I live in a very visually boring place

[unpopular]

I guess it all boils down to the greener grass dilemma.

Just because I live in Montana doesn't mean I can walk out my front door and take pictures of mountain streams. I'd be more likely to step in some drunk guy's vomit.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

I wouldn't even say it's about imagination, it's about, as has been said repeatedly, learning to see.
Imagination comes in when you come up with something like whispy flower images.

 

[unpopular]

It would be interesting to do something like this:

http://www.billowens.com/suburbia.html

but with modern values and interpretations of suburban life - perhaps, if you're feeling especially postmodern, try to recreate the portfolio with contemporary subjects and emotions.

 

[JH100]

I agree with the people who are saying the place you live in doesn't have to be geographically stunning to find a good picture. I live in southeastern Louisiana. Aside from the areas where there's particularly stand-out wetland scenes, it's not that visually interesting as a whole here, either. I just do my best to brain storm what could be interesting with what I have around me and/or take shots whenever I do happen to come across something interesting.

 

[brush]

I read the first couple pages of this thread, then skipped to the end in true a.d.d. fashion...and I'll add my opinion that no doubt mirrors the opinions of many others. If you're in a boring place, that's a frame of mind not a location. I'd love to take a badass landscape shot of a volcano erupting just before sunrise overlooking a sleeping village, but that shot doesn't come up often in Atlanta. But I look around me and find indescribable beauty in things I had never thought of. I've seen a lot of your posts around here, OP, and you seem pretty cool & pretty engaged in your creativity...so don't let suburbia stifle you, be inspired by it. Those Bill Owens shots linked by unpopular are proof that breathtakingly awesome images can be captured in even the most humdrum world. And I hate Florida with a passion. Take pictures that capture how miserably boring of a place you live in, those shots will speak volumes more than yet another reflection of a mountain in a lake or bee landing on a flower or whatever 8 billion other "photographers" are plastering all over the web.

 

[Natalie]

I agree with the people who are saying the place you live in doesn't have to be geographically stunning to find a good picture. I live in southeastern Louisiana. Aside from the areas where there's particularly stand-out wetland scenes, it's not that visually interesting as a whole here, either. I just do my best to brain storm what could be interesting with what I have around me and/or take shots whenever I do happen to come across something interesting.

Louisiana is filled with awesome stuff to shoot! I have a lot of Cajun family so I go the state pretty frequently, and always have my camera with me. I mainly interested in wildlife/nature photography, and there is a lot of wildlife down there. My grandmother lives in a suburban area, and even in her yard there are anoles, snakes, and insects to photograph. I took the photo below right in her backyard, though I forgot to use a flash so the whole thing came out completely black and this is just my salvage attempt (the toad hopped away after, so I couldn't get another shot).