When it becomes a bore

We all get spells of feeling like we are in a rut, or just plain bored with photography. That feeling where you don’t want to get out of bed, let alone pick up a camera and take photos of things you’ve seen and photographed a million times. Often it’s a different place, with different subjects, but deep inside you know it’s just the same old same in a different skin. 

Looking back at this last decade, I’ve had an eventful and fun time with photography. I’ve gone from being a loyal Nikon photographer, to a prolific Fujifilm photographer, dabbled with Olympus and micro four thirds, and now I am back to Nikon with my full frame Z cameras. 

I’ve photographed hundreds of places in Wales and  around the World, I’ve photographed models, I’ve photographed events, I’ve photographed weddings, I photographed the birth of my two boys, I’ve photographed every birthday and Christmas with family and friends, I’ve photographed birds of all sorts, I’ve photographed deer and squirrels and insects in the wild and the list goes on. 

I’ve used techniques such as long exposures, bracketed exposures, ultra-fast exposures to capture water droplets, on camera flash, off camera flash, off camera with multiple flashes, stacking images, macro and ultra macro and so much more. 

I’ve written, designed and produced photography books (both for sale, personal use and freebies) I’ve led groups of photographers on adventures, I’ve tutored individuals and groups of people, I’ve helped youngsters looking to get into photography and those older people who have needed to learn more.

I’ve experienced dozens of editing software applications, and taught others how to use them, and I’ve used a plethora of cameras, lenses, filters and gadgets and passed on my knowledge. 

Speaking of knowledge, I’ve kept my onecameraonelens website updated weekly for over 5 years, sharing my knowledge on various subjects and helping those around me. Before that I had another website which I also had for a long time and used it to help others. 

So, why then do I feel so empty inside when it comes to photography?

Don’t get me wrong, I love just going out with the camera and pressing that button to capture an image, be it on my phone, main cameras or one of my ancient CCD cameras. I love printing the images and looking through them on print and digital form… But most of the time I just don’t “feel” it these days.

Occasionally I’ll go out with a friend and I enjoy being with them and chatting about photography and capturing images with them. And of course I still have my photography group, but that has taken a huge step back lately and I just it more to just socialise. 

We do go through these times where we just get bored. I can’t step back any further because I rarely do photography in the way I used to. 

And perhaps that’s it… Perhaps it’s evolution. Perhaps focusing on my year long project next year will help. Perhaps doing things for me, and me only will get me out of this rut. I have all the photography equipment I need for doing whatever I want… Perhaps it’s time to evaluate and evolve.