Getting bored of photography

I would like to clarify, the free work at the event I do is because I have been friends with the organiser and been shooting since the event began. It has since grown a little but not massively. There are no other paid togs there and everyone does it for free. I do it free cause a lot of my friends drive there, ther are not in mega expensive cars, it's more like a community.

People snort at free togs, as do I because now I have the portfolio to backup my experience I want to start charging but the transition is very difficult.

Anyway I have made my move and got rid of some gear. Treated myself to a mint Olympus Trip 35 and a few rolls of Tri-X and Portra. I am looking forward to going out and veined in the moment.

urbanfreestyle wrote in post #18217391
i was running as just a hobby for about 4 or 5 years. then started getting interest from people i had shot with so decided to try to make some money and get my name out there. Then as quickly as i had done so it all hit the fan.
I pulled back and tried to do it as hobby again but struggling to find the want to go out and shoot.

I never had that problem. I went right from another art media to photo, then photo school. It was never a hobby. But I can tell you that making money from art is a great way to get burned out, or at least lose the passion. I shot pro for maybe 6 years, but flipped to doing design. 15 years later I flipped back again.

mcluckie wrote in post #18223121
I can tell you that making money from art is a great way to get burned out, or at least lose the passion.

Long ago, when I had an in-house job with a small publisher, illustration and some other artsy tasks were part of it. My work ever since has been freelance, not with art (except in a minimal way) but with text. In my experience, the motivation killer isn't art, it's self-employment. As an employee, you're in touch with other members of a group trying to get something done. That's a great help if being part of a team makes you feel that your work is more meaningful. People around you have some idea of what you're doing, even if they have other specialties. You also get to skip some of the businessy aspects that many people would like to avoid, such as negotiating and bookkeeping.

mcluckie wrote in post #18223121
I never had that problems I went right from another art media to photo, then photo school. It was never a hobby. But I can tell you that making money from art is a great way to get burned out, or at least lose the passion. I shot pro for maybe 6 years, but flipped to doing design. 15 years later I flipped back again.

I think you hit the nail on the head in the fact is you didn't have you personal creative outlet. If I didn't have it I would have been crisp a long time ago.

In my opinion, thats why you need to keep your art for you and separate that from what you do for clients.

OhLook wrote in post #18223237
Long ago, when I had an in-house job with a small publisher, illustration and some other artsy tasks were part of it. My work ever since has been freelance, not with art (except in a minimal way) but with text. In my experience, the motivation killer isn't art, it's self-employment. As an employee, you're in touch with other members of a group trying to get something done. That's a great help if being part of a team makes you feel that your work is more meaningful. People around you have some idea of what you're doing, even if they have other specialties. You also get to skip some of the businessy aspects that many people would like to avoid, such as negotiating and bookkeeping.

And most really successful photographers i know do what they do well and have help in the areas they don't do well or really don't want to do like the left brained stuff. Most of the really successful photographers that i know with studios have studio managers that handle the business. If they do commercial work they get a rep to market them to the right clients, especially in the beginning. They all have great accountants. This leaves them to do what they got into it in the beginning for and what makes them the most $$$$. I learned these reasons from working for other really successful photographers.

Think of it like a great chef or a physician or many other professionals. Most know they can't be good at it all. No one is. So they are smart enough to ge help in those areas that others are really good at. Most chefs have either partnered with good business people that know how to run restaurants or hire good managers to run that part of the business. Dr's usually have office managers to take care of that. They all have good accountants. This leaves them to do the things that make them the most $$$$ and what they love to do. The odds of you top be able t od out all well are not good and if you spend 80% of the day doing things you hate to do you will probably not last long. I have seen them come and go over the years and many that think they can do it all fail because we are human and we probably will not be good at it all.

My advice is get help in those areas you know that you are not good at. That is SMART business.

Also I would advise if you are creative and in a creative field keep what you do for you separate from what you do for others.

I just keep trying new hobbies. Cooking, photography, woodworking, and now gardening. You never get bored.

bobbyz wrote in post #18223274
I just keep trying new hobbies. Cooking, photography, woodworking, and now gardening. You never get bored.

