Quoted from RedRainPhotograhyBlog
Where Do You Find Inspiration?
I was on one of my favorite photo forum websites the other day and someone had posted an interesting and very common question. That question is the title of this post: where do you find inspiration?
Just like writing or any other kind of art, there comes a time in an artist's life when inspiration is low - some people call it "block." So I'm going to reiterate here what I posted in the forum, because I feel like there is actually a very simple answer when it comes to photography.
Leave. Go. Vanish. Get up. Drive. Vamos. Move. Do whatever you have to do to NOT be in your house, your neighborhood, maybe even your city or state.
Unlike writers, who's inspiration indirectly helps create their work, photographers just have to find a special way to highlight or emphasize a common thing, with their work being a direct influence of their inspiration (the occasional beautiful rainbow or picturesque snowfall does occur, but it is seldom).
So I repeat. Leave. Drive somewhere you've never driven or walk somewhere you've never been. See things you've never seen and experience things you've never experienced. One of my favorite things to do when I don't really have a plan, per se, is to find a parking lot somewhere in the BIG city of Phoenix, park my car, and get out and walk around.
You'd be surprised the kinds of things that can inspire you. A homeless man pushing his entire life in a shopping cart. A mother crossing the street with her son. A giant theatre marquee. A mountain you've see a million times, but never from that spot. Photography is seeing everything in a new way.
The answer to the question, "Where do you find inspiration?" is found in one simple word: newness (and it IS a word, I looked it up in Merriam-Webster). :)
FIND SOMETHING NEW. That's it...Pretty simple, right? Sure is! So what are you waiting for!?! Get off your computer and go shoot!
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