![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/image1-800x530.jpg?resize=800%2C530\")
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I think one of the most difficult things as a photographer is to stay inspired. How do we stay inspired to shoot everyday\u00e2\u20ac\u201c when the boredom and monotony of everyday life sets in?<\/p>\n
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Realize that it is impossible to always be inspired. Even when I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m traveling in a very interesting and foreign place (I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m currently in Saigon, Vietnam) it is hard to be constantly inspired. For the most part, I have a pretty boring and routine schedule: I wake up in the morning, have breakfast, have a coffee, walk to my cafe, blog (while having another coffee) walk to my vietnamese class, learn Vietnamese, have another coffee (3pm I want to suppress my nap), meet Cindy, walk and have dinner, walk to a cafe, hang out and talk, walk home, chat and sleep.<\/p>\n
Even for me, I always stress the importance of shooting everyday and having your camera with you always. But know that I face the same difficulties as you do. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not inspired everyday, yet I try to force myself to shoot everyday. There are times when I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll go up to a full week without shooting any photos because I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel \u00e2\u20ac\u0153inspired\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. However in always experimenting with new approaches and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153hacks\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to keep me productive and inspired.<\/p>\n
One thing I read recently is the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153one push-up challenge\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. There was a blogger who wanted to get into shape, so he made the goal: I will do at least one push-up a day. Doing one push-up a day didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem like such a big challenge. So when he woke up, he did his one push-up of the day. However the funny thing was\u00e2\u20ac\u201c when he just did one push-up, he became inspired to do more. He would end up doing 14\u00e2\u20ac\u201c15. But it was that one single push-up that inspired him to do more. Then it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t so hard. He started to do this with pull-ups too. He aimed to just do 1 pull-up a day. And after a month or two with this routine\u00e2\u20ac\u201c he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quite fit.<\/p>\n
I heard that story and was quite inspired. So I thought to myself, maybe this can be a good strategy for photographers?<\/p>\n
I think we can all strive to take one photograph a day. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even think that one photograph needs to be a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153street photograph\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. It can be a photograph of your significant other, your kids, or anything random you see. It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to be with your fancy camera. You can even use your iPhone.<\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve started the 1 photo a day challenge myself while here in Saigon. Even though I take the same route everyday\u00e2\u20ac\u201c I find myself inspired when I just take one photograph. After taking just one photograph, I get inspired to take more. By the end of the day, I will easily take around 40\u00e2\u20ac\u201c50 photographs.<\/p>\n
Part of just shooting one photograph a day is to always have your camera with you. I currently am using the Fuji XT\u00e2\u20ac\u201c1 with a 27mm lens, and a wrist strap and keep it in my backpack wherever I go. And whenever I am going somewhere to walk, I keep it on my wrist. I find using a wrist strap inspires me to take more photos (than if the camera was just on my neck). Also having a wrist strap makes your camera less bulky, and makes it easier to simply pull quickly out of your bag.<\/p>\n
I also find it is good to not edit while shooting. This means, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t discriminate the scenes before your very eyes. If you see a potential photograph that you might think is even mildly interesting, just take a photo of it. You can always edit it out later when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re at home on your computer.<\/p>\n
So think about the importance of training or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153working out\u00e2\u20ac\u009d your eyes (like you would do as daily bodily exercise). I heard from a friend the phrase, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153visual push-ups\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u201c looking at great images to exercise your eyes, while also going out and shooting to train your eyes.<\/p>\n
To take this assignment even further\u00e2\u20ac\u201c I propose another idea, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the one great photo a day challenge\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. The idea of this challenge is to also look at least one great photograph a day to keep you inspired.<\/p>\n
When I used to work in IT as a student, I spent far too much time cruising gear review sites, forums, and rumor sites. Rather I wish I told myself : inspire yourself by looking at great images. I would have magnumphotos.com<\/a> bookmarked as my homepage, and spend time studying the work of the masters<\/a>.<\/p>\n