No motivation to use my camera

Go out with your iphone or ipad. Get a compact, even. Doesn't matter what you take the pic with, its the opportunity, moment. When you feel you wish you'd had your 'main' camera, then you'll feel more motivated to take it with you. If it isn't 'fun', then find a way to make it fun.
 
Will do it will be nice to know some one else that's doing the course, took my Dog to the vet's with a foot problem and find out she needs an Operation on it, guess how much this will cost...£200 !!!!! just the amount needed for the course. ain't it just the way.
I hope the course isn't full when I get the money saved
 
Me & Wilma said:
Kevin is this the course with OU and The Royal Photographic Society, because Ive been looking at it for two weeks trying to decide if i could do it.
would love to give it ago but doubts creep in as only had the camera three months'
me &wilma
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Thanks for this information, I asked the OU if they had any Photography Courses and they said no... :(

Glad I have found this... Now, where to get £200...
 
I echo Terry's post..I fell in love with photography again when I took advantage of a sale on Amazon and purchased a Fuji X30, take it with me pretty much all the time..no hassle as with a big, heavy DSLR (I also had a D7000) and the features and spec:, all-be-it a small sensor, are very good, jpegs sooc are amazing! I'm now saving hard to get an X100T
Don't give up Ian, premium compacts are the way to go when feeling as you do, imo that is..

Robin
 
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Could someone please post a link to the OU course. Something I quite fancy to get me through the winter months.

I'm assuming its distance learning.

Regards
Neil
 
I guess you have to analyse, what it is that's actually demotivating you, is it purely a lack of interest in photography or the equipment your lugging? I guess you have to address this before you can find the solution.
I'm one of those idiots that lug half the world with me just in case (i still haven't learnt any better) But i look at is as a way to keep fit carrying 60lb of camera gear on my back!;)
But seriously, I have gone through periods where i cant get motivated, for many reasons, like lack of available time, despondent with results, appalling weather, and as a landscape tog it can be a bit frustrating at times being at the mercy of the weather etc.
I have in the past, rapped my hand in and sold all my gear, both times i have done this i have regretted it. So jump ship into another format or manufacturer by all means but don't sell up. (it looks like in the future all DSLRs are going to be getting smaller like the Sony A7R etc).
If you want motivation for getting out and shooting .... whatever the subject and you feel you need a bit of a challenge go to "Ideas and Inspiration" on this site and take up TP52 and shoot one subject per week (not as easy as it first appears). but you might find the challenge inspires you (you can jump in at any time even though its half way through the year).

I have had a bit of melt down recently with a loss of Mojo mainly due to being to busy to get out and about.... I hope you get your Mojo back Ian
Good Luck Mate
 
Have you considered taking part in some of the challenges like the 52 challenge or take on challenge here on TP I know it has helped me keep motivated when I started to feel like I was losing interest
 
Asha said:
Put the DSLR away, shoot with your phone if the urge takes you, occupy yourself doing other things that interest you ( even if away from photography), and most of all don't try and force yourself into doing something as a hobbie / enjoyable passtime if it feels like a chore.

The phase will pass with time and you'll either come back to your dslr at some point ( weeks, months even years) or you will have found a new area of interest , possibly within photography, possibly not.
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I often feel the same about taking my DSLR out. It is often said the best camera is the one you have with you and most phone cameras are more than adequate if the urge takes you and one usually has one's phone with them. I go for months not touching my DSLR and then go through a mad period of taking it everywhere (which probably says more about me than photography!). Now I have a film SLR too (Canon A1), I feel the urge again.
 
I had the same issue, I felt lugging the D750 and lens(s) around was a chore, especially as it was usually when out with the family. I ended up always leaving it at home.

In the end I decided to sell up and have just brought myself a Sony a6000 with the kit lens. Early days yet but I'm much more inclined to pick it up and take it when we go out and so far have been happy with the images I'm getting shooting jpeg + raw
 
I've got a small m43 kit. Panasonic G3, 20mm f1.7 pancake and 14-45. Looking to sell the body and zoom and add a gx7/gx8 or gx80/85 and Panasonic 12-32 pancake zoom. This'll be my go to out and about kit.

Also have a film Nikon FM2 with 3 good primes 24/50/100 which I'm enjoying using. Looking to a full frame DSLR Nikon D700 for stock/creative work.
 
