Giving up...

[Timm]

Just need to vent - please ignore and read someone else's more happy/humourous post! I'll leave everyone alone after this - I promise.


Since moving to TX in '07 my photography has all but ceased and I am stuck in a job I loathe. Whenever I do take a camera out lately I take about 5-10 pictures before thinking "£@^& it!" and throwing the gear back in the bag as I am unhappy with the few images I have captured.

I am so disillusioned I seriously think about taking a hammer to the gear and tossing it in the trash when at my lowest - which has now reached an all time depth after the last two weeks, weeks which should have been spent enjoying a vacation and wedding anniversary but were the complete and utter inverse.

Have a good week all, I'll now retire to my padded room in the hope of never having to leave...

[carrbowl]

Sounds like you need to get together with some other photog's and have some fun!! Sometimes, we need someone else to help us see the positive because we focus on the negative...I am guilty of that alot...find someone to shoot with...

[Truckman]

Tim, if you need a pick-me-up, come out and shoot with me then look at the garbage I call photography...You'll feel much better...And I'm not giving up...Ben

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

Sounds like someone needs a vacation that is a great shooting local (sp) to just get away from the Krap of life.

I was in a funk a while back but going to New Orleans for Mardi Gras killed the funk and then going back for Jazzfest just turned things around 180 degrees and things look a lot better.

Hey you can always do micro shots of the padding in the cell and get very artsy fartsy with it!

[ka5txl]

Or I could come over and photograph you smashing your canon equipment as Pentax is suppossed to announce thier new K7 this Wednesday, then you could come and become a Pentaxian

[ThePhilosopher]

Try shooting the exact opposite of what you normally shoot and learn about it shooting it well. Or maybe pickup a used film camera (OM-1, 50mm 1.8 and some T-Max) and just walk around and shoot the city.

When I get fed up I run a couple of rolls through my Bronica 645 and enjoy the heavy mechanical clunk of the shutter.

[J Eddington]

Or you can come up to Wylie and help me figure out how to shoot a digital print from a film camera!! That is a challenge. Everything you see is backwards!

[Murph]

BTDT. Leave the equipment alone for a while, and go do something else. I go through that about once a year, happens to be right now. Right now I am fighting CS4 and the new Hahnemuehl Bamboo paper. I can't seem to get a decent print on this stuff right now, and its really making me annoyed. Also since I upgraded to CS4, I am having trouble printing.

Step away from the cameras, do something else for a while, go do some meetups, and even if you do not take a photo interact with the others. Meetups are a great way to get your creative spirit back.

[texkam]

Critique our stuff. Some of us need all the help we can get.

[Jezebel]

I am so in this boat right now! I've been taking a break from photography (and as a result have been a total lurker rather than an active poster for months) for a bit because I feel as though every photo I snap looks like crap on a stick. Maybe a little worse. Since taking my break I've realized a big issue for me is that I'm currently uninspired in the photography realm. There isn't much around here that I enjoy taking pictures of. Maybe we both need a vacation to some place where we are so excited to be there that we never want to put our cameras down ;)

[Timm]

Thanks for reading my depressive ramblings and making the effort to convince me things aren't too bad.

I perhaps wasn't clear but have just returned from 2 weeks in Europe and instead of a great vacation/anniversary. Events have left me confused, depressed and thinking of throwing myself in the trash next to the gear. It is so tempting to quit work today, head west until I run out of gas and then headbut a semi on the freeway. :-(

[84young]

You've probally heard this a thousand times, but just remember that things like this are temporary,trust me. I have been diagonsed with slight PTSD, rage, and a shorter fuse then i used to have. It gets really hard for me somtimes. Somthing i was also told is to try and create a little vacation inside your head, listen to some relaxing music, and take a mini vacation. I do hope this helps you out, and i do hope things get better for you.

[ChristopherCoy]

Originally Posted by DEMDeepEllumMusic

I was in a funk a while back but going to New Orleans for Mardi Gras killed the funk and then going back for Jazzfest just turned things around 180 degrees and things look a lot better.

That wasn't the trip that killed the funk... it was the Grenades from Bourbon Street! MMMM HMMM..... I know how that works! LOL I'm from Lafayette.

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

Originally Posted by ChristopherCoy

That wasn't the trip that killed the funk... it was the Grenades from Bourbon Street! MMMM HMMM..... I know how that works! LOL I'm from Lafayette.

Not to get off topic but I generally don't drink when I am shooting which confuses the crap out of people when I shoot in New Orleans (especially the qtr).

Back on Topic

OK try this- When you get a chance to get away from people- DO HEAD WEST and go about 50 miles away from where you are- out in the COUNTRY and then find the remotest spot and walk to that point and then SCREAM OUR GUTS OUT- CUSS- KICK THE DIRT-SLAM YOUR FIST ON THE GROUND- JUST LET ALL YOUR FEALINGS GO! THEN LOOK AROUND and if NOBODY IS AROUND DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN until your just wrung out. Then find a tree or rock to set/lean on and RELAX and find something to concentrate on and then just study it. Think of how you would shoot it-would you add light? Would you move to change your angle of view? Would you add something to the scene? (Could be as absurd as an ELEPHANT ON IT'S BACK FEET- to a BATTLESHIP- just let your imagination go) If you can't get to this stage then do the SCREAM DIRT KICKING THING AGAIN!

Heck back in olden times the farmer working with a stubborn mule would vent his problems at the animal or would do that against an animal that he was hunting and we have gotten away from that.

(This is just advice that in the past has worked for me- Usually in the Canyons of UTAH where there is NOBODY AROUND FOR 10 miles)

Man good luck on getting out of the funk.

[84young]

Originally Posted by DEMDeepEllumMusic

Not to get off topic but I generally don't drink when I am shooting which confuses the crap out of people when I shoot in New Orleans (especially the qtr).

Back on Topic

OK try this- When you get a chance to get away from people- DO HEAD WEST and go about 50 miles away from where you are- out in the COUNTRY and then find the remotest spot and walk to that point and then SCREAM OUR GUTS OUT- CUSS- KICK THE DIRT-SLAM YOUR FIST ON THE GROUND- JUST LET ALL YOUR FEALINGS GO! THEN LOOK AROUND and if NOBODY IS AROUND DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN until your just wrung out. Then find a tree or rock to set/lean on and RELAX and find something to concentrate on and then just study it. Think of how you would shoot it-would you add light? Would you move to change your angle of view? Would you add something to the scene? (Could be as absurd as an ELEPHANT ON IT'S BACK FEET- to a BATTLESHIP- just let your imagination go) If you can't get to this stage then do the SCREAM DIRT KICKING THING AGAIN!

Heck back in olden times the farmer working with a stubborn mule would vent his problems at the animal or would do that against an animal that he was hunting and we have gotten away from that.

(This is just advice that in the past has worked for me- Usually in the Canyons of UTAH where there is NOBODY AROUND FOR 10 miles)

Man good luck on getting out of the funk.

Great advise, I'll have to use that myself somtime. Hey, Timm, and everyone else in a funk, let's all go out and get our frustrations out, have a photo shoot and some brews (for those of us that do drink )