Five Ideas for Breaking Out of a Rut
We’ve all been there. The sinking feeling of inspiration and creativity packing their bags and leaving you in the dust. I’ve had my share of photography highs and lows and I can now identify the paths that led to each. For me, it’s pretty easy to determine if I am taking a road to nowhere in my photography journey: burnout and comparison are surefire ways to drain all motivation and passion from me. This time of year can certainly trigger both – I am simultaneously drained from a busy fall photo season and overwhelmed by the beautiful captures of the holiday season by my peers.
This year I have worked hard at paying attention to the burnout triggers and identifying ways to protect my passion of photography. Here are five ways that have helped me break out of the occasional rut:
1. Identify the photography “negatives” and weed them out.
As a business owner there are plenty of job tasks that I despise, but I can’t do much about them. I’m not consistently busy enough to warrant hiring an assistant, so I decided to take a look at what photography tasks I could cut without feeling too much of a pinch. For example, I decided that the concept of the “sneak peek” on social media wasn’t really doing me much good. My facebook reach stinks and my clients didn’t seem to care much one way or another, so why was I bending over backwards to quickly edit and upload those sneak peeks? Now I just post favorites on either Facebook or Instagram after I have delivered the images and I am saving myself time and a bit of sanity.
2. Go someplace new.
For me, traveling to a new place is a huge source of inspiration. Whether it’s a new location for a client session, a park I haven’t taken my kids to before, or a road trip with my family, some of my very favorite images are in locations I had never been to before.
3. Learn a new skill.
I’ve made films of my family for a few years now, but this year I really worked to improve my videography. Learning a new art has inspired me in ways I could never have imagined. The beauty of our family films is that they are cobbled together from iphone, DSLR, and GoPro footage. I use what I have so that I can be in the moment. Often shaky, out of focus, and in terrible light, they tell our stories in a way that images can’t, so I have learned to embrace the imperfect.
4. Test a new lens.
My least budget friendly rut-breaker has been to purchase a new lens. Admittedly, renting one is a much more economical method! However, my impulsive trigger finger has led me to one of my all-time favorite purchases, the Sigma 15mm 2.8 fisheye lens. The quirky perspective is a sure-fire way for me to capture an image that sparks my passion up again. If you haven’t ever rented a lens, I suggest doing so! Try out something funky like a fisheye, Lensbaby, tilt-shift, or macro. (Just be prepared to fall in love and click purchase!)
5. Do it, or don’t – either way is OK.
Why is it that my mom-guilt extends into photography? (Or at least it does for me.) I beat myself up about not blogging enough or capturing enough of my children’s every day. I tell myself I should be doing a 365 project or giving back more with my photography. Sometimes I let my brain do way more of the talking than my heart does, and it slowly kills the joy I find in photography. During these times I have to tell myself…. “Do it or don’t, but either way is OK.” It’s a bit of a mantra I repeat to myself when I notice that I am feeling the “photographer guilt.” Often we hear that to get past a rut, just KEEP SHOOTING – even when you don’t feel like it. That has worked for me before, but it’s also ok to just take a break. Keep shooting or don’t…. either way is OK.
As look towards the start of 2017, consider what triggers a photography rut and what methods will help you prevent one. Try going to a new location or tackling a new skill – either way, it will be OK.