I get like this with everything i do, I obsess for a while then go off the boil. I've just picked up my camera again after something like 2 years. I think i might be happy never to take a landscape photo again though i think this was what got me bored the last time. I'm only really into street photography but i'm not very good. You tend to do what you're better at doing rather than what you're happier doing.
 
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Same here gone of the boil,down to some ill health problems,but started again a bit,i do really like street photography but nowadays all the stick that come with it,is not helping :(
 
simonblue said:
Same here gone of the boil,down to some ill health problems,but started again a bit,i do really like street photography but nowadays all the stick that come with it,is not helping :(
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I live in a seaside resort people are even more hostile than usual to street photography it sucks and I'm a pussy.
 
rjbell said:
I live in a seaside resort people are even more hostile than usual to street photography it sucks and I'm a pussy.
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It is harder theses days,i have done quite a bit of work by the seaside,and sometimes i have come across some hostile people,if you can get down to London for the day,some good street photos opportunity,and people are usually in to much of an rush to bother you to much,and because its so full of tourist with cameras it can be a bit easier if you stick to the tourist spots.

:)
 
I have periods like this, where I can't be asked to get the d750 out. I also have a rx100 just so that I can just slip it in my pocket and go out.
But then for no reason I'll have a surge of taking the d750 out everywhere.
At the end I look at it. All my camera gear is paid for its not costing my me anything for it just to sit there.
The more I think about it whilst typing this reply the more I come on here and look at what people have been doing and what people are asking questions about that could be the motivation that gets me out, who knows.
 
Then do just that. I go on many photo walks with only the iPhone. You can control focus and exposure on the iphone, so the possibilities are infinite. A solid iphone photo can easily be better than a terrible DSLR photo.
 
It's different things to different people too. When I started photography I only thought of it as landscape work. Not sure why and I got so bored of it. My motivation to go back into it was to start shooting people, portraits.
I also get a kick out of keeping my eyes open for something on the street. It doesn't have to be obviously people. Often it's a cat or a dog or something inanimate and random. It can just be a detail. So don't miss the details.
Don't let it become like a chore. Compact cameras can get just fine results these days for reasonable prices if you don't want to lug around big gear. No camera produces a perfect quality image. It doesn't exist. In twenty years a 100 pound compact will be better than a 5000 pound camera today. More than likely. If we will even call them compact cameras. I digress. Have a camera with you at all times and think about what you would love to photograph with the bigger gear.
 
Just coming in on the back of a very long thread with some good points. Like the OP I am lacking motivation to take my camera out. Just been through a terrible year with my health. Won't bore you with the details but it was serious stuff. Cancer on my only kidney and spine surgery. Only just feel like picking up my camera again, joined the site today to maybe help me get motivated again. All I can say is I think to a lesser or larger extent everybody has periods like this where they need a reboot.....anyway hello everybody!
 
Well I avoided attack of GAS and didn't buy a new camera and off to Duxford airshow tomorrow so hopefully will get back into the swing of using the camera.
 
I felt the same until very recently - until I got a Fuji X-T10. I hadn't took my Canon out for ages, but now I take the X-T10 in a small light bag, most places I go out, and it is great.

That's not to say that the solution for every problem like this is to get a smaller camera system... motivation can be found in lots of places. One idea is to completely change up your normal style of shooting - I.e. try Macro exclusively for a while if you don't normally do that etc. It's surprising how it gets your creative juices flowing!
 
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Gareth_E said:
I felt the same until very recently - until I got a Fuji X-T10. I hadn't took my Canon out for ages, but now I take the X-T10 in a small light bag, most places I go out, and it is great.

That's not to say that the solution for every problem like this is to get a smaller camera system... motivation can be found in lots of places. One idea is to completely change up your normal style of shooting - I.e. try Macro exclusively for a while if you don't normally do that etc. It's surprising how it gets your creative juices flowing!
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I have been looking at doing something outside of my comfort zone. Part of me doesn't want to spend money on say a macro lens but I guess a work around like extension tubes or close up filters could be the low budget option instead.
 
ian-83 said:
I have been looking at doing something outside of my comfort zone. Part of me doesn't want to spend money on say a macro lens but I guess a work around like extension tubes or close up filters could be the low budget option instead.
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Yeah definitely! Then once you have the taste, you can go for a proper 1:1 ratio macro lens that will really let you get into the detail. I have a very old and battered Sigma DG 105mm 2.8 macro lens for my old Canon 40D, that is absolutely fantastic quality still. The autofocus stopped working years ago, but who cares - you manually focus with macro anyway. http://tinyurl.com/h5dl9es That's an example of it (Nikon Mount) for less than £250, and I know you can find them cheaper than that. You can't go wrong with it if you choose to go down that route in my opinion. Superb lens that had since been superseded by newer models, but the quality on the original is fantastic.

