Inspiration weans and wanes like the tide and throughout 2020 I have never seen the tide so low for so long.
On a regular day, it is rare for me to not get ideas from everyday life but this year hit me differently I felt my drive and inspiration slipping away.
I’ve been in creative ruts before this is nothing new but what is new is how long this one lasted.
It seemed to go on for the entirety of 2020.
Normally when these lulls happen it only lasts a few weeks maybe a month.
So how are artists supposed to get through these times.
I’ve heard other people say “Oh I’m taking a break I’m going to focus on other things for now.”
I get it we all have other passions besides our chosen medium but stepping away from photography has never gotten me out of a creative funk, it has only left itself there for me to pick it up when I returned.
The only way I’ve ever gotten through a lack of inspiration is by shooting through it.
That means picking up the camera contacting new people and making new work.
That’s when the ideas start flowing when you’re in the thick of it.
Not when your behind your screen planning a shoot based on somebody else’s images.
MAKE YOUR OWN IMAGES.
If you’re a photographer out there odds are you’ve contemplated assisting? Maybe.
I did for a year and although there was some good in it ultimately it was not for me.
I was making more money shooting and was actually getting paid on time v.s. getting paid 5 months later by a millionaire photographer who changed his assistance faster than his underwear.
At this time in my life every shoot I was assisting with filled me with endless amounts of inspiration.
I would see the grand set designs or even the simple ones and wonder how I would have photographed the models there.
It didn’t seem to be that way for the other photo assistants, instead, they seemed to be in a rut.
I could understand why with the payments always being late and some of the photographers treating us like shit but then again I couldn’t understand it.
We weren’t working on a fucking emergency room floor or curing cancer so why was everyone always so flat and uninspired?
Needless to say, I left that environment but there was one thing another photo assistant said to me before I left that will stick with me as the ultimate way to not do something for the rest of my life.
I asked him why he was never taking photos as his work was amazing before he had started assisting.
His reply was “I’m trying to learn everything I can over the next seven years and then when I’m done I’ll start shooting again.”
In my head, all I could think was “Jesus Christ if Michael Jordan had that mindset he’d never had made a free throw.”
The lesson I learned from all of this. ^^^^^^^^
Do not wait to be inspired.
Just make and make and make again and if you don’t like the direction it is going in, correct to a new course and make again.
Below is a sneak peek at a new project I am working on with an Olympic fencer who grew up in Nyc.
It’s not done yet but it’s the first shoot that has really filled me with a burning passion for photography again and it has since lead me to get out and shoot so much more.
All the best,
Atticus
