Lacking Substance

[deeky]

I'll echo what others have said - take a step back and get distracted. Just working through that with another hobby that I was spending hours a week on, and then none for months. Finally finding my way back to it and doing things I've never done before.

I will add one more point I haven't seen yet in this thread - you stated that your photos are lacking emotion. I disagree with that. They are simply reflecting the emotion you are carrying - it just happens to be neutral to negative. Find something else that will spark your emotion and passion and then let that be reflected in your photos. For me and my other hobby - fly tying, I had to see the excitement about fishing in my kids to put that emotion and passion back into my own fly tying.

 

[minicoop1985]

There's also about 10 billion different ways to get creative with photography. Recently, I'd found that my stuff was all starting to look the same-rather gray photos of outdoor fallish scenes. Lucked out a few times with fog and windmills, I will say. Then I strapped an old lens onto my newest one and BAM something new to play with. Maybe try going somewhere new, or just looking around the house for some way to change things up, make things a bit different. I've found that to keep this interesting, I continuously need to reinvent myself and my approach, and it's kept me glued to the viewfinder pretty well. Normally I would have given up after a few weeks.

 

[tevo]

When gsgary asked if you had studied the masters, and listed off some very accomplished masters of photography, my mind went to the masters...Da Vinci, Raphael, Titian,Van Eyck, Rubens,Vermeer, Rembrandt.

A book or two on the history of fine art in western culture might give you some insight into "how" and "why" the western language of visual art is as it is today. How space is used in visual image, as well as how scale, color, and design principles are used is the kind of thing you'd learn from studying classical painting and its traditions. Photography is a fairly modern thing. Painting is much older, but it has shaped how we use the visual language.

I hadn't thought of this, I will spend some time looking into visual art as a whole.

 

[tevo]

I routinely fall into the doldrums about my pictures ('as well you might' murmur people who don't like street shots.)
And because they aren't the results of just work but work and circumstance, I am at the mercy of where I am and where I go.

So every time I had a bad patch, the plateaus feel slippery , I think I will never shoot a decent picture again.
And, I have a situation different than yours, I am at an age where I have a very discrete future and I need to do now, whatever I plan on doing, so a doldrum without a forseeable end is frightening and needs to be actively fought..

While that might indeed be possible, I take a couple of steps. First, I start looking back through old pictures to reinforce my belief in myself that I can take good shots and then, I make a real, real effort to go somewhere I haven't been enough and spend some time, mining that area for pictures.

(I have an area that I've kept in reserve because it is rich in picture possibilities but it is such a stranger-hostile neighborhood that it was mentioned frequently in the book, 'The Wire.'
That's my next place to go but I'm waiting until the weather is so cold and crappy that no one will be hanging around to give me a hard time.)

That kind of excursion may not work for you but talent doesn't die easily except for neglect and if you have taken good pictures before, there are more to be taken.

Some possible steps

Go simpler, leave most of your kit behind and set yourself a goal to take a good set of images with a particular lens-body combination.
Go somewhere new.
Put away your gear for some period of time but, in that time, start looking at the pictures you've missed. Like sex, forced abstinence makes the urge much stronger.
Start an in-house project, really in the house, and set yourself to take good pictures of where you live with no aim except to exercise skill over mundane circumstance. Exercising skills makes you more alive.

Now, I'm off to the gym to persuade my body that it really doesn't want to go back to bed.

This is good advice, I'm wishing I hadn't sold my prime lenses, I think my 24-70 is making me think less about composition.

 

[imagemaker46]

I think at some point everyone that owns a camera will get to a point where they feel a little bored using it, especially if they are shooting a lot of the same subjects. I can say honestly that as a pro and have shot many more years and images that the majority of this forum that when I hit that point it is a struggle to push past it. I shoot a lot of the same subjects over and over and the more formula it becomes the more difficult it is to get motivated. I felt this way on Saturday when I was shooting a single day of swimming, it all looked the same, consistency is important, and providing quality to the client is what has to be done. I had a great shoot, but was bored the whole time. Staying motivated is the same as with anything, going to the gym, sticking to a diet, doesn't matter what it is. I have a break from swimming now until the end of March, and hopefully will get my brains back into to gear for it. Fortunately I will be covering the Paralympics in Sochi, followed by swimming in Florida and then on to the west coast for a big swim meet. I try and look for inspiration from other events.

Some days are tougher than other and it just takes looking at things from a different angle.

 

[amolitor]

People who know me better know that I am perhaps much too interested in the process of making pictures.

This thread, more or less, inspired me to think through how I have been getting on lately, and to write down some stuff about it. These are pretty long:

Photos and Stuff: Making the Pictures You Want

and a followup:

Photos and Stuff: Making the Pictures I Want

 

[Compaq]

I have picked up on some tips that may relate to your situation. I subscribe to a trimonthly photography magazine, LensWork, and the editorials are always highly informative. A few issues back the editor, Brooks Jensen, commented on our constantly growing pile (or bytes) of single-image works. What to do with them? Do single-image works satisfy our creative self (paraphrasing a bit)? What Jensen suggested, was to think in terms of projects, or image series. A story might be easier told by combining several images into an image series. I was intrigued by his preposition, and I myself want to try it. With such a plan, ideas are key. My ideas come to me when I see something interesting when walking outside, and I try to write them down when possible. I am not that good following my ideas. Thinking in terms of projects, and not just about about how you feel your single-image works lack context, a story, or meaning, might help you get some renewed confidence in your images.

