Inspiration: Awaken your Muse
As photographers, we tend to get caught up in the latest gadgets and gizmos, techniques, lighting, framing, posing, and all the other aspects of creating images. In many cases, we forget to shoot from inspiration. It is easy to leave behind the passion that drew us to photography in the beginning. There is nothing wrong with new equipment, poses, fads, trends, and the rest, but if we leave behind our inspiration and passion in the process, we lose the greatest aspect of photography. If we do not shoot from a position of passion and inspiration, then we are just taking pictures, we are not creating images…we are not being artists. We need to awaken our muse, find our inspiration, and fall in love with photography all over again.
What Inspires You?
While not everyone has gone cold or numb to the passion of creating images, many of us need to stop and smell the proverbial roses. Many of us need to quit thinking so much and tap into our souls more often. Think back to the time when you started out taking photos. What was it that drew you to photography in the beginning? What was it that made you pick up a camera and try to capture a moment in time? What was the reason that you wanted to click the shutter?
It might have been a memorable moment in your life. It might have been a simple smile, or a wink from a lover. It might have been the vast colors of a sunrise or sunset. It might have been a heightened emotional state at a wedding or funeral. It might have been the innocence of wildlife or the beauty of nature. It might have been the view out your window. Whatever it was, it caused you to want to communicate with others, to share that moment, that piece of history, that emotional state so that others could feel and understand the same thing you did.
If we lose that wonder, that part of our soul that desires to communicate with others in that original fashion, then we lose the best part of being artists. We learned techniques in order to help us communicate with others through the visual medium of photography more effectively and more concisely. We cannot allow our creativity and inspiration to be replaced by trends, equipment, and technique. Machines can do those things.
Inspire Others to Inspire Yourself
The next time you pick up your camera, think of what inspires you. Think of something that you want to say to others in the form of an image. Think of how it might affect the viewer. Think of how it may inspire them. If you can find excitement in the potential to inspire other people, you will find your muse; you will reach inspiration in yourself. Your images will contain part of your essence, part of your very being, part of your soul. You will be able to help people understand and feel and in so doing, you will find yourself understanding and feeling more.
When you click the shutter, you are not always going to create a great image. You will fail in your attempts more often than you will succeed. Most people would not continue in such a venture unless they were able to find hope, joy, and fulfillment at some point in the process. We know that when we fail to create that which we desire in our photography, that we can do better, we can change things. We know that when we get it all right, we can change the course of another person’s life. We have seen photographs end wars, expose hatred and brutality, evoke love and peace, and inspire charity and hope in people around the world.
We continue to develop our skills, not to produce a high quality image, but instead, to communicate effectively with the rest of the world. We do it to inspire others, to express ourselves, to tell a story, to make people feel.
Have Fun!
Sometimes, we pick up our cameras out of habit or necessity, to complete a job, to complete a task. How often do we pick up our cameras in order to simply enjoy the moment? Take the time to remember your first passion with photography, and let yourself have fun with it. Be creative, do something different…even if it is cheesy, even if it doesn’t make sense, even if it breaks some ‘rule’ of photography. Let yourself go, allow yourself to have fun again. Keep yourself sharp, don’t worry about all the technical aspects of things all of the time. Don’t ignore them, but let yourself go.
Take a shot simply because it makes you smile. It might be that no one else understands why it makes you smile, but…just maybe, you will make them smile too. That is what it is all about; that is why we shoot. That is the difference between taking pictures and creating images!
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