When you grow bored of your own work
Is this a sign of creative growth?
Photographers are creative people. We thrive on fresh visual stimuli, making pictures that excite us, that feed our desire to create new work.
It’s no surprise that every so often, we’ll hit a wall and find our own work dissatisfying. What once excited us now feels repetitive or lacklustre.
If this resonates with you, you are not alone. It’s not a sign of failure, but rather an indication that your creative vision is changing, improving.
It means that our visual comprehension has grown beyond what we were previously capable of seeing. We’ve grown bored with what had once impressed us… But instead of giving up, we should use this dissatisfaction as a driving force to push our photography forward. It’s not a creative block; it’s an invitation to transform our vision!
What can you do when you hit this stage of the creative process?
Interrogate your own work.
Go through your images and ask yourself what you no longer find satisfying or exciting about them. You may be able to identify themes or patterns in your work that can help you move to the next step. For me, it was recognising a sameness in composition and in the use of concepts such as colour and contrast. I felt that seeing these things no longer excited me and were no longer a reason for me to take the picture. I needed to find something new in the making of a photograph to excite me.
Take a break and observe
Inspiration can wane because we are too immersed in the same visual medium. When I felt like I could no longer take another picture, I gave myself a break from photography and went to the Art Gallery of WA instead. I browsed exhibitions, attended the Time Rone exhibition while it was on show at AGWA. I went for walks through local parks and just looked at trees and undergrowth. I watched movies (both in the cinema and streaming). I didn’t do this to find inspiration for photography; I did this so that I could detach my “way of seeing” from photography and to just enjoy seeing for the sake of seeing (without the pressure of actually creating photographs).
A frame taken at the Time Rone Exhibition in February.
Experiment
Move beyond your usual photographic subject. If you photograph almost everything, then try a different way of using your camera. I delved into Intentional Camera Movement and discovered the potential in a technique that I had previously deplored as being “pointless”. I started taking more images with my smartphone. I even ran smartphone photography classes to de-centralise my thoughts about what it means to take photographs.
Learn from others
Start to engage with the work of other photographers whose style is very different from yours. Follow artists who challenge your aesthetic preferences, and think about why their work resonates with you. I started browsing Instagram and Threads for photographers whose street photography I found compelling. I studied these images and asked myself why I was drawn to them. I looked at images that photographers had taken in boring locations, with the intent of discovering how they could create interesting images in what I had considered visually sterile environments.
Change gear
No, I’m not advocating that you buy a new camera system. 🙂 Sometimes, changing from one method of photography to another can help you see and frame differently. My good friend, Shivam Pandey, started using a manual focus camera system a couple of years ago. I noticed that his composition, framing and timing changed remarkably. Manual focus requires a lot more thought and planning prior to committing the moment with the shutter, and his work had taken on a whole new aesthetic which was clearly more design-based. His images are so much richer for it.
Take discomfiture to heart
Understand that this is a phase in your creative voyage and that discomfort is a necessary step in your own creative growth. Every creative person experiences it and embracing it can lead to incredible changes and evolution in your own work.
Recognising that dissatisfaction with your work is sign of progress. Harness this awareness as an opportunity for transformation. Your creative vision is sharpening, your standards are rising, and your artistic journey is moving forward. Lean into it and watch your photography flourish.
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