Nothing to photograph in my area!!! GGRRR

Per the suggestions, I'll look into doing some street photography and sports.

I've had the opportunity to live in a number of different places in my life and I always seem to run into this myself. Of course it does matter what you like to shoot but if you like to shoot for the sake of shooting there is always something.

When I first got into digital I had this feeling even though I was living in a city of some 3.5 million. Now one would think that there is always something but it has to be something that has some sort of draw to you. I got back into photography for some very personal reasons that I needed something to occupy my time after a family tragedy.

I have since moved to a much smaller city in a different part of the country and at times feel like I have exhausted all possibilities here. I ended up joining the local camera club and got turned on to a whole new realm of possibilities. Do you have a camera club near you. Sometimes sitting down with other photographers and just talking about shooting is as fulfilling as getting out and shooting.

Even though I shoot for a living now, I still like to get out and do some for myself. Doing a wedding, a portrait or someones commercial building is not that personally rewarding to me photographically speaking. It doesn't get my artistic mojo going so to speak. I now find that even if I have that feeling of "there isn't anything out there" I will load up the gear and just drive. In reality, there is always something to find. I have had to expand my horizons somewhat in order to fell some sort of sense of accomplishment. Look into macro, architecture, anything that you normally haven't done. I find myself now taking pictures of things that are fairly ho hum by themselves but I try to visualize what I could do with it in photoshop. This is a double win for me, in that I get to shoot something and I get to improve my PP skills. Post processing is such an integral part of photography these days that accomplishing something new in that can be very rewarding.

You must have a tourist board there. Contact them. Maybe there is a photographic gold mine you haven't even discovered yet. People must come to vacation in your area for a reason, find out what that is.

I think that we all go through dry spells where we feel just like you. If you look long and hard enough you can always find something. Sometimes, it takes just letting the gear sit for a few weeks to get your artistic juices flowing again.

Here's an idea that worked pretty well for me. Go to Pbase (or another photo sharing site) and enter "Louisville" in the search box. See what others have photographed in the area. You might find some attractions or events you didn't know about.

I did exactly this when I had some free time on a business trip to Austin, TX and found some pretty cool places to photograph.

I moved to Kentucky about a year ago from Colorado. I am loving the new opportunities!! Yeah, in Colorado we had the mountains, great scenics, snowscapes, etc.., but the greenery in Kentucky is amazing. And with fall upon us, the color around here is incredible. There is also water everywhere - great opportunities for reflections. Then there are the sports opportunities. Keeneland runs their horce racing in October, Churchill Downs in November.

I think no matter where you are, sometimes you get into a rut and can't think of anything else to do. Try some new techniques, different ways of looking at the same old things. Here is a shot I took in my film days, no enhancement other than scanning in the slide. I had gotten bored and was looking for new things. This was a long exposure in the dark, using a small flashlight to paint the flower.

-Ryan

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MTalley wrote in post #2053318
Here's an idea that worked pretty well for me. Go to Pbase (or another photo sharing site) and enter "Louisville" in the search box.

I did that for my town...and I got all of 11 photo results, one of which is a snapshot of someone shooting a small caliber rifle (probably a .22), another a scan or photo of a map of the local university campus, a couple similiar shots of a track & field invitational, a photo of the crowd at the invitational, some owls, and some sprint car racing (which I've shot already).

Not much happens in my town for sure!

cdi-ink.com wrote in post #2053686
I did that for my town...and I got all of 11 photo results, one of which is a snapshot of someone shooting a small caliber rifle (probably a .22), another a scan or photo of a map of the local university campus, a couple similiar shots of a track & field invitational, a photo of the crowd at the invitational, some owls, and some sprint car racing (which I've shot already).

Not much happens in my town for sure!

Well, you can take pictures of leaves falling - bound to make the headlines!

As to the OP. I found something to take a photo of in about 5 seconds flat. Here we are:

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rhys wrote in post #2053864
Well, you can take pictures of leaves falling - bound to make the headlines!

Haha. "Leaves start to fall; