10 ways out of creative rut as a photographer
Recently I spoke with my Instagram friend, Tomek, who’s a street photographer. He reached out, and we ended up having a little exchange about what our ways out of a creative rut are.
Struggling with feeling stuck, not knowing which direction to go, and so on - it’s a feeling I know very well.
It comes and goes, especially when you haven’t yet reached a certain level of clarity about your own work, or when you start doubting too much and overthinking.
It comes unexpectedly and suddenly things stop flowing.
It can literally paralyze you sometimes, making you unable to do the work, no matter how badly you want to. And most often, the harder you try to get rid of it, the more difficult it gets.
You end up going in circles on the hamster wheel, frustration reaches dangerous levels, and you feel burned out.
Burnout, at least for me, is the feeling when you simultaneously lack both the motivation and the inspiration to act creatively.
Some mechanism stops working and the entire machine that allows you to create gets blocked.
Over the last few years, ever since I started doing photography, I’ve developed my own 10 ways of getting out of this deep black hole.
1. Look for inspiration outside
Photography books, exhibitions, work of established photographers, all forms of visual art. Also film and theatre. Music.
But it’s important here that quality matters, not quantity.
2. Novelty refreshes the spirit
Novelty triggers curiosity and hunger for more.
When I get stuck, I go out and play, for example, with various techniques: long exposures, panning, details. It helps refresh how I see.
3. Travel, big or small
For me, travel works best - short and intense photo trips where I spend almost the whole day exploring a place and photographing.
They really don’t have to be journeys to the end of the world. Sometimes it’s enough to get on a bus or a train and go to another town.
4. Other forms of art
I wrote about this when talking about my 1-to-1 collage workshop with with friend Helen Hartmann. Collage is a perfect art form because you don’t have to be a painter, a photographer, or a poet to create something that combines all those disciplines.
Such activities always come with a breath of freshness.
5. Photo project / self-assignment
Think photographing a specific colour or shape. Or using only one chosen visual tool, like leading lines or framing within a frame.
Playing such “games”, even though they seem small, gives direction and purpose to leaving the house.
6. Look through your own archives
Don’t you have that thing where, when someone talks about food, suddenly you’re hungry?
When I go through my own photos, I not only get that hunger to shoot again, but I also rediscover subjects that caught my attention years ago, yet I didn’t have enough skill back then to photograph them the way I wanted.
7. Get bored like a dog
Have you noticed how the amount of content you consume keeps increasing, while the amount of content you create slowly decreases?
If so, it’s a sign to put aside everything that steals your attention and get a little bored. Boredom is the best medicine for lack of inspiration.
8. Turn off social media
If, while scrolling your feed, you conclude that photographers all over the world are doing nothing but producing extremely high-quality work, and instead of feeling inspired you get frustrated - then it’s time to turn Instagram off.
9. Remove the audience
Make something for the sake of making. Without sharing it on social media or on a website.
You’ll see that when the pressure of being judged disappears, suddenly creating anything becomes much easier and more enjoyable.
10. Rest and reset
Sometimes the best solution is the simplest one. Rest from the camera, rest from photography. More sleep, more movement, more activities different from your usual routine.
You know those moments when the best ideas come to you when you least expect them - in the shower, in bed before falling asleep, while driving?
That is a state worth getting yourself into as often as possible.
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