Working Through Photography Block
Show Notes
Over the past week I have gone out everyday for a walk with my camera as a photography challenge. I left everything at home apart from one lens on the camera and that’s my Canon 50mm f1.8 (affiliate link).
I did this little photography challenge because I’ve been struggling with photography block for the last couple of weeks. As I’m not able to go out and explore the subjects of landscape and wildlife photography that I normally like, I was struggling to get motivated with the camera. I have had photography block before and so I wanted to work through it quickly.
My challenge was to try and see things differently. To experiment with different styles of photography. Principally documentary and street photography. The urban environment is not my most inspiring place and because I am an introvert I often struggle with being creative in front of people. Those 2 disciplines are on the opposite spectrum of photography to what I normally do.
Through this challenge and now that I’ve worked through my photography block, I have found a new motivation to keep exploring the discipline of photography rather than a single particular niche. Over the week I managed to capture 30 different images. They mainly have architecture as the subject but a few have some other subjects…
Through my channel I hop to see myself, my style and my creative voice developing in my videos and in my photography. I hope you will join me on this journey by subscribing to my channel.
I’m including the original script that I wrote below, when recording I go off script and let myself go down several rabbit holes of thought, so it’s interesting to see how they differ.
Onto The Images
Day One
The first day it was quite a rainy day but that meant that the clouds gave a very neutral background, like I had dropped the buildings in front of a white screen. If there had been a blue sky then in black and white it would have looked grey rather than white. I wasn’t sure of what I was going to photograph but the rain provided some interesting features.
As you may have noticed on that first day I was focusing on shooting architecture and details from around the city that caught my eye. That was something that I would do years ago but recently, as I was narrowing my focus, I stopped. So it was nice to get back to that.
Street photography was an inspiration for me years ago, and I wanted to try and attempt that style but I was far too nervous to actually point my camera at anyone on the street. I ended up converting them to black and white because there were already very devoid of colour, so converting to black and white showed off the textures of the materials. Let’s have a look at the next day…
Day Two
Through this experiment I wanted to try out some documentary and street style photography. Architecture and shapes were still the main focus of my attention. By being a bit more open to what was going on around me, I was starting to see more compositions and subjects. Really trying to break through that invisible wall of what I thought I should be taking a picture of. The images that I left in colour I did so because the colour was a fundamental part of why I took that picture. I was looking at the contrasting colours and found them interesting. There is nothing staggering in this set of images but there are several that I like. The next day things weren’t so fruitful.
Day Three
Those 2 images were all I managed on this day. I went out in the afternoon and I felt very self conscious with the amount of people in the street. I felt like if I stopped to take a picture then I would be on display, even when taking some architectural images. My camera is such a big heavy bulk that shifting it around feels very conspicuous, no-one would fail to notice me. So I just got those 2 images after walking around for hours.
Day Four
Much the same story as Day three, only 2 images. I took the first because I liked the contrast of light and the shadow of the clouds on the hills. The second one was very different to my usual style but the simplicity of the room beyond and the window reflecting the scene behind me was quite nice. Just so you know, it’s a public building, a museum in fact and no one lives there. The gardens of the building is open for everyone to walk through and there were loads of dogs about. It’s not someone’s private home. But the image was more experimentation into documentary style photography, photographing the everyday to create a story. I didn’t have a story in mind, but it is the exercise of seeing that is important. The next day was a bit more fruitful.
Day Five
I did it! I finally actually did some street photography. Candid imagery of people in public places is the common definition of street photography. Nothing particularly spectacular about the composition or subjects. But it’s important to me because it’s my first ever attempt and it took a lot to take those photos. To be honest I sat on a bench and just waited for people to walk into shot, put my camera up and took a couple snaps before they noticed me. But it is something that I would like to work on it more in the future. The next set of images are from my last day of the experiment.
Day Six
I went a bit more abstract this day. Shoot what you see. I was interested in the patterns of the light and shadow. So that’s what I ended up focusing on. The last image was another street photography image, just a man feeding the birds. It just caught my attention so I snapped away.
