The dreaded rut. I find myself in the middle of a deep rut. I'd love to say that I've felt uninspired, but that wouldn't really be the truth. More accurately, I've felt overwhelmed. I somehow fell into the dark trap of comparisons. Spending WAY too much time online looking at images, reading, soaking in the latest gear envy circulating the forum. I recognized this, but almost didn't want to change it. There was a small part of me that was enjoying it all.
But that part was small. Very small. And it's not like I don't know what to do about it. I know myself well enough to know that if I'm browsing B&H, opening facebook for no reason, or aimlessly digging in forums more than I'm in lightroom, I'm not shooting enough. It's that easy.
I was listening to a podcast today that gave me a great kick in the butt. It talked about if you had a desire to become a painter, one way to set out to make 100 crappy painting (crappy was not the word used, but you get the picture). You don't become a painter by reading about painting, or simply buying paints, or looking at beautiful paintings. You become a painter by painting. Sometimes painting crappy paintings. And that's okay. Because by the end of 100 crappy paintings, you'll be a painter, and somewhere along the way you'll have made something beautiful. This entire concept spoke deeply to me.
So I grabbed my camera tonight. It was nearly dark already, and I decided I wasn't going to tun on a light, just start shooting. The house is quiet, and dark, and I aimlessly started walking around and found little pockets of light.
After just a few frame, I can feel it start to melt. I can feel the revival of the joy returning.
