Ever been in a creative funk?

How do you deal with a creative funk?

As we all definitely know, this past year had been like no other. From dealing with sickness, lock downs, isolation, restrictions. As a landscape photographer , this affected us greatly. Personally all my travel plans were of coarse, all out the window. All plans for travel back to Wyoming, a planned shoot in Utah, a possible shoot down the Oregon/California coast, all gone. So, like everyone else I just had to deal with it. Honestly the lock down did give me time to go through old hard drives , re-vamp my website, dig deeper into creating my store front ( with some big announcements coming soon!) . Even found myself re-editing some past images to get a different mood, feel, and look than what my previous state of mind may have been, when originally creating the image.

But soon enough that was not enough. I was getting the itch to shoot, to travel. Being based in the Midwest , now Indiana .. there just isn’t a lot to shoot here. Topped with the lockdown, I found myself getting further and further in a funk. Mentally , physically and creatively . Now to be fair, there probably are things here close to me that I could shoot. But, I find it hard for me to force myself , well… I don’t know if force is the right word… but that’s what I am going to roll with, but I feel I have to force myself to find a new niche to shoot in.. minimalist? Local wild life? Product? … I even decided , well trying to decide.. to start doing some portrait work. My love, my passion is grand landscapes. My love is the mountains, the deserts, waterfalls, streams and rivers. The things that northern Indiana has nothing close too.

The area of Indiana that I am residing in is flat, the landscape laid flat by the same glacier that created the Great Lakes. I often joke that folks from here gather and stand at amazement when a hill is discovered. Me being originally from Iowa, in the Mississippi River valley, was used to the hills, cliffs, valleys, that line that big old river. Here…. Nothing close.. I have found a couple small waterfalls, an old mill/barn, I do travel to Lake Michigan and shoot sunsets at the lighthouses there.. and I do enjoy that. But, I also find myself being not as creative shooting the same scene over and over… BUT… with that said…. I could shoot the same area of Teton, or Yellowstone over and over with no problems and feel creative with every shot… yeah.. yeah.. I know, I’m weird ..

Then I found myself in the dilemma of do I consider my work “ essential”… during the worst of the lockdown, you could travel for work. Photography is not my main income, but it is certainly part of it, an important part. Do I risk the travel for my “work”? If I do, are the places here, or out west even open to shoot? In most cases… no… So here I sat, found myself not being physical, not challenged mentally or physically. Older, weaker, tired, heavier, creatively drained…

I did turn to You Tube and watched videos over and over from photographers that gave inspiration, taught me some new things. Photographers like Thomas Heaton, Adam Gibbs, Gavin Hardcastle, Nick Page, Ben Horne… really got me wanting more and more to start shooting. And, also listening to them talk about their own creative funk during this time, really inspired me. But, while being motivated to shoot… I was and am so sick of shooting the same things here, even searching for new places to shoot, looking up different parks, wetlands… looking at images online of the areas.. just left me… MEH…

So, now things are opening.. I’m starting to get excited at the thought of travel, of camping, car camping, hikes, meeting up with friends and fellow photogs, looking forward to the open road. Now, I just need to plan my travels , with trying to avoid crowds , traffic jams in the parks… We all know the millions that visit Grand Teton and Yellowstone in the peak tourist season.. So that trip looks like an autumn trip when kids are back in school.. So where do I go this summer? Idaho, Utah? I’m leaning towards Canyonlands.. or the west coast… I don’t know…. All I know is… I need to go..

So…. How are you / did you handle the lockdown and how did it affect your work, health , creative mind… how did you get out of it , if it was negative on you? Did you change up your game and shoot a new style, new subjects? How did a style change up work for you? Was it as enjoyable? Did it fulfill your creativity?

Would love to hear other opinions on this!

Happy shooting all!