The past few weeks and months have been an interesting time. Due in part to a very hectic work schedule and lots of other things going on, I’ve not had as much time for shooting. Having said that, that’s never been something that’s stopped me picking up the camera in the past – but somehow since I got back from Japan, with the exception of one or two small projects, I’ve done very little photography. I think the real reasons for that have been three fold.

Firstly, I’ve sought much bigger and more ambitious projects than I did in the past. This typically meant involving third parties with more complex relationships. As is often the case when you have external dependencies, timescales often slip. So in theory, I should have had a very busy June and July with a series of projects I was attempting to get off the ground and when they got delayed, I was caught off guard and didn’t backfill them with other work. I still plan to complete those projects (and am excited about them still) but that’s reason number one.

The second reason was more expected. Since taking up photography I have shot pretty much uninterrupted without a break for two and a half years. Sooner or later, I was going to run out of steam and hit a wall. It wasn’t because of any kind of burnout or tiredness, it was more because I’d simply become much better at what I did and the subjects and photos that initially had me enthralled in the early days, no longer inspire me as much. Finding things that are new, fresh and challenging becomes harder and harder as you improve and subsequently raise your own expectations. I am sure anyone whose been shooting for a while has felt this before.

The final reason was simple but something I only discovered during my layoff. It was perhaps the most important. It was only when talking to my very good friend Chuck Inglefield about my recent lack of shooting that it emerged. We were discussing what kind of projects / styles / genres I could go after to hook me into shooting regularly without forcing things. Chuck’s advice came through how he sees his own situation lately – that some of his motivation was in trying to understand the reasons why he chooses the images and subjects he ends up posting. Chuck is a fantastic photographer and someone whose views I respect and admire deeply, and this struck a chord with me. I suddenly became aware of the fact that within all my grand plans, I simply haven’t been shooting for
myself lately. When I started photography, it was for so many reasons -
all of which were very personal to me. It was for the love of the art. It was to connect with a like minded community of peers. It was because I’m so relaxed and tuned out from the day’s noise when photographing. Most importantly perhaps It was because I loved discovering new aspects
of myself through photography. That last point hit home for me very vividly after we spoke and in an instant, my motivation and inspiration returned.

Since then I’ve posted three images in three days for the first time in weeks and I now stalk the streets with a renewed passion. I have no idea if this post is of any help to anyone else but if you’ve read this far, it might be because you’re either in a similar place right now – or perhaps might end up somewhere there in the future. So, my advice as I enter the embryonic stages of my second wind, is simple – when you hit a wall, forget about everyone and everything else and remember why you started photography in the first place. Most likely it was because you simply enjoyed making those images… Well, the advice then is obvious… It all seems so simple now.