Speaking of LensWork - I cannot praise this magazine enough (although they try not to call themselves that). LensWork is about the creative process, and about photographs. Technicalities are mentioned in a sentence or two, if at all, and the reader is left with the images and an artistic statement or introduction to the series. I think only black and white are printed (I have not seen any color prints), and the print quality is terrific. They have also won awards for their printing. But all this aside, my point is that looking at what other people deem good enough for publication, really helps. Most of it, anyone of us would be able to do - we just need to get the idea for the project. I remember in one issue when a man came across some icicles in a frozen stream. He captured everything with his iPhone, edited the best shots, and was later published in LensWork. And they were good images - especially as a series. I highly recommend LensWork, because its content is always rewarding to read. Usually there are between four to six photographers' portfolios presented (image series) and either an article or an interview. Also, once you get past its self-advertizing, there is no advertizing throughout the magazine - just photography.

I seem to recall that another member suggested studying the "Greats" - after all, their images must be meaningful; why else did they stand the test of time? Some weeks ago I bought some books by Ansel Adams. I am currently working my way through "The Making of 40 Photographs", and I must say it is highly rewarding. Not only are many of his photographs really good, but there are interesting reflections and thoughts throughout his explanations. The interesting thing is that his images are not necessarily better than most people's. Heck, I do not even like his famous one with a moon over a New Mexico village. This fact should encourage most, because everyone can create extraordinary images. The crazy thing is that, most likely I dare say, there are thousands of extraordinary images sitting on computers, never to be discovered.

You may find some small grain of help in my ramblings; I apologize, that all I have to offer.

edit: My experience is the following: When people try to "force" the thing we call "meaning" into their photography, it is rarely convincing. I dare say that Ansel Adams did not think about the meaning of his negatives when he developed them. I think he was confident enough to believe he didn't make crap, and saw when his compositions were great and when his negatives were printable that he would be happy with the final image. I, maybe wrongly, believe that whenever a photographer has to somehow "explain" the meaning of his photographs, it is a sign of amateurism.

 

[tevo]

I have picked up on some tips that may relate to your situation. I subscribe to a trimonthly photography magazine, LensWork, and the editorials are always highly informative. A few issues back the editor, Brooks Jensen, commented on our constantly growing pile (or bytes) of single-image works. What to do with them? Do single-image works satisfy our creative self (paraphrasing a bit)? What Jensen suggested, was to think in terms of projects, or image series. A story might be easier told by combining several images into an image series. I was intrigued by his preposition, and I myself want to try it. With such a plan, ideas are key. My ideas come to me when I see something interesting when walking outside, and I try to write them down when possible. I am not that good following my ideas. Thinking in terms of projects, and not just about about how you feel your single-image works lack context, a story, or meaning, might help you get some renewed confidence in your images.

Speaking of LensWork - I cannot praise this magazine enough (although they try not to call themselves that). LensWork is about the creative process, and about photographs. Technicalities are mentioned in a sentence or two, if at all, and the reader is left with the images and an artistic statement or introduction to the series. I think only black and white are printed (I have not seen any color prints), and the print quality is terrific. They have also won awards for their printing. But all this aside, my point is that looking at what other people deem good enough for publication, really helps. Most of it, anyone of us would be able to do - we just need to get the idea for the project. I remember in one issue when a man came across some icicles in a frozen stream. He captured everything with his iPhone, edited the best shots, and was later published in LensWork. And they were good images - especially as a series. I highly recommend LensWork, because its content is always rewarding to read. Usually there are between four to six photographers' portfolios presented (image series) and either an article or an interview. Also, once you get past its self-advertizing, there is no advertizing throughout the magazine - just photography.

I seem to recall that another member suggested studying the "Greats" - after all, their images must be meaningful; why else did they stand the test of time? Some weeks ago I bought some books by Ansel Adams. I am currently working my way through "The Making of 40 Photographs", and I must say it is highly rewarding. Not only are many of his photographs really good, but there are interesting reflections and thoughts throughout his explanations. The interesting thing is that his images are not necessarily better than most people's. Heck, I do not even like his famous one with a moon over a New Mexico village. This fact should encourage most, because everyone can create extraordinary images. The crazy thing is that, most likely I dare say, there are thousands of extraordinary images sitting on computers, never to be discovered.

You may find some small grain of help in my ramblings; I apologize, that all I have to offer.

edit: My experience is the following: When people try to "force" the thing we call "meaning" into their photography, it is rarely convincing. I dare say that Ansel Adams did not think about the meaning of his negatives when he developed them. I think he was confident enough to believe he didn't make crap, and saw when his compositions were great and when his negatives were printable that he would be happy with the final image. I, maybe wrongly, believe that whenever a photographer has to somehow "explain" the meaning of his photographs, it is a sign of amateurism.

Thanks very much for the wisdom. I subscribe to Popular Photography and 90% of it is reviews/technical how-to-use-Lightroom type of stuff. I'd frankly be more interested in a magazine that discusses art more than DSLRs.