I do 3 of those hobbies ( gardening, cooking and photography ) intermingled throughout the year. Right now gardening is on hold while cooking and photography are in full gear. Once spring arrives, I focus more are gardening and less on photography. Having multiple interests keeps things fresh.

Exactly. Once I flipped all my work to design, I enjoyed photo again— for myself.

But so expensive! My other activities and interests are computers, audio reproduction, travel, fly fishing, and whatever else is too expensive for my checkbook. Gardening may be the best.

Hobbies or work, boredom can be avoided by breaking up tasks throughout the day/week/month and try to introduce variety. If you're bored, do something different. You decide if it's totally unrelated or just a different approach or technique. That's where creativity comes in.

I concur with airfrogusmc above, in that offloading some of the non-photography tasks of the business can aid in not burning out. In my current business venture into photography, my wife handles almost all of the customer interaction/marketing/​business details side of the house (stuff she likes), and it lets me focus more on producing the product (aka the part I like). It definitely takes a load off of my shoulders, keeps my head clear to focus on photography.

Nathan wrote in post #18225534
Hobbies or work, boredom can be avoided by breaking up tasks throughout the day/week/month and try to introduce variety. If you're bored, do something different. You decide if it's totally unrelated or just a different approach or technique. That's where creativity comes in.

For me it's tennis and photography... if I look out my backdoor and it's sunny, those are the two I need to decide between (tennis courts are in backyard, and behind them is wooded areas where I shoot photos). I'll be less-bored with one of them, so that's where I usually lean. If it's raining: video games or sleep

Question for the hobbyists out there...How serious are you about capturing "The Image"?
What are your goals, do you plan the shoot ahead of time, do you work the shot, (time of day/perspectives/whatn​ot)?
Have you mastered your PP skills...how long do you spend working on "That Image"?

Again, how serious are you about photography?

When shooting for myself I don't plan anything. I try to stay completely open to what may happen. A blank slate. I agree with and work like these guys.

"I start with no preconceived idea -" Edward Weston

"My pictures are never pre-visialized or planned. I feel strongly that pictures must come from contact with things ath the time and place of taking. At such times, I rely on intuitive, perceptual responses to guide me, using reason only after the final print is made to accept or rejetct the results of my work." - Wynn Bullock

"The state of mind of a photographer while creating is a blank...For those who would equate "blank" with a kind of static emptiness, I must explain that this is a special kind of blank. It is a very active state of mind really, a very receptive state of mind, ready at an instant to grasp an image, yet with no image pre-formed in it at any time. We should note that the lack of a pre-formed pattern or preconceived idea of how anything ought to look is essential to this blank condition."-Minor White

"My photographs are not planned or composed in advance and I do not anticipate that the onlooker will share my viewpoint. However, I feel that if my photograph leaves an image on his mind--something has been accomplished." - Robert Frank

Chauncey I doubt many here are as serious about photography as I am.

chauncey wrote in post #18225556
Question for the hobbyists out there...How serious are you about capturing "The Image"?
What are your goals, do you plan the shoot ahead of time, do you work the shot, (time of day/perspectives/whatn​ot)?
Have you mastered your PP skills...how long do you spend working on "That Image"?

Again, how serious are you about photography?

I can only speak for myself as I'm retired but still sell prints for some spare change.

I shoot for myself, scout out locations and setup the composition then wait for the right light. If I come back with 1 keeper image from my outing, I'm happy. I can spend days processing and printing the image until I get it just right, at times ending up with a paper that I did not originally start with.

I think serious amateurs spend more time and effort to get that right shot and spend more time and effort processing that image than the pro's as the amateur is his own customer and has his own standards whereas the pro just wants to meet the customers requirements and then onto the next job.

chauncey wrote in post #18225556
Question for the hobbyists out there...How serious are you about capturing "The Image"?

If "The Image" is supposed to be a goal of mine, this is the first I've heard about it.