Keeping interest in photography alive?

I am falling into a rut with photography lately in my area and can't find anything interesting/fun to get out and photograph. My question to you is what goals or projects can I set for myself to stay involved on a regular basis?

I would suggest just to leave the camera to one side for a while & try to
unwind from the photography hobby. I fould myself in the same situation &
I just left everything to one side. I kept looking at images on other sites
but left the hardware in the bag. A little break from it will do the world of good!

entrefoto wrote in post #14936335
I am falling into a rut with photography lately in my area and can't find anything interesting/fun to get out and photograph. My question to you is what goals or projects can I set for myself to stay involved on a regular basis?

Football season is underway.

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Byte size: ZERO | Content warning: NOT AN IMAGE

I went and shot a local NCAA Div III soccer home opener today, first time in ages I've shot college soccer, only 2nd time in the last year I shot college sports. Something out of my ordinary, pushing myself to put something more interesting in front of the lends, so then I've got to work a little more to make it look as good as it is in my head.

Start a 365, put it up on facebook or some such that your friends will pressure you to keep up with it and ask for today's photo, then experiment with lighting you haven't done, practice making the mundane around the house look spectacular, try out new subjects this year I've done first ever waterdrop/splash, off camera strobist, smoke and bird photography; you get bored but need results so you're forced to look and try something new, and stick with that until you get a fair handle on it; it's a bit of a forced sampler plate until you find something you like or return to enjoying your roots (like me with the soccer today, used to be a staple as the photo editor in HS covering the sports for both paper and yearbook, getting back to it was refreshing); the 365 also helps force me to create challenges or assignments, doing a week in only B&W or 200mm for a day or 18mm for a day.

I've got an editorial style self assignment going where I'd like to produce 30 images of my city all black and white that show the character of the city, it's a background project that I've had going since June, every time I head into the city I've got the camera at the ready, I've got hundreds of photos of the city but only a handful with the character I'm looking for to thread into a gallery, just for my own memory but the self assignment puts more drive into getting behind the viewfinder.

Combine it with your other hobbies/interests. Stop worrying about what other people shoot/think of your preferred subject matter. Travel.

Most likely you are done with photography.
If you don't feel you need to get out and take the picture, you are done.
I take pictures everywhere I go. Week and weekends.

entrefoto wrote in post #14936335
I am falling into a rut with photography lately in my area and can't find anything interesting/fun to get out and photograph. My question to you is what goals or projects can I set for myself to stay involved on a regular basis?

I think that it's worth mentioning that if you're really serious about photography, it's not always going to be "fun". It's also work, and part of the work involves keeping at it through the low points.

Keep at it and I'm sure that the interest and fun will return eventually, but "ruts" are just gonna happen. And ultimately, you can either give up or simply force yourself to stay involved until you find something that you're passionate about (and there's nothing particularly wrong about either of those things). But there's no easy fix for this. Ultimately if you want to stay involved, it's not always going to be easy or fun, and there's gonna come a point where you just simply choose to stay involved.

As far as advice, all I can suggest is to just open yourself up to new ideas and experiences. Learn, explore, research, and study about things you care about, and some of that's inevitably going to bleed over into your work.

kf095 wrote in post #14936655
Most likely you are done with photography.
If you don't feel you need to get out and take the picture, you are done.

sounds like a pessimistic view. there's got to be something left, something for the OP. Maybe they can take excellent family pics with that gear

While most photographers are coming to close to 'ending their season' -- I'm merely getting started, there's still so much that I want to shoot. I want to shoot all year... I would shoot 365 days a year if I had the chance to!

watt100 wrote in post #14941443
sounds like a pessimistic view. there's got to be something left, something for the OP. Maybe they can take excellent family pics with that gear

I agree. I go through periods of disinterest. It doesn't necessarily mean you're completely done. It can come back in an instant. The few things I find that help me get back into it is learning a new technique etc., teaching someone else a bit, or traveling somewhere.

Edit: I must also mention that I am strictly a hobbiest and earning no income currently from anything photography related.

I take breaks sometimes and leave the camera at home (it's usually with me all the time), and after a couple days I go nuts and start wanting to take photos again.

For me it's like fishing in a lake with a ton of bluegill and only a few bass. Once in a while I catch a bass, but mostly it's just little fish I throw back.

It is not a goal or project, but recently my wife and I went downtown to play an "A-Z" game. It turned out to be much more fun and challenging than either of us thought it would be. I was thinking it could be done with colors too. My problem is I struggle with composition and this made me look at different ways to make everyday object look more interesting. The same thing could be done with anything really. Colors, shapes, letters, objects all could be used as a theme. For us, the focus was just to get out and have fun shooting.