oceanarrow

Very good advice.this site and honest advice helped me.sometimes you have to admit your a little down to bounce back.thank you

oceanarrow

Thank you,sound like a true photographer,that was nice to read and helpful

Hbuk66 Loc: Oswego, NY

I always have at least a point and shoot in the glove box.., and due to this forum, I will add my old Canon 10D and Tamron 28-300...

revhen Loc: By the beautiful Hudson

There you go! We all have "those moments." But we can overcome. And you have.

revhen Loc: By the beautiful Hudson

P.S. I live just down the road from Hyde Park NY. I remember one time, it had to be around 25-30 years ago and I was visiting Roosevelt's home and library. Rossevelt's December 8, 1941, speech had just been found and put on display. I still feel a thrill at seeing that speech for he made a significant change from the time he originally dictated it. The draft read, "On December seventh, 1941, a date that shall live in world history." In his own hand he crossed out "world history" and wrote over it "infamy." Made the speech unforgettable. Still gives me goose bumps to think of it.

Bobspez Loc: Southern NJ, USA

Yeah, but you are not any of those are you? You really didn't answer the question as how you would prefer to be labeled. But it was pretty much rhetorical, because everyone knows the answer. Don't see many "Proud to be an illegal immigrant", or "ex-convict", or "welfare recipient" tee shirts, do you?

leftj Loc: Texas

I did answer the question. I would prefer to be labeled as what I am. Why would anyone of those ("illegal immigrant" "ex-convict" "welfare recipient") want to wear a "Proud" tee shirt?

William Royer Loc: Kansas

Read your post with empathy. Yes, I'm sure many 'hit the wall', in photography as well as other pursuits. I have on a number of occasions. A couple of thoughts, if they're of help. a). Get or rent a couple of prime lenses. Maybe it's just me, but zooms quickly become uninteresting and the challenge of pursuing a good image with just one or two primes pushes my interest and creativity. Plus, using a prime other than 28mm (FF equivalent) is more interesting because that's the FOV of about a zillion camera phones. In fact, I'd recommend using one substantially outside the FOV that you normally gravitate towards. 2). As others have suggested, I like to look for either details or vantage points or places not normally or easily noticed. As examples, I live in the wide open High Plains which has what many would consider less of photographic interest than other locales such as mountains or new picturesque cities. However, a different thought is that if one can't find a good picture in the Rockies or Venice, one should turn in their camera. Some of my best images (and best sellers) are of scenes around here that not as many have seen or photographed. Lastly, if one's mindset is either on images which 'will sell' or 'win prizes', I'd suggest that stifles both the fun and the creativity. If you shoot what moves you inside, I'd bet you'll be more pleased both with the process and the results. Good luck.

Reinaldokool Loc: San Rafael, CA

Two comments: About 15 years ago, I had that feeling. I sold all my cameras. After a few years, I began to itch. I bought a Fuji something P&S. About a year later I got a Nikon and a couple lenses. It has been "downhill" ever since. (Though most recently with Sony.)

Second comment. Perhaps part of what brought me back to photography is that I have changed my photographic "style", "philosophy". I have heard it called "Existential Realism". What it means is, I shoot non-famous images that pop into my awareness. A bedraggled door in a still standing wall surrounded by garden; a woman in a restaurant with an interesting face; a strange group of tree limbs. Then I hope that I and others will look at the image and create our own meaning out of their/our/my own life. Each photograph has as many meanings as their are viewers.

Today, I was walking along the path to my apartment. There was a one lonely daylilly that had opened just in time to get it's stalk broken by something. It was a perfect flower--except that it was dead and didn't realize it. My camera will immortalize that flower.

One of my photographs from my visit to Pisa in Italy was during a tour to the Leaning Tower. But the image is not the tower; it is of a tour guide sitting in a restaurant near the tower. She's drinking coffee, but her face is in anguish and near tears. We can all understand her emotion;it speaks to our humanity. Some people may look at her and see themselves having lost a friend, a lover, a parent. Others will see something else out of their own existence.

Shooting in this way keeps my photography alive. I could purchase a few postcard pictures of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but they would say nothing to anyone's heart. But that woman's anguish will remain with me and help me stay human.

Dallas P

Anyway, I think it was just a colorful way of making a point, not a slur directed at the myriads of welfare recipients who attend this site. And I bet a lot of us have felt that the barriers to taking a well-exposed photograph have pretty much vanished. The barriers to doing something arresting, beautiful, meaningful -- those are still very much in place. But goodness, there are so many wonderful images out there! I sent my brother a nice little picture of a fledging owl recently, and he sent me a link to a collection of about a hundred jaw-dropping owl pictures. Sigh. Must cultivate all the other reasons to do this I suppose.

Bobspez Loc: Southern NJ, USA

They wouldn't. That's the point. And if you were in their shoes, you wouldn't want that label to be how people saw you either. If you think you would, it's most likely because you never were, and don't see how you ever would be. It's easy to be for calling a spade a spade, as long as you are not the spade.

leftj Loc: Texas

First off - your don't know anything about me. You don't know what I want or how I want people to see me.

You don't, not recognize something for what it is just because it's unpleasant to do so. That's why this country has the problems it has is because we don't face up to reality and deal with the issues head on.

oceanarrow

Yes,not to take away from that fine library and the history there.my family comes from Red Hook,about 15 miles north of Hyde Park.

Bobspez Loc: Southern NJ, USA

You are right about the country not wanting to face reality. That's a given. Being realistic does not mean being unpleasant.The country's problems have nothing to do with putting people down. That's just a distraction. Also, there's nothing people can do but try to treat others like they would want to be treated. That would cure just about every problem the country has. But that's just a pipe dream.

xptom Loc: Concord, CA

I have been taking photos for over 35 years. Several years ago I also was in sort of a slump. I tried doing a 365 Project where you take one photo a day for a year. It can be a daunting task but keep with it. I found that I was seeing photo ops at every turn. It diffidently recharged my photography juices. Check it out at 365project.org