How do you get over a 'slump'?

[swmdrayfan]

I'm experiencing a period right now where it seems everything from shooting to post processing is going terribly, and it's starting to affect my confidence. I've only been at this for a couple of years, but it seems like I'm regressing. It's like a ballplayer who goes into a hitting slump, and I just can't seem to fight my way through it. How have you out there gotten past these things? Do you shoot more? Less? Do you step away from it for awhile? I'm trying to get back to basics, reading articles, books, the D70 manual, looking at the posts here and seeing what others are doing.
I'm getting some great advice and encouragement here whenever I post a photo, but, like a slumping hitter, I find myself overthinking instead of letting it come natural.
Everyone's probably been there before, so whatever you can tell me will be appreciated. Lord knows, this is frustrating.

[Franglais]

It might be that after 2 years you're entering some sort of maturity as a photographer.

- you no longer just go out and shoot in a burst of enthusiasm. You've learnt what doesn't work and you're perhaps holding yourself back too much
- you've become more difficult. Were those early pictures really so good? How many bad ones did it take to get a good one?

There's no going back, anyway. I find it helps to be more methodical. As I'm not quite so happy-go-lucky as I used to be, I've made a list of things that I like to shoot or things that work well and I concentrate on that. I've noticed that I usually do the same things each year, go to the same events and so I've made a calendar to help me plan better

Charles

[Loupey]

I'm lucky as I shoot primarily nature. Since nothing is the same twice, I can always go out and find something to shoot. Perhaps adding a little nature can boost your confidence/excitement?

Just go out with a clear head (leave your worries and concerns behind) and the images will start jumping out at you

[jorgemonkey]

I'm sorta in a little slump as well. For me its because I've been working 2 jobs & going to school 6 days a week, so I literally have no time for anything else that I love doing. I leave home at 8am, get home around 8:30pm (hmm, no wonder I'm exhausted & have gotten sick

When I hit a big slump in my MTB riding, I didnt know what to do. I used to love solo riding, but I didn't get a chance to go riding for a few months & my endurance tanked. Now what stops me from riding is the mental block of when I'm doing a ride that is taking me 1 1/2 hours, that used to take me 1 hour.

Then I started doing group rides again, and now I commute on my bike whenever I can. I credit going out in groups to getting my passion for riding back again.

Same could work for photography. You might want to find a photogroup in the area and go on a trip or two with them to learn something new

Also, buying new camera toys also helps me get in the mood to photograph something

[Xia_Ke]

Can't say I've hit that slump with photography yet as I'm still relatively new to it but, have experienced it in other aspects of my life. I find what happens is when I start to slump, I worry too much about it, which puts me into more of a slump and things just snowball. For me it's always been best just to walk away from whatever it is for a week or two. Sometimes you just need a "vacation" to clear your head. I always end up coming back with a fresh outlook. Photography could be handled slightly different though. What was it that first got you into taking pictures? What was it that gave you that spark. Maybe for the next 2 weeks, you try your best not to take a serious picture. Go out, have have some fun with the kids. See a ball game. Take your camera along and try to take some snapshots for fun to capture the moment rather than trying to capture a perfect image.

[readingr]

John,

Normally when I get into a lull with photography, I jump ship with what I usually take and start experimenting with other things, e.g. A while ago I played around with light painting and using light tents for still life just for fun.

What I do find difficult at times is finding time with home and work to do any photography so during this spell I make notes in my photo note pad of locations, ideas, which I want to try out, and sometimes I go back and find new books or re-read books for ideas.

Hope that helps.

A while ago I played with pinhole and got the old film camera out just for a change.

Roger

[Greg McCary]

I'm experiencing a period right now where it seems everything from shooting to post processing is going terribly, and it's starting to affect my confidence. I've only been at this for a couple of years, but it seems like I'm regressing. It's like a ballplayer who goes into a hitting slump, and I just can't seem to fight my way through it. How have you out there gotten past these things? Do you shoot more? Less? Do you step away from it for awhile? I'm trying to get back to basics, reading articles, books, the D70 manual, looking at the posts here and seeing what others are doing.
I'm getting some great advice and encouragement here whenever I post a photo, but, like a slumping hitter, I find myself overthinking instead of letting it come natural.
Everyone's probably been there before, so whatever you can tell me will be appreciated. Lord knows, this is frustrating.

We all go through it. I have been out and shot 4gigs worth of pictures and came home and deleted them all. I find my subjects by going on long drives by myself. I may have several pojects I want to work on but have to wait until the elements are right. I have some subjects I have shot several times and still don't have what I want. I have a PR member, Tyson Sparks, that I share ideas with too that helps.
Try setting out early way before sunrise and just drive around and listen to some music.
I never wind up taking pictures of what I set out to shoot. Just trying to help, but don't give up. It's just part of it.......

