Finding a new outlet for photography

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Adam
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Hi there, am hoping to gather some thoughts, maybe even from others who have experienced the same.

Im attempting to find a new outlet for my photos, I have found I have lost inspiration and enthusiasm with my photos and feel it shows in my photography.

At the moment I only post for Instagram (I previously used to post on 500px and FlickR, lately I find it exhausting and quickly get bored of chasing likes and comments. In the end you start changing what type of photos you take to fit in with what's popular....usually large format, over saturated and staged candid photos. I find there's definitely a certain look to them! Forget it if there's no sunrise/sunset! I know the same can be said for a lot of photo-sharing platforms but I notice its more apparent on instagram.

Personally I enjoy more countryside village and landscape photography but do also enjoy taking cityscapes - with landscapes countryside photos not necessarily the most popular on social media I know.

So I am trying to find another way to revitalise my interest. One way I planned to do this was to start selling at local galleries or creative fairs but of course given the current circumstances this is not achievable!
I did attempt to sell some prints via Etsy but found myself drowning amongst other sellers, well into double page figures before my listings appeared even with clever listings and tags.

I also enjoy exploring new areas to take pictures but thanks to the lockdown measures I think im running out of places locally haha!! I find new areas inspire more enthusiasm to take better photos.

So really any thoughts on how to recapture some passion for the medium would be great to hear and from anyone who has gone through this slump.
 
What are you chasing on flickr?
Your post comes across as you are taking photographs for likes with the hope of maybe selling a few. (I could be wrong of course)

I think we all go through a slump. I haven't been out with the SLR for ages. Just seem to use the camera phone lately. Partly as I have taken up walking (again) and can't be bothered to carry the extra weight around. But I have never been under any illusion that I take photographs for me. I have about a dozen photo's on flickr and most of those were uploaded to enable me to move them onto other platforms.
 
The problem with wanting other people to like/buy your stuff is that you need to make pictures that other people will like/buy. And the majority of those pictures all look the same. I started to enjoy my photography far more when I stopped trying to monetise it, and stopped giving a stuff what people thought. I focus on what I enjoy doing most.

Amateur means "for the love". I was trying to be a professional (for the money) and that was where my problems lay.

With Instagram & Flickr (and any other platform), go through and look at the people you're following. How many did you follow because they followed you? How about just following people who inspire you? The only time I see a sunset on Instagram is with Insta-Repeat (which always makes me chuckle) because I don't follow people who don't inspire me. If your feed is full of inspiring images that will make a difference.

Finally, how about this? (https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/produce-share-a-zine-round-ii-may-october-2020.710583/). All the photographers taking part (so far,a nd probably excepting me :)! ) are worth the time to browse through their work. Focus on creating a physical thing. Send that thing to others (who will send you their things in return). Enjoy the photography just for the love.
 
Im attempting to find a new outlet for my photos, I have found I have lost inspiration and enthusiasm with my photos and feel it shows in my photography.

It seems to me what you have lost enthusiasm for is not getting the audience you want. So that is where I would start, rather than the photography itself. Examine why you have spent your free time taking photos. From your description it is to be liked on sharing sites or shopping sites, but that surely is not what got you into photography originally.

My advice is to go back to where it started. Go back to shooting for yourself, not for others.

To give it some focus you could give yourself a project, just to have a purpose. Like putting together a book so you can pick a theme of interest to you, not anyone else, then planning shoots to capture suitable images then going out to get them.

Maybe you will never make the book, maybe you will never even show anyone the photos. Maybe it will be something you are incredibly proud of you will want to show the results to everyone. Maybe you will make the book.

But none of that matters until the end, because right now it is about the photography. About what matters to you, both in terms of the activity and the end result. About you as the artist and the subject. About doing something you love for the enjoyment and satisfaction it brings you. Not for anyone else, not for random people on the internet clicking on icons after a few seconds. For your love of photography.

