Creative block... i need help big time!!

Right well... this is around the 8th month ive been into photography (seriously that is.) I seem to have come to some kind of hurdle on the road to being a better photographer. Im getting my technical skills down to a tee now, seeing out of focus and badly composed pictures less and less. I spent most of the summer photographing everything to do with nature and im very happy with my progress in this area.

Now the sunny days are over im moving onto architecture, people, night photography, anything i can think of really, but im finding i have a mental block on any ideas. I often find this happens, i go through a dry spot and i cant seem to come up with anything then it passes and the pictures start coming in but this is very annoying. Last year when i was in college we learned a lot of techniques for maximizing our creativity some of which were actually really useful but its been so long since ive been in a design technology that ive forgotten everything.

Anyways, after that long winded explanation, im just wondering what you guys do when this happens, or if it even happens to you. Does anyone have any specific things they do or ideas they have as to coming up with more creative pictures, what are your creative thought processes before taking a picture. tbh i cant wait to get the uni, i often find people who have done proper courses in photography have a lot more direction and focus due to the fact they have a skilled tutor teaching them (which im sure a lot of people will disagree with)

 

Start with local Landmarks and go from there. Look around and determine which ones should be daylight and what should be night light and even what could be both.

 

To re-use an idea that was thrown at me on the MOTW thread - go and photograph your washing machine whilst it's running a load (this really only works on a front loader). I got something I was rather impressed with.

 

lol... well i cant do that now because it defeats the purpose of this, ive got no inspiration atm, thats what im trying to fix! but neat idea though.. ill have to try it out some time !!

 

Do you mean you lack the incentive to get out and take pictures

 

It's more about looking at things in a different way - if no one had asked me to do it, it would never have occurred to me to photograph a washing machine, the principle must apply to many other non-obvious subjects.

 

When I start to feel like I'm running out of ideas, I look to other photographers for inspiration. Just search a genre of photography on the web, whether it be portrait photography, abstract photography, etc., and look at what other people are doing for inspiration. I'm not saying copy someone else's work, but use it as a starting point.

 

When I want a simple idea, I look at what is around me. All kinds of thoughts come up. Macros, portrait, wildlife, architecture, religious, political, controversial.

If you are really stuck for ideas, look for a random topic on flickr and use that... or check out some of the past monthly challenges here and give yourself the challenge of making 10 pictures per topic and making a study of it, see what you did to make the best of 10 pictures in that lot.

Dang, if you ever run out of things to take pictures of, tell you what... open a dictionary, find the FIRST verb and take a picture of something that makes you envision that word. When you are finished with the verbs, jump to emotions or colours or... I could go on and on... but you should have a good idea by now!

 

What if you picked a random spot (a park, a street, your backyard, your kitchen, etc.) and forced yourself to stay in that area for a certain period of time. In that time, you could just sit and start noticing things that maybe you hadn't seen before or see things from a new angle. Move around, move things around, and just see what you come up with.

 

^^ lol i used to do that when i started out, anyways, i went into town tonight and got some okay pics.. still not that happy with them. These are all great ideas, speshly the dictionary one! i will definatly use that one.

 

it happens to everyone, certainly ... I just quit with photography for a couple of days, even weeks then .. it always comes back

 

One of my favorite photo things to do during the off time is to take photos of the alphabet. Not quite what you think. Alphabet "shapes" is a better explanation. Look around your town and see if you can get the images that look like letters. A manhole cover might be an "O"... a telephone pole might have a "T" shape in it. I know these examples are easy... but be creative. "Q's" and "G's" are harder than you think.

BTW - this is a tried and true "developing your photographic eye" exercise.