The Original Script
Let’s talk about photography block. Everyone knows what writer’s block is, it’s when a writer just can’t put pen to paper and begin writing, they are often caught up in their thoughts or they don’t know where to begin. Photography block is the same thing but instead of a pen it’s the camera. There’s some unseen force preventing you from touching the shutter button. There are thoughts running around your head like ‘this composition is wrong’ ‘there’s no light’ ‘what’s the point?’
Both writer’s block and photography block stem from the same problems, and really it happens in any creative pursuit. In normal circumstances that sort of creative block stems from one thing and that is fear. We are scared to create something. To put pen to paper, brush to canvas or light on a sensor. We know that as soon as that happens then what we are hoping for will be real. Those ideas and expectations will be become a reality. And that is what scares us most, because we are scared that our expectations will not be met. That by creating something we will ultimately fail. That fear of failure prevents us from making ourselves vulnerable, as every act of creation we are putting a piece of ourselves on display.
I had photography block many years ago, I was constantly disappointed with the results I was getting. I was in a place that I didn’t find inspiring, the city, and I didn’t have the confidence in my abilities, or myself in general, to push myself. Since then I have learnt so much about photography and myself that now I am literally putting a piece of myself out to the world through this YouTube channel. I’ve grown confident in what I know to a point that I want to share it with you. It doesn’t mean I have completely overcome those insecurities and I don’t think I ever will but what I am able to do is put them aside and create regardless. With every click of the shutter or video posted I am always going to be nervous about failing but I am choosing not to let that stop me from creating.
Photography block can only be broken by pushing through it and pressing the shutter anyway. Just create one image whether it’s bad or good it doesn’t matter as long as you are the one pushing the button.
With everything that’s going on in the world right now, I started to experience that photography block again. As many of you know, I recently moved to Italy and before I arrived I was researching all the possible locations to go and photograph. I was planning amazing in the field vlogs at some of the most beautiful places that Italy has to offer. I was astounded by some of the great photography that was everywhere, and I was very excited for the exploration that I had planned. But of course, that’s not been possible. Maybe I was a little naive to think that everything would be under control and I could roam freely as if this whole thing never happened.
I know I’m not the only one in this situation, but I’m just talking about my experiences. I don’t think that I should have some special status or I’m particularly worse off than anyone else. In fact all things considered I’m rather lucky.
But those expectations and dreams are just not possible at the moment. I’m not able to create the style of image that I normally would and I was beginning to ask what is the point of taking pictures if they aren’t of the subjects that I want to photograph? Without much warning that old photography block was back. I just wasn’t motivated to take any pictures. I was creating excuses to not take pictures like ‘there’s nothing that I see that I want to photograph, and even if there was the light is terrible, there’s no colourful sunrises, etc.’ it was never ending.
The truth of it is I was scared of failing. I’ve built up this image in my head of what kind of photographer that I want to be and right now I can’t fulfil those expectations. I thought of myself as a nature photographer, doing landscapes and wildlife. Those wild places of natural beauty are what I like to photograph, and being confined to a city where I was struggling to find compositions meant that I felt I couldn’t create. I was creating excuses so that I didn’t even try something different.
In the past I’ve always avoided falling into one specific niche, and even by straddling both landscape and wildlife the die hard photographers of both disciplines would say I was doing something wrong. But I like all kinds of photography and I don’t want to be confined or limited to only one type. So yes, while landscape and wildlife photography are what I like the most, in the future I want to work on macro, street, travel, portraits, product photography, and everything in between. I am a photographer first.
Some will say there’s a bit of a jack of all trades and master of none type mentality, but I bet that jack had a lot more fun trying different things. A simple analogy is food, I love burgers but I don’t want to eat burgers for every meal of my life, and it’s the same for photography, I want to try the whole menu and not limit myself to one thing. I will probably come back to this theme in another video.
I was watching youtube and looking on instagram for inspiration. Trying to find a way to break through my photography block. I settled on a little exercise to get out and take pictures. It was simple, I had to go out everyday for a walk and on that walk come home with at least one image. It didn’t matter what it was of, it didn’t matter the style, it didn’t matter if it was bad. It was just to go through the motion of taking a picture.
