Trying something new. Advice?

conjunctive wrote in post #14986108
Gonzogolf, that's one of my biggest hang-ups with portraiture. I can't afford to pay someone, so I'd be obligated to at least share the results with them. I'm very protective of my work, and I'd hate to give unsatisfactory images to someone. I have offers from friends and things to sit if I'd like them to, but I really don't want to disappoint them or myself. I'm not particularly confident in myself or my work (particularly if its a new style or genre for me.) But I may just have to force myself if I ever want to get it done.

One of the problems with this site is that it tends to generate an overdeveloped sense of the value of one's work. Not that you shouldnt protect your rights but your practice work in developing a portrait competence shouldn't inviolate. As for disappointing your subject, chances are even your practice work is going to measure up to the commercial studio packages.

conjunctive wrote in post #14986108
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Landscapes I could get into if there was anything nearby that I liked looking at... Ever since I was young I've been fascinated with mountains, and Florida being flat has no mountains (or even appreciably sized hills, really.) ......

.....

The grass is always greener.

I have a View of the Rocky Mountains from my office (picture from phone camera)

My interest is mostly landscapes and most have no people in them.

Few years back I lived in a place where I'd step out of my basement and be on an ocean beach.

You really have to open up to whats around you - and like your header says - try something new.

i was in a similar situation. but mine was more because i couldn't travel outside of my city so i was fairly locked as to area's i could photograph. i was always able to find new things to photograph in those area's but i got bored with those area's.

recently a makeup artist friend of mine and me have paired up to shoot models. everything is free as the models are friends (mostly hers), she does the makeup to build up her portfolio and i do the pictures and editing to add to my portfolio (just started last weekend) definitely brought my interest back to photography and i believe it will stay with model photography.

the beauty about photography is its not isolated to one specific genre. anything and everything can be used as inspiration for photography.

And I can't speak for conjunctive, but I have been to every park within an hour (or more) from me. Honestly, they have alot of the same things - the same spiders, fauna, and swampy/muddy ground. It gets old quickly, especially (as conjunctive says) in the heat and humidity, not to mention the mosquitoes. Alligators sound so exciting to photograph and to see, when in reality, they just sit there. There are only so many shots of an alligator you can take before being bored silly.

Like I said above, I live on the water, and while it's great for quality of life, it's pretty lame from a photographic standpoint. I have the same dopey bird that lives in the tree by my dock, and every few days a sea otter comes up on my dock and takes a nasty, watery dump. Seriously.

The beaches are good for a bit, but again, it's always the same thing. Unless I want to start becoming a dirty old man taking pictures of girls in bikinis with a 500mm, it's pretty much all the same.

Yes, there are moments that are interesting, but those are few and far between.

Theme parks? Yeah, they're great, but it's not like you're going to go there all the time, even if you live by them. They cost a fortune to go and have a good time.

I used to live in the PacNW (Vancouver, WA/Portland, OR, Spokane, WA, Sandpoint, ID). Much, much more to do there on a daily basis. 30 miles in any direction gives you something completely different. Florida, not so much. And before someone says it, my wife loves it here - happy wife, happy life.

Photographically speaking, Florida is a great place to vacation, but not for an ongoing photographic endeavor. And the Everglades are 5 hours away, and the Keys are 7.

What I do to try and keep it 'fresh' is give myself an assignment. My current assignment? Photograph every church steeple in the city of St Petersburg and surrounding small towns. That's what I'd suggest to the OP - pick something weird, and make it an assignment. Someone here is doing a junkyard series, I've done an alphabet series (pics of individual letters around the area), and there are tons more. Just pick something (every dog that comes to a park can be one), and do it. It keeps you busy, and makes you think.

speaking of assignments. i picked up a photography book over the weekend that included 70 assignments to complete. these would be ideal and are designed to help with your photography over all. the assignments range from macro all the way up to group shots. they even included a wedding photography assignment in it lol

and the name of said book is...... drumroll please........

i can't remember at the moment. i would have posted it earlier but the book is at home and i'm currently at work lol.

edit: the book is called Complete guide to photography - John Hedgecoe. cost me $20cdn