[swmdrayfan]

Can't say I've hit that slump with photography yet as I'm still relatively new to it but, have experienced it in other aspects of my life. I find what happens is when I start to slump, I worry too much about it, which puts me into more of a slump and things just snowball. For me it's always been best just to walk away from whatever it is for a week or two. Sometimes you just need a "vacation" to clear your head. I always end up coming back with a fresh outlook. Photography could be handled slightly different though. What was it that first got you into taking pictures? What was it that gave you that spark. Maybe for the next 2 weeks, you try your best not to take a serious picture. Go out, have have some fun with the kids. See a ball game. Take your camera along and try to take some snapshots for fun to capture the moment rather than trying to capture a perfect image.

Xia...funny you should mention ball games. That is exactly the spark that got me started. It was only after joining here that I started to think about other things. I bought my D70 in April of 2005 expressly to take ballgame pics, and ended up as the team photographer for the last half of last season. The team was sold and moved over the winter, so I'm shooting an occasional h.s. and college game, but have noticed I'm somewhat 'off' in that area also.

[Xia_Ke]

Xia...funny you should mention ball games. That is exactly the spark that got me started. It was only after joining here that I started to think about other things. I bought my D70 in April of 2005 expressly to take ballgame pics, and ended up as the team photographer for the last half of last season. The team was sold and moved over the winter, so I'm shooting an occasional h.s. and college game, but have noticed I'm somewhat 'off' in that area also.

LOL... I figured as much from your avatar ;) I'm assuming you still love going to the ball games correct? The best advice I can give is to stop worrying about taking the perfect shot. This is supposed to be fun remember ;) Maybe try looking at the game in a different way for shooting to mix it up a bit. Instead of trying to catch the perfect "action" shot, maybe focus on a kid in the crowd eating a hot dog or a fathers face after his son has a good at bat or makes a good play. Just try and mix it up a bit from the norm. If you're not having fun with it though, just put the camera down and take a breather because you will only end up more frustrated in the end

[swmdrayfan]

Franglais---I believe you hit on something. Looking back, I can see the difference between then and now. Perhaps my self-expectations are a little higher than my abilities now. I see where I was, where I am, and where I want to be, so the frustrations may be a result of impatience with the growing process.

Loupey--I want to get out to the local wildlife preserve this summer for some of that. Not having a macro or 400-500 telephoto constricts me somewhat, so I will have to make use of what I do have.......the 70-300mm and the 18-70mm zooms, and the 50mm/1.8. Not shooting nature before, there's an area I want to try, so that's on the to-do list. It would be a good change of pace for me.

jorgemonkey--been toying with the idea of a photogroup. I'll contact the camera shop to see if they know of a good one.

Xia----I'm taking this week off. Just gonna read the D70 books and get back to basics.

Roger----maybe now would be a good time to dust off the Minolta Maxxum SLR that's been in the closet since '03.

Greg--a good idea. Too many times, I've been enroute to someplace, and seen something worth shooting. Perhaps getting out in the car and just heading out with no particular goal in mind might lead to something spontaneous. If I'm not thinking about how I'm going to shoot a subject, then just happening upon something that catches my eye, just might keep me clearheaded and not caught up in details.

Thanks guys.

[masdog]

John,

I've been in a slump for over a year, so I know how you feel. I went from shooting collegiate sports to barely shooting at all. I am going to try to break the slump this summer when I start gearing up for my friend's wedding in September.

I guess the thing that has helped me the most is taking a break. I stepped away from shooting for the longest time while I evaluated what I wanted to do with photography. Now that I have some aspects of my life nailed down, I feel reenergized and ready to get back into the game.

[opus]

I identify with the overthinking aspect too. It's when I start to overthink things that I get annoying and start to fret and obsess and nothing turns out right anyway. My best pictures have come from times when I wasn't expecting to get good pictures anyway, I was just shooting for fun and love of it. I can always tell in any sequence of shots (vacation, usually), just where my shots start going downhill, and it's usually right after I've realized I've got some good ones and I want to go out and get more. Then I start to expect that every frame will be a keeper, which of course it's not, which puts me into a panic and I start trying harder and harder, and end up with more and more uninspired shots.

On the other hand, sometimes I think it's a problem as simple as lighting. When lighting sux, my pictures suc too. And I've never really learned to control lighting. I think that would be a good foundation for me to start studying again.

[Alison]

it's starting to affect my confidence.

Oh my goodness! You may, or may not believe this but I am always battling with confidence issues!

