Photography Block?
i live in a dull city and i work where there are alot of empty spaces and factories. i live in southern california. i feel like living around this enviroment is blocking me from taking good pictures. where can i go to open my mind and get great shots. preferrably near long beach.
thank you!
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You have a veritable goldmine of photographic opportunities with all the old buildings. Look at them closely - are there faded old signs painted on them? Broken windows? Deeply textured wood or brick or both? Do any of them have vertical corrugated siding? How about corrugated roofs? Any colorful graffiti?
You can take outstanding photos of corrugated siding or roofs with strong sidelighting (early morning or late afternoon). Use sunlight at an approximate 45 degree angle to show texture in old wood or bricks. Preserve faded old signs for the future - they may not be there in 2, 3 years. I've lost count of the empty fields around my area that are now covered with development - housing and/or retail.
Think outside the "I wanna take pretty pictures" box and get into some black and white. Go to the library and check out Dorothea Lange or Margaret Bourke-White or Edward Weston or W. Eugene Smith or Robert Capa. Or all of them.
26 Sept. Update: I have been thinking about this and hhave a few more suggestions.
Take a card table, cover it with a white tablecloth, place a fancy candelabra on it with two placesettings of fine china and silver and photograph it in front of one of the abandoned buildings.
Get a guy and girl in formal attire and pose them with the table setting.
Pose them in front of the most run-down old building, individually and as a couple.
I'd like to hear from you in a week or two. Just email me and let me know if you've been inspired.
Creativity can be inspired by a blank canvas. Photograph what is around you froma different angle, try adding a model to the seen (maybe in a completely out of context clothing, like boots and a cowboy hat), try different camera techniques etc.
Try looking at the old environment in a new way, rather than a new one in the old way.
All I can suggest is to find creative ways of photographing the dull and ugly, or take a vacation. Sometimes a different point of view is all it takes. Go close-up and see what you find.
the problem is you, not where you are
open your mind by educating yourself, if you learn "photography" you will understand how silly your question is
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