I am not saying to stop putting anything online, exhibiting, or selling. Just do no treat that as the purpose of your photography. Get into the mindset of letting other people seeing you and your creations, not trying to be who other people want to see to satisfy their needs.
 
If it's photography for pleasure then you could try one of the challenges on here? Chris (Cobra) suggested the 52 to me and whilst time may be limited for me, it was a much needed nudge to get my photography passion rejuvenated.

If it's for making money, then I've always remembered a member on here who I'm sure was successful with stock photography. He said that he would watch the news and current affairs very closely in order to predict what was coming, this way he could already have relevant photos in place on the stock sites for when the events became mainstream. I can't remember the member, it must have been about decade ago! lol
 
@benc98 Hi yes I actually enjoy kayaking and have started using it to scout new spots to shoot or for places not necessarily accessible on foot.

@munch Yes I also used FlickR for the same purpose - I did use it at one point for feedback but found the platform a little quiet. I think this in part was why I moved to Instagram.

@Harlequin565 I think originally I did use apps such as Instagram to see how my photos were received and got sucked in to the chasing likes and comments but found this quickly gets stale and there is very little engagement after that, however I find local photographers are much more interested to discuss shots.
I did initially start photography for the love of the medium and the subject matter but think in recent years I have been nudged by family and friends to try and make money of off it (The phrase 'if you are good at something, never do it for free' often would crop up!) so maybe I always have this at the back of my mind. I feel you are right and maybe a new focus on following photographers I like - it would be nice if you could tailor Insta this way without having to bloat your following list.

@mij I love the idea of a book and this is something I have considered doing. Im definitely capable of doing so but I just need to focus on a subject matter with my photos that I could expand on and flesh out. But yes I do feel I would like an audience that is engaged with photography and discuss in detail but with social media it is often limited to a 'Thumbs up' or 'Lovely shot' although this is far from the worst feedback!!

@gman Thanks I will take a look at these! I think my photography is not focused so having a subject to focus on would help!
 
I do think, like others here, you have to go back to why you take photos.

I was on Flickr (still got the link in my sig) but gave up on it after they changed their accounts. The one thing that I did like on Flickr was the 52 week challenge group I was in. A weekly theme to shoot/edit/upload gave a real purpose to think up and compose. And the feedback from that group was pretty decent. But for everything else it was rubbish and they even changed the algorithm so that photos just didn't make it into explore.

I do still have a 500px account too, but that only had two purposes, to share for likes or to sell images, which I did on a few occasions. I barely check it now.

Instagram is another beast. Initially I joined because it seemed the next obvious platform after Flickr started to go south. But I didn't get very far. I have started a new IG account though, based mainly on regional/local images, which has drawn far more interest than my previous account and I have far more enthusiasm for shooting the region and sharing my images with others in the region. Probably 50-60% of my followers are local. I shoot because I enjoy it, not to make money.
I have had people say "oh you should sell prints" or "you could make money from this" but that would put a pressure on it. If I put effort into putting images available for sale, I'd then get sucked into the whole, "does anybody like my images", "why can't I sell more", "why did I spend time/money on this selling solution".
My focus/genre has kinda narrowed of the past 3 years so now I mainly shoot landscapes and cityscapes, with a bit of nature in there too. And because my IG has a regional focus, it gets other local people interested.
I've also met up with a couple of local photographers through IG.

I'd suggest a weeding out of who you follow on IG. If you want to be inspired, unfollow your school friends/family/colleague who only post selfies and photos of their holiday, find some photographers whose images you find inspiring to follow. Find local images using tags and locations to search for locations to shoot yourself. Also decide whether following the accounts that re-gram other photographers images is really helpful, there's too many of these accounts.


Find a reason to shoot, not just for likes and only post a photo if you really like it. Even if that means not posting for ages.
What's your favourite image you've taken from the last 6 months?
When did you last have fun shooting and why was it so fun?
Work those out and it could point you in the right direction.
 
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