Used it recently on a food shoot for my friend's catering business. (obviously I could have gone closer, but I think it shows that quality of this old lens well!)

Pulled Pork by Gareth Edwards, on Flickr
 
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I go through this...

I don't get an awful lot of time to myself and what usually happens is I look forward to some free time and I get up early on the day only to find it's pouring down or it's a dead light no sky day with a featureless white / grey nothingness where the sky should be and just dead flat light below and it's just pointless even thinking about picking a camera up and going out. And of course the very next day when I'm not free guess what? It's a nice day. This seems to happen time after time after time... and I don't think I've taken a picture worth looking at for months.

I got up the other day intending to go up into the hills I can see from home but when I got up I couldn't even see them. No point even bothering. Dunno when my next free day will be. Oh well...
 
woof woof said:
I go through this...

I don't get an awful lot of time to myself and what usually happens is I look forward to some free time and I get up early on the day only to find it's pouring down or it's a dead light no sky day with a featureless white / grey nothingness where the sky should be and just dead flat light below and it's just pointless even thinking about picking a camera up and going out. And of course the very next day when I'm not free guess what? It's a nice day. This seems to happen time after time after time... and I don't think I've taken a picture worth looking at for months.

I got up the other day intending to go up into the hills I can see from home but when I got up I couldn't even see them. No point even bothering. Dunno when my next free day will be. Oh well...
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To be honest, these scenarios are what first led me towards macro photography. You can create some amazing images without even leaving the house.
 
woof woof said:
I go through this...

I don't get an awful lot of time to myself and what usually happens is I look forward to some free time and I get up early on the day only to find it's pouring down or it's a dead light no sky day with a featureless white / grey nothingness where the sky should be and just dead flat light below and it's just pointless even thinking about picking a camera up and going out. And of course the very next day when I'm not free guess what? It's a nice day. This seems to happen time after time after time... and I don't think I've taken a picture worth looking at for months.

I got up the other day intending to go up into the hills I can see from home but when I got up I couldn't even see them. No point even bothering. Dunno when my next free day will be. Oh well...
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This.
 
ian-83 said:
Anyone got any good ideas how to get myself motivated to get out and use my camera?

At the minute I just feel like taking my phone with me and using the camera on that instead of taking out my D7000. The thought of taking that and my tripod to do some landscape or any other type of photography just doesn't seem appealing.

The current thought it to have a bit of GAS and downsize to 4/3 system or maybe a compact which I am more likely to pick up as i walk out the door.
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If you want to bring back the magic, there are things short of changing your gear. How about signing up to one of the daily photo sites like Blipfoto? That helps force me to take a single picture every day. There are usually weekly challenges like "Mono Monday" or "Derelict Thursday", which can get you out of a rut with your pictures. There are other things you can do to get the creative juices flowing; pick an object at random in your house (a desk-lamp - a handful of coffee beans - a bunch of keys), put it on a sheet of white or black paper and just take photos of it with different angles and lighting. If you can get out of your workplace at lunchtime, try some street photos. Choose a type of object, like doors or chimney pots or black cats and set yourself the challenge of photographing only those things for a week.

The equipment is definitely part of the equation. I haven't regretted moving to Fuji 3 years ago. My X-T1 is much lighter than my D7100, and the lenses are mostly lighter than their Nikon equivalents. There is no sacrifice in image quality. The other place I'd look if you're downsizing is Sony. I used to be quite sniffy about them until I had a play with an A6000. What a revelation; a 24 MP APSC camera, nicely engineered, built on a M4/3 scale, and a really remarkably high quality kit lens. Reader, I bought one.

Whatever you do (or maybe did, since this is an old-ish thread) I hope your interest is restored!


Ian.
--
 
simonblue said:
Same here gone of the boil,down to some ill health problems,but started again a bit,i do really like street photography but nowadays all the stick that come with it,is not helping :(
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Many cameras have a remote app these days.

I sometimes put the camera around my neck tourist style with the lens cap off, and then walk around using my phone.

I suspect everyone just thinks I'm playing Pokemon!
 
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