I limited myself to one lens, my canon 50mm f1.8 (affiliate link) which as you can see is fairly small on my canon 1dx mark ii, but it meant that I didn’t need to think about the focal length when taking images. The other thing I did was leave every other piece of equipment at home, including my tripod. So I could be a bit lighter on my feet and move about the scene easier than if I was wrestling with a tripod.
I ended up taking more than 30 pictures so to keep things brief each will have about 10-15 seconds for you to look at them. Pretty much all of them probably would not live in my portfolio, but it was a fun project and I want to keep going with it. Creating images in different styles. You will notice that the majority of them are in black and white, I think that just helped to simplify a lot fo the compositions, and I decided to keep only the images that have colour as a key aspect of their composition in colour. If I thought the colour did nothing for the image and especially when it was distracting I converted it to black and white.
The point of this experiment was to work through my photography block by forcing me to take images that I would normally just walk past if I was focused on what particular image I should take or location I should go to. The hardest part of everyday was taking that first image. Lifting the camera up and deciding that I wanted to take that picture. But after that first image, I felt a lot looser and I was ready to capture more. Nothing truly spectacular came out of this experiment but I quite like several of them. And I want to work on my street photography more.
I am still trying to understand how the light moves around Como, once I can see patterns, I will try some fishing for street photography. Patiently waiting until a subject enters the composition I have created. I’m also going to research documentary, street, travel and other styles of photography that are so far apart from what I do normally. I love my landscape and wildlife photography, and they will probably dictate a lot of what I do but that doesn’t mean that have to be all that I do.
The one thing that this experiment accomplished in buckets was to give me some motivation and inspiration to take pictures. I was struggling with subject choice and by getting a bit of freedom I was able to explore a lot more. If you are struggling with photography block, writer’s block or artist block, then the only thing that you need to do to get through it, to find inspiration again, is to pick up that camera, pen or brush and just start creating. Inspiration comes best when we are already working. Don’t let that fear hold you back, create something for you. If you don’t like what you create the first time, then all you have to do is keep creating. Eventually you will have forgotten that you were blocked and you will have created something that you will be proud of.
To follow my journey with photography, subscribe to my YouTube channel.
About the Film
Just a little information about the film and how I made it, as well as some links to equipment.
I edited the film using the Free Version of DaVinci Resolve. It’s an incredibly powerful piece of software that I am still trying to understand and will possibly write an article about in the future.
The tracks featured in today’s film were licensed via a subscription with Epidemic Sound. (By following that link, if you purchase a subscription then I will be gifted with a month free for referring you to their services)
Lydian Tide by Rand Aldo
Twinkle of the Lights by Johannes Bornlof
On The Sleeping Shores by Chaxti
Million Years by Sture Zetterberg
All Parts Equal by Airae
A short Kit List
These are affiliate links, which means if you follow them and make a purchase I will earn a small commission for referring you to Amazon UK. You can find out more about affiliate links here.
Main Vlog Camera is a simple Panasonic G80 with the kit lens, its a great little mirrorless camera that I got for the sole purpose of creating YouTube videos. It’s capable of filming in 4k and seems to do everything that I want it to.
Rode Mic, I got this little microphone to boost the audio quality from the inbuilt microphone.
Action Camera, I use this to film myself when walking. It’s a simple DJI Pocket Osmo camera that has a motorised 3 axis gimbal head, which means that I stay in focus and static while the landscape around me moves. It’s also capable of filming in 4k and the audio quality is quite good.
Voice Recorder, to boost the audio quality when it’s windy or I’m using the action camera I use this handy little voice recorder with a lapellier microphone to record audio.
For a complete Landscape Photography Kit List you can read through what equipment I take with me when I go out here.
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Written by Daniel Long
Daniel Long created DRL Photography as a place to showcase his work as a photographer. Daniel has learnt a lot about photography and wishes to impart this knowledge with you, although the world is an ever changing place and he always says “you can never learn everything.” So as he makes his way, he continues to learn knew techniques, skills and information about photography. He focuses on Landscape and Wildlife photography and Daniel has a special focus on Scotland, his home away from home. As well as writing about photography and taking pictures out in the field, Daniel offers guided photography days so he can share his knowledge and locations in an effort to give his clients the best opportunities possible. Have a browse around this website to see his images, guided experiences and articles about photography. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to get in contact.
