Freshening up your photography

Keeping your photography fresh is an important and sometimes difficult thing to do. Looking back at your images and finding that you are thinking the same image over and over again even though the locations may be different is a disheartening thing. As are those days that you struggle to make any pleasing images at all, trying your hardest to make a few good clicks but nothing works. My favourite way to get over these slumps (we all have them) is to shoot something different or something that you shoot often but in a different style. I took this idea to one of my editors. I wanted to shoot an article for the magazine that stood out from the rest and indeed it did. It was for a rock climbing magazine and we decided to look at the people that made the sport rather than people doing the sport. We chose a busy weekend and set up an outdoor studio at a popular climbing venue and shot a bunch of people and turned it into an eight page photo essay that went down a treat. So much so it is now back as a regular feature looking at some of the figures that made the sport what it is today (See image above). This has refreshed my creative spirit, opened me up to shoot people again (when there aren't moving at 100km/hr), made an impact with readers and editors alike and has been a great opportunity to meet some interesting folk. And it is all just about what we love doing, getting out and taking photos!