There is always the risk of getting the photographer’s equivalent of writer’s block. You might discover that your photos are the same as what you shot before and you need a change. Here are some ways to inspire and motivate you including a photography challenge to get your creativity flowing.
Most of the time we get excited by photography. If we didn't we wouldn't be photographers, would we? I’ve certainly taken my camera for a walk and ended up with too many photos to process.
However, there have been times when I have been stuck in a rut and not inspired at all. I’ve even headed out before dawn – my favorite time of day – composed the shot I had planned and then not bothered pressing the shutter. At other times, I’ve got home and just deleted everything.
So, how can we get around waking up with the photography blues? The secret is to do photography that is out of the ordinary. For me, this means planning ahead and then setting off with a plan. But for that planning, I must have a purpose and that requires sources of inspiration.
Always Take the Weather With You
One such source of inspiration for me is the weather. Glorious sunrises, thunderstorms and torrential downpours, thick fog, cloud inversions, snow, sandstorms, and strong winds can all help to make photos more interesting.
There is a plethora of weather apps online, but for accuracy, I particularly like the UK’s Met Office app as it’s accurate. It also gives sunrise and sunset times and it’s great for planning a shoot.
Don’t Be Afraid to Be Different
I also try something different to spark enthusiasm. Here are a few things I do.
Every year, through my work, I get to handle dozens of different cameras. Some intrigue me because of novel features or clever design, while others I find bland and uninspiring as they are so similar to many other models on the market. Nevertheless, handling any equipment that’s different or new to me usually gets me wanting to use it. It’s one of the reasons I like writing gear reviews.
I’m not suggesting you must sell and change everything for a different make, although I see lots of people doing that. Top-of-the-range cameras that are just a few years old are a fraction of the price of when they were released. So, adding to your gear list doesn't have to be unaffordable. Furthermore, lower-end cameras, even old ones, can produce fabulous results.
Currently, I'm in the process of moving home, and the place we are hoping to buy has space for a darkroom. I'm going to be dabbling with film. It's something I've neglected for a long time because setting up a darkroom where I currently live is a hassle. Even if you don't have a darkroom, it's still possible to send reels of film off to be developed but that didn't appeal to me. I have a collection of old film cameras crying out to be used.
Talking of old cameras, adaptors to fit analog lenses onto new cameras are widely available and affordable, as are some of the old lenses. The results can be intriguing.
I also play with different genres. I have recently started to take wildlife photography more seriously and it’s fascinating. I’ve also recently bought a macro lens, although it’s barely been out of the box, so that will be on the agenda for next year.
Getting Better All the Time
One really popular way of keeping inspired is to do a photography challenge. That is taking one photo a day, or once a week to a prescribed list. I've done a few in the past and they helped me hone my skills. I've also put a few together.
You may have noticed that the subtitles of this article are either song titles or lyrics. Below are two lists of song titles that can inspire you to take photos. I put this together ten years ago for a photography forum that has long since disappeared and have swapped some of the songs for others. The idea is to take a weekly or daily photo that is inspired by the title or lyrics of the song.
The photo can either be a literal or metaphorical interpretation, and some are harder to achieve than others. Starting January 1st, 2024, why not give it a go?
You don't necessarily have to do them in the same order as shown below. If Winter Wonderland is better suited to June than December where you live, then it's okay to shuffle them around. Also, If you live somewhere arid and "Gone Fishing" is impossible to shoot, slot an alternative song in there.
Feel free to post your challenge photos in the Fstoppers Gallery, or put your images in the comments here so I will get a notification. Alternatively, post them on Instagram, and please tag me (@ivortog); it will be great to see them.
Weekly Photography Challenge 2024
- Help Me Make it Through the Night
- Sentimental Journey
- My Ding-a-ling
- Got my Mind Set on You
- Bless your Beautiful Hide
- Oh, Pretty Woman
- Superstition
- Wooden Heart
- Upside Down
- Think Too Much
- Rave On
- High Noon
- Let Me Roll It
- Steam Heat
- Monster Mash
- If I Had a Hammer
- Purple Haze
- Hard to Handle
- Little Boxes
- Everybody's Talking
- Reach Out (I'll be there)
- So Far Away
- Somebody to love
- Half as Much
- Dreamer
- Hurt
- Brown Sugar
- Pictures of Matchstick Men
- Light My Fire
- When the Sun Goes Down
- Wish You Were Here
- What is Life?
- Still Crazy After all These Years
- High Hopes
- In My Life
- Non je ne Regrette Rien
- Once in a While
- Mad World
- Country Road
- Smooth Operator
- My Generation
- Up, Up and Away
- Take a Pair of Sparkling Eyes.
