7 MOTIVATIONAL PHOTO THOUGHTS FOR YOU

ERIC KIM NEWS

Dear friend,

If you’re hungry for some photographic motivation … here are some honest and practical thoughts for you:

1. Is it possible to stay entertained to keep photographing the same thing over and over again?

A zen thought:

Is it possible we can keep photographing the same thing, over and over again… and stay motivated and entertained?

Yes, but to a certain point.

2. Is it dynamic?

Perhaps the best way to stay motivated in photography is to keep photographing dynamic things.

For example, cities are great because they are very dynamic. Always moving — moving people, moving cars, and the city-scape changing.

But if you live somewhere boring … how can you find interesting novelty?

My thought:

Walk around a lot, and photograph homes.

Todd Hido did a great photo book called ‘House Hunting’ and the basic concept:

Just photograph (interesting) photos of (boring) homes.

If anything, it is my personal ambition to make the best suburb street photography project of all-time.

3. Ideas

For some practical photo ideas, download:

Or for more luxury products, purchase:

4. Black and white

I love color. I love monochrome. Yet, ultimately — I think for motivational purposes, monochrome is better.

Why? You can transform more boring things and make them interesting with black and white. Far more difficult with color.

In fact, I think making good photos in color is far more difficult than black and white, because you are dependent on the time of day, quality of light, and the colors. But if you’re just stuck, and need a shot of inspiration … harness monochrome!

The best monochrome masters to study:

5. Critique

Constructive critique on arsbeta.com.

This is the thing:

If you want motivation in your photography, giving constructive critique to other photographers (and receiving constructive critique) is key.

For example on ARS:

Top photo by Darius Lele.
Top user: Raymond Waitekus
Top portfolio (Stephane Pia)

My personal ambition behind building ARS was simple:

How can we create the first productive photography online community that can actually HELP us photographers improve?

Honest feedback and critique, whether you attend workshops or from friends/family is useful. But if you want to improve your street photography, getting feedback from other street photographers seems to be best.