Effects of pandemic on your motivation and creativity

I just thought I'd put it out there... Has your photography suffered as a result of the pandemic, or has it actually improved? I know that professionals will find it very hard to make a living due to the restrictions, but I am mainly interested in how the amateurs are managing to keep motivated and creative during these difficult times.

Unfortunately I am rather lazy, and a sports/events photographer type... and I have basically taken the year off. I shot for the first time in quit a while last Sunday, and found shooting masked-up challenging. If my glasses were fogged, the view finder was. So in general I would say my skills have gained a good layer of rust.

In hindsight I wish I had spent more time on my post skills. At best I do minimal work on images, crop, and color and contrast adjustment. And thats about it. But I know I have more then a couple of images that would have been greatly improved with more TLC in post. Missed opportunity.

Usually I walk on the streets, commute, goof around at events nearby and take so called street pictures. With stay at home orders, new variants spreading and absence of vaccinations its not different from where events and weddings photography is now.

Positively dismal.

Last spring I actually got a little boost, between all classes being switched online, and all production of shows halted altogether, it was my first Spring in decades where I had free time. I loved it and took photo walks at least every other day.

Sadly that came to an end in September, back to work, but this hybrid modality has been so draining. The last time I really picked up a camera was for work, in October.

Now I'm both suffering through this hybrid class stuff, AND trying to mount a full stage production (that no one will see in person) and I have no time for things like taxes, let alone a hobby. My shop in the basement is also abandoned. when i do have free time, it is spent just trying to relax and recover.

I have an appointment for my first vaccine shot next week, and look forward to more normal times again.

The upside to mounting our first real production since Feb 2020 is I will at least have the need to shoot the dress rehearsals. I hope I can remember how to do it!

I got lucky. My day job closed for 5 months. Because I live in Colorado there were plentiful outdoors activities that I could participate in while maintaining social distancing. That allowed me to access some amazing opportunities that I might not otherwise because of the crazy scheduling of my day job. I was able to use some of my stimulus money to improve my wildlife kit. I was able to see a nest of osprey chicks mature and learn to fish. I found new places to hike. I found enjoyment in photographing small birds, something that I hadn't bothered with previously. I still miss the opportunities to photograph people and hope that I can return to that when things get closer to normal. But overall the pandemic gave me outlets that I hadn't been able to access previously.

I am a physician, so no work slow down. That being said, I mostly shoot HS sports and that was curtailed greatly last spring. In our state, we basically have had regular sports seasons this year with some restrictions on attendance numbers. Thankful for that!

As the popular meme format goes:
"Hybrid classes are the worst of both online and face-to-face" - change my mind.

Lesson planning is a nightmare. I feel your pain.

As to the OP's question: my motivation and creativity have stayed pretty high. During lockdown I did a little bit of photography around the house, but I also filled my time with writing and wrote quite a lot of articles in that period. After lockdown I've really made the most of opportunities to go out and make pictures, I value them and don't want to waste one after being couped up inside for a couple of months.

Those opportunities are now weekends because work (see above) keeps me busy during the week but I aim to get out and make pictures every weekend. I have had fewer opportunities to photograph what I most enjoy photographing due to the pandemic but I still go out with the camera even if it's not where I'd ideally like to be.

Owain Shaw wrote in post #19207316
As the popular meme format goes:
"Hybrid classes are the worst of both online and face-to-face" - change my mind.

Lesson planning is a nightmare. I feel your pain.

As to the OP's question: my motivation and creativity have stayed pretty high. During lockdown I did a little bit of photography around the house, but I also filled my time with writing and wrote quite a lot of articles in that period. After lockdown I've really made the most of opportunities to go out and make pictures, I value them and don't want to waste one after being couped up inside for a couple of months.

Those opportunities are now weekends because work (see above) keeps me busy during the week but I aim to get out and make pictures every weekend. I have had fewer opportunities to photograph what I most enjoy photographing due to the pandemic but I still go out with the camera even if it's not where I'd ideally like to be.

Agree, hybrid learning (and telemedicine) are bad....

Telemedicine sounds awful, you have my sympathy.

It is awful, that is why I refuse to do it.

I've been fortunate to be working throughout, so I haven't really been shooting much. The restrictions prevent travel beyond 5 Km from home, so I find it difficult to find subjects of interest. I decided to shoot macro as there wasn't a need to travel far. Besides this, I've been watching Youtube videos on lighting etc in the hope of improving my techniques for when things get back to normal. Mentally, it's been challenging to stay motivated or creative, but it has provided opportunities to improve how I shoot.

I organise my photos on my computer by date - sadly large swathes of 2020 from which I have no files at all from my main camera.
The remaining shots are mostly walkabout shots from a brief lunchtime wander where time constraints mean I need to be back home & working within 30 minutes or so.
Certainly not conducive to what I would call "quality shooting" so no surprises that I haven't printed anything in over a year.
Good news on the horizon though (so to speak) I've been invited onboard a spectator boat to watch one of the Americas cup races next week, so with the boss's blessing fully intend to take the afternoon off & cruise the harbour in search of something worth photographing.
Hoping for good weather, if not I don't really mind - often I think that rough conditions sometimes brings some excellent photographs!

go Kiwis!

thankfully we've been extremely fortunate here living on an island state.
There's been severe restrictions/ bans on entry so it has had little effect on my work or other matters, plus living on 90 acres there's never a dull moment. Travel to other parts has been banned or heavily restricted.

The real issues arose when wanting things from manufacturers - just weren't available as in a new A3 printer.
There's been severe shortage of building materials, all the whilst builders have been inundated with work from people who can't travel on holidays and are spending on house improvements. That's just one area of shortages.
Whitegoods - fridges, stoves etc, vehicles

Photography hasn't suffered at all. The birds still wake in the morning and serenade us with their beauty.

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The world's reaction to the COVID virus hasn't had any notable affect at all on my photography. . Well, actually, on second thought, it may have had a slight affect, but that would be that it increased my opportunities to travel for wildlife photography opportunities.

Motel rates have gone down in the areas that I travel to, because of less demand, and that means I can afford to stay longer. . I wasn't sure if I would go to Colorado for the end of the Whitetail Deer rut, but when I got on TripAdvisor and saw how low the hotel rates were, I thought, "Wow! . It'll be well worth it, at those rates!"

The different things I do for employment were not affected by COVID. . So the amount of time I spent working, and the amount of money I earn, were pretty much the same as they would have been if there had been no virus.

My traveling was not affected at all. . I was still able to make wildlife photography trips to Montana, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, and California. . And in a few weeks I plan to head to Arizona for a month of snake and lizard photography.

Over the past year, I have had a slight uptick in royalty income from stock photo sales. . About a 10 or 15 percent increase over what it had been in previous years. . I suspect this may be because the internet is being used a lot more, hence more photos used in producing online content.

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Not great!

I got back in to it briefly in October but I've been back to doing basically nothing much since. I'd like to try to get back to shooting more now, but we've been busy since the beginning of the year with buying our house and now getting ready to move in to it.