Beginner Inspiration

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A silly question but how do you get your inspiration? Do you take your camera with you everywhere, or think I'm going to visit such a place and take some shots?

I mean I know I want to take some aviation stuff so a trip to Manchester airports in the pipeline, but would also like to do some night city shots.
 
Some inspiration I get is looking at other photographers work, then trying to emulate it in your own way. It has lead me to better understand what I like to do.
 
What do you enjoy the most? Movies, Music, Reading, Writing all these things are great sources of inspiration and ideas.

Taking your camera can help, but aimlessly pointing it and hoping to get a shot, will more than likely prove fruitless and frustrating. I find it much better to go out with a plan of sorts.

500px is a great source of visual stimulation, search for things in your area/area of interest.
 
My main hobby is Mountain biking, just cross country. Nothing to extreme. I do enjoy going to Manchester Airport watching the different Aircraft, also like Trains.

Enjoy going for walks and riding my motorbike.
 
The inspiration comes from reading books and looking at photographs.

However to "see" photographs you don't need a camera, just be very observant.

When actually out and about it depends on where I am and what I am expecting.

I do go on specific shoots - like a dawn shoot or motor racing, or classical music concerts.
Sometimes I will just go for a walk with a camera, and just one lens and see what happens.
Sometimes I will have a fair bit of time to kill (whilst waiting for my wife) and will always have a camera with me.
If we go to visit our children, who live out in the country, I will take a a fair amount ofr gear as I may be shooting anything from grandchildren indoors, to 'scapes or wildlife.
 
So would taking my camera in my backpack/camelbak when out on my motorbike/mountain bike be ok. Or will I break it.
 
Think what would happen if you dropped your bike or did an "endo".
I would put my camera in a small camera bag or better still a "pelican" case and then put that in the backpack.

I destroyed a 28mm lens on a very long, 7000 km (~4300miles) approx which 2000km (1200+ miles) was rough dirt, motorcyle ride years ago. and that was just due to vibration.
 
Three things inspire me

  1. Other photographers work / books
  2. Planning. Simply heading out with a type of photograph in mind. I find if I aimlessly wander, I am disappointed with what I shoot. I have been in Kuala Lumpur for the last 4 weeks, and I have spent several evenings walking around with the pure aim of trying to capture the bussling nightlife atmosphere
  3. Not taking my camera with me - sometimes, just simply walking with no photographic equipment can lead you to visualising a shot.
 
A silly question but how do you get your inspiration?

That's one of those questions that writers get asked all the time: "Where do you get your ideas?". From all around you is the answer. Movies, books, music, other images, paintings.. you name it. What helps is to try and stop thinking one image at a time. Find a project that allows you to spend some times focusing on one subject. Something that gives you a goal to aim for.

Do you go biking with friends? If so, why not document that little community, what they do, where they go.. the fund, camaraderie and social aspects of a sport or passtime. I don't mean wide angle slow sync flash shots of mountain bikes... that's been done to death... I mean document them. If at the airport shooting planes, why not turn the camera around, and do a project on the people who go there?

Look at photographer's books. They'll usually be a body of work, not a collection of random images. Books like "Sleeping by the Mississippi" by Alec Soth spring to mind. Seemingly random images, but somehow they hang together because while randomly discovered, the reason for taking them was very clear - to travel the Mississippi and document the people who live along it. Often you need that one connecting theme to keep you focused on what you want to capture.
 
Bit of a solo rider on the mountain bike. I used to be big into motorbikes going everywhere and taking pictures of my bike in various locations with my phone. My excitement kinda waivered a bit in thelast couple of years, but the spark seems to have come back again. So might hop on the bike somewhere and go take pictures.

Wanted to do the same with my mtMtb, but I'm scared the vibrations will break my camera.
 
Have a look at the photos on here, they can give real inspiration and if you ask the thread author, they'll give you help and advice over how they've shot it.
 
My main hobby is Mountain biking, just cross country. Nothing to extreme. I do enjoy going to Manchester Airport watching the different Aircraft, also like Trains.

Enjoy going for walks and riding my motorbike.

I would look at other shots of your hobbies and you will see things that you want to try and it will give you ideas of things to shoot. As far as taking your camera with you all of the time I say that it depends of your level. If you are a beginner then yes take it. The more you shoot the more you learn. Even if you shoot aimlessly you will learn. The key is to look at your shots as you take them and really look at them hard on your commuter when you are done. Don't be discouraged if you have a bunch of bad shots (because you will) just make sure you figure out why they are bad and how you can make them better. You can even post them for others to help you figure it out if you want.
 
David and others pretty much covered it - but all I would say is shoot something that has meaning to you. Don't worry about photography for photography's sake. Shoot something you're interested in, shoot it consistently and over time. Don't stress about photographic technique, or having to get a "wow" shot every time you go out. Then in a month, six months, two years, whenever you look back - you may realise you have a much more interesting collection than you thought.

Besides that, read a book and go to a gallery.
 
Maybe I should collect all my shots on Flickr. I seem to shoot something, and think nah that's crap and delete it. Should I just snap away and see what comes outwhen iI put them on my comp?
 
Maybe I should collect all my shots on Flickr. I seem to shoot something, and think nah that's crap and delete it. Should I just snap away and see what comes outwhen iI put them on my comp?

No.

You're just recording. Nothing that you get will be down to you at all.. it will be serendipity alone. You'll get interesting images now and again, but you're not really a photographer then are you... just someone who takes a lot of pictures and occasionally gets a good one. If you're cool with that, then sure.... fire away, but I doubt you'd have created this thread if you thought that was OK. You don't need inspiration if you just machine gun everything, everywhere you go... sooner of later you'll get great shots.
 
Yeah that's half my problem I just fire away random shots of random images. I've been thinking about what I'd like to achieve. I want a nice looking photo of my motorbikes and my mountain bike.

Also want to capture the amazing scenary of the moorland we have round here in Darwen.
 
I have a whole section of my website devoted to inspiration as I need to get ideas from others rather than just head out with no clue what to photograph.
I'm a big fan of monthly magazines actually and did a review of the best ones before Christmas, You can see the post here which I think will be useful to you.
http://slrcoaching.com/which-photography-magazine-is-the-best/

I wrote another post too that might help
http://slrcoaching.com/my-top-10-sources-of-inspiration/

Let me know what you think but I love seeing these project ideas and having a go myself.
 
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