I don't think it helps when I go to shoot my Niece's one week old baby girl, for free, and see her family portraits hanging on her walls. These pictures were taken by someone else and she paid them £170 for their trouble. Can anyone here say "flash shadows".
It's not the fact that she has had family portraits taken by someone else. It's the fact that she has never even bought a 50p print of her other baby, (who is now 2 years old), from me!
I was hurt and felt like picking up my stuff and walking straight out the door.
But I held my head high and started shooting.
Now I have some newborn shots on my website :thumbsup:

Whether or not she buys any of these from me I don't know. But all I ask family for is the cost of the print.

[swmdrayfan]

Sean---I don't know if I need a year off, but a break is definately in order.

Opus---Sounds like me to a T. I get a couple of good ones, then overdo it. Maybe it's the "more is better" line of thinking. I end up with 100 shots, when 20 will do.

Alison---I wonder if it's the line of thought that you're family, so you're almost obligated to do it for free. Your niece has those expensive photos on the wall because "well, I paid for them, I might as well hang them". She should have offered to pay you something, at least for your time and wear & tear on the camera. Sadly, family members don't think that way all the time.

[livin4lax09]

yeah, take a break and after a little while, start shooting again. You may remember why you love it so much. I went through a big slump last winter, but the investment in my 1d made me jump right back into things and I remembered why I love doing it so much. Sometimes a break just helps you realize why you like things so much. in the meantime, take your time off to do some research on photographic stuff. You may also find that it can rekindle your passion for it, as the more you read and research, the more eager you are to try out what you are reading about. I'm personally one of those people who see something cool and instantly go and try to replicate it. Most of the time it leads way to some pretty interesting ideas.

So if you're simply looking for a way to find some creativity, look no further than copying ideas. they sometimes grow into very interesting concepts.

[CLKunst]

Hi John!

I second all of the good advice you've gotten so far. I think you should definitely unwind. I know you had a lot of inspiration as the team photographer for the SWM Devil Rays. I used to have a regular Tuesday night concert that I would go to that did the same sort of thing for me. Eventually the promoter got fired or gave up or both and that was the end of my access at that venue. I felt very adrift even though I had other things I could do. It had been my favorite part of the week for two years and then there was nothing. I had to shake out of it and you will too but right now I know that can feel like that's off the map. Since you're going to take some time to read I thought I would make a suggestion that you might be able to find at a library or bookstore, (although it is a little out dated - 1999! ) It's called John Hedgecoe's Creative Photography Work Book. It has a few short chapters on technique orientation/refreshers and then the rest of the book is made up of little "assignments" or subject suggestions. Sometimes I flip it open and pick something at random and give myself conditions like, 'I can't leave the house to find this picture opportunity' or 'I'll only shoot pre-foucused at waist level for an hour while I'm out walking around somewhere public.' I know that sounds like a waste of time but the point of the exercise is to break it up a little and lighten my own attitude toward picture taking and since it's digital it's not like you're paying for developer!

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Photography is ALL about perspective so change your own perspective as often as you get the chance to.

:thumbsup:

Best,
Cindy

[photophorous]

Lots of good advice so far. I just wanted to suggest a couple of things that work for me. I think we've all had slumps. Mine usually end when I go some place new. Stick a prime lens on your camera, decide in advance how many pictures you're going to take, and then go for a walk somewhere you're not familiar with. A prime lens will force you to consider compositions that you might normally zoom right past. Don't worry about making perfect pictures. Just pick some technique or aspect of your photography that you want to improve, and work on that. I don't think there's anything wrong with taking a little break either. You could use the time to read a little (check out Freeman Patterson books) or to study some photos that you like. Do that for long enough and you'll find some new inspiration somewhere.

Paul

[swmdrayfan]

Brent....right you are. I've got plenty of study materials at hand not only from PR, but other articles on the internet, photo mags, and a couple of old books around the house.

Cindy....good suggestions. I might just do that today. It's overcast and rainy, and it's an opportunity to work on low-light photography.

Paul....your idea sounds very intriguing. Limit myself to maybe 20 pics and see what I come up with.

I've gotten some fresh perspective, and some new incentive now. I won't be posting anything other than an occasional critique or comment for a couple of weeks. I'll see you all with what I hope will be something of interest.
John

[JSPhoto]

Hmmm, never really thought about slumps in photography before, I'll have bad days once or twice a month but nothing more, maybe it's because of my old football coach and how he taught us that it's all in the mind and to kick butt on the next play. He never gave up, and after 27 years of coaching at one high school finally got that state championship, after losing six times in the finals!
Saturday that kind of hit me while taking photos at cystic fibrosis walk for the paper. It must have been fate as I couldn't think of any place to get a decent shot of the is woman and then when I looked through the viewfinder I saw it, so I asked her to move a bit to the right and lower the pictures a tad....behind her was a sign "Never, Never, Ever, Give Up! And of course the ole coach popped into my head with a long list of sayings that he always told us...including that one of course. I didn't have anymore problems that day :thumbsup:

JS