be more sharp and get the creative juices flowing. To develop as a street photographer I feel I need to be prolific, because virtually without fail the only way to get really good at something is practice at it really hard until it becomes second nature. To do that I need to be able to get myself in the zone and that means making the most of all my opportunities, but also trying out new methods to galvanise myself and think creatively in order to get inspired. So I’ve put together a list below of techniques I’m currently experimenting with to help myself out of a creative rut. If you’ve experienced similar problems of frustrations in shooting in your hometown, I highly recommend you give Spyros’ article on how to get over the boredom of shooting street photos in the same location every day. There is some overlap, but my list covers a mixture of things that include both activities out on the street and broader ways of changing my mindset, so hopefully something from this will work! Read on for more…

The Red Studio Henri Matisse

Video

I have downloaded the short version of ‘Everybody Street’ onto my main computer.|It sits on my desktop and in the low moments where the doors of creativity are closing , I crank up my useless speakers and listen, listen and watch. I really do feel the force of the players in the short movie. Gilden, Boogie and that chappie who’s name I can never remember but says ‘ If…If I can’t do this, if it’s too much, then I’m in the wrong business’ and he loops his camera over his shoulder.

http://everybodystreet.com/

Music

I’m not a music fan, in fact 9.9/10ths of the time I work in complete silence except for the chatterings of my mind, which I can assure you aren’t musical in the slightest BUT because of the video above and it’s inspiring soundtrack I do now, should I need a stand up and get going tune listen to:

Andrew Sweigart - Street Hunter

Introduction

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” A very true statement. Imagine, sometime copying your style of photography! How great would that be? You’re a hero, an idol, a GOD behind the lens! But there’s something else even more powerful than being imitated. That’s the power to INSPIRE. Lighting someone’s fire to create, that’s where it’s at. That’s the best flattery of them all! But let me explain why I feel it’s important to us, as photographers, to not copy or imitate someone’s style, but to be our own animal. Our own creature that evolves constantly and maybe inspires someone else to create their own art.

Introduction

Are you suffering from a lack of inspiration? Do you Street shots look the same? Are you in a rut?

Often enough we plough our own furrow and on occasion what used to inspire only confirms we’ve reached a stepping stone in our street photography and it’s time to scale new heights but we don’t know where or how.

I come from a fine art background and have painted for a number of years so rather than incestuously digging over photos again and again, although this very much has it place, I reach into other visual media to inspire.