- The Wanderer
- Us and Them
- Born to be Wild
- Games People Play
- Handyman
- Respect
- All Things Must Pass
- You’re so Square
- What's Up?
Daily Photography Challenge 2024
- Release Me
- Morningtown Ride
- Love Me Tender
- The Air That I Breathe
- Elusive Butterfly
- You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet
- As Time Goes By
- You Send Me
- All Those Years Ago
- Changes
- Mind Your Own Business
- Mr. Blue Sky
- Suddenly I See
- You'll Never Know
- Seven Wonders
- No Values
- Gone, Gone, Gone
- I Saw Her Again
- Strange Brew
- I'm Not Like Everybody Else
- The Entertainer
- Don’t Stop
- Forever Autumn
- The Beep Beep Song
- Like a Rolling Stone
- Black is Black
- The Marvelous Toy
- Old Man
- Day-O (banana Boat Song)
- Smoke on the Water
- Me and You and a Dog Named Blue
- Knock Three Times
- Those Were the Days
- Not Fade Away
- Both Sides Now
- Crazy
- Cars
- Your Smiling Face
- The Streak
- Handle With Care
- Amazing Things
- Time to Ring Some Changes
- Lazy Bones
- Don't it Make my Brown Eyes Blue
- Ashes to Ashes
- Beautiful Day
- Let the River Run
- Brand New Key
- End of the Line
- Fire and Rain
- Which Side Are You On?
- Alone Again, Naturally
- Singing In The Rain
- Misty
- Golden Brown
- Good Vibrations
- 5D (Fifth Dimension)
- Don't Worry, Be Happy
- Figure of Eight
- Stuck in the Middle With You
- Rainy Days and Mondays
- Reason to Believe
- My Favourite Things
- Inside Out
- Steamy Windows
- Run So Far
- What a Wonderful World
- It's Too Late
- Changes
- We Didn't Start the Fire
- Ol' Man River
- Perfect Day
- O' Sole Mio
- Ruby Tuesday
- I Can't Forget
- Telephone Line
- Shakin' all over
- Blues run the game
- In the still of the night
- Happy Birthday
- Crossroads
- Wasn't That a Party
- Sound and Vision
- Ticket to Ride
- Love Me Love My Dog
- Daydream
- Afternoon Delight
- You Got It
- Windy
- Tapestry
- Everybody Knows
- Summertime
- A Little Less Conversation
- Colors
- Unforgettable
- I Get a Kick out of You
- I Can See For Miles
- Can't Get it Out of My Head
- All By Myself
- Sunshine of Your Love
- Needle and the Damage Done
- Jet
- Another Day
- Deep Purple
- The Last Farewell
- I Feel the Earth Move
- Slip Sliding Away
- "E Lucevan le Stelle" ("When the stars were brightly shining")
- Stayin's Alive
- Three Flights Up
- We Have all the Time in the World
- Sometimes When we Touch
- Night Fever
- Take it easy
- The Twist
- What's Going On?
- Nature Boy
- Gone Fishing
- Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White
- Shelter of your Eyes
- This is the Life
- Ring of Fire
- Take it to the Limit
- Handbags and Gladrags
- A Taste of Honey
- Golden Years
- The Last Time
- Everyday Angels
- Catch the Wind
- Makin' Whoopee
- Sundown
- Come Talk to Me
- Play with Fire
- All shook up
- Last night
- Losing My Religion
- Sixteen Tons
- Down
- Steam
- I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
- Mayhem
- Without You
- Things Go Up
- Wild World
- Two Out of Three Ain't Bad
- I Walk tthe Line
- Something in the Air
- Ode to Joy
- Walk of Life
- Catch a Falling Star
- Loving You
- Moon Shadow
- Don’t Think Twice, it's Alright
- Bend Me, Shape Me
- Ain't that a Shame
- You Light Up My Life
- Ring My Bell
- Dreams
- Well Did Ya Evah
- The Twelfth of Never
- Where Do You Go To My Lovely
- Do You Want to Know a Secret?
- Cloudy
- The Sound of Silence
- Days
- Why Don't Your Write Me
- Move it on Over
- Strangers in the Night
- I'm on Fire
- Living Thing
- Sorrow
- Food Glorious Food
- Oh My What a Shame.
- The Second Time
- I Drove All Night
- Summer in the City
- A Whiter Shade of Pale
- Something So Right
- On the 4th of July
- All Right Now
- Great Pretender
- Twelve Thirty
- You're So Vain
- I am a Rock
- Meet Me on the Corner
- Silence is Golden
- The Night Has a Thousand Eyes
- Satisfaction
- Empty Chairs
- For all we Know
- Fire
- Nocturne
- Wait
- Mellow Yellow
- Too Much Heaven
- Torn
- Fame
- The Last Thing on my Mind
- Our House
- It's Friendship
- Oh Well
- Girl on a Bicycle
- Get Up and Go
- 5 4 3 2 1
- Man of the World
- Che Gelida Manina (Your tiny hand is frozen)
- King of the Road
- Every Breath You Take
- On the Road Again
- Wonderful Baby
- Yesterday
- Something Inside So Strong
- Dizzy
- Late in the Evening
- River Deep Mountain High
- Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
- I Want to Break Free
- The Little Things We Do
- Help!
- Autumn Almanac
- Bad Moon Rising
- Go Your Own Way
- Woman
- Fields of Gold
- Go Where You Wanna Go
- Nobody Does it Better
- A Day in the Life
- Give It Up
- Ain't Misbehavin'
- You Make Me Feel Brand New
- Java Jive
- Sunny Afternoon
- Where Have All the Flowers Gone
- Hesitation Blues
- Dedicated to the One I Love
- You've Got a Friend
- Hit the Road, Jack
- It Doesn't Matter Any more
- I Feel Free
- Anything Goes
- If
- And I Love You So
- Make Me Smile (Come up and see me)
- My Eyes Adored You
- Kodachrome
- The First Cut is the Deepest
- I Got Stripes
- You Were Always on my Mind
- Don’t Look Back in Anger
- Things Can Only Get Better
- Oops! I Did It Again.
- Downtown
- All You Need Is Love
- Lying, Laughing, Loving, Crying
- The Race is On
- Won't Get Fooled Again
- It Ain't Me Babe
- Walk on the Wild Side
- Need Your Love so Bad
- Spoonfull
- Never Wed an Old Man
- Silhouettes
- These Boots are Made for Walkin'
- These are the Days of our Lives
- True Blue Wonders
- A Fool Such As I
- Two Hearts
- Parklife
- Oh Happy Day
- Home and Dry
- Gentle on my Mind
- Easy
- Waterfalls
- Memories are Made of This
- Largo al Factotum (I am the factotum)
- Bang Bang
- Wipe Out
- If You Could Read My Mind
- All I Really Want to Do
- Everyday
- In the Mood
- Till the Morning Comes
- Zero
- Ain't No Sunshine
- Feelin' Groovy
- Born at the Right Time
- Try a Little Tenderness
- Malted Milk
- Something in the Way She Moves
- Morning has Broken
- Something Stupid
- Paint it Black
- Homeward Bound
- The Frozen Man
- Misty
- Window Shopping
- It Takes Two
- Stand by Me
- Green, Green Grass of Home
- Hello Goodbye
- The "In" Crowd
- At Seventeen
- Wherewithall
- Everybody Hurts
- Cherry, Cherry
- Blowin’ in the Wind
- Whispering Grass
- Blue Moon
- Turn! Turn! Turn!
- Funkytown
- Castles in the Air
- Sit down
- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
- Four Walls
- Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better
- Rose Garden
- Money for Nothing
- In the Summertime
- Salt Water
- This Land is my Land
- Running of Faith
- Hakuna Matata
- Stardust
- Happy trails
- We are the Champions
- I Hear you Knockingg
- I'm a Believer
- Up on the Roof
- April, Come She Will
- Cool Water
- Blue Skies
- Something's Burning
- Another Brick in the Wall
- I Saw the Light
- A Hazy Shade of Winter
- Trouble
- I'm so Lonesome I Could Cry
- Que Sera Sera
- Time is on My Side
- Never
- Blue
- Hallelujah
- Trickle Trickle
- Maybe I'm Amazed
- Secret o' Life
- Line 'em Up
- I Fall to Pieces
- Under Pressure
- Talk to the Animals
- My Little Town
- Imagine
- It's a Kind of Magic
- You’re my Best Friend
- That's Alright, Mama
- My Travelling Star
- It's Raining Again
- Winter has Me in its Grip
- In Dreams
- Never Going Back Again
- Winter Wonderland
- Teach your Children
- The Long and Winding Road
- She's Always a Woman
- It Was a Very Good Year
- It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
- The End
is 366 : The End a song title?
if it is not i would include Eva Cassidy's Time after Time
The End is the very last track of The Beatles' Abbey Road album. Yours is a good choice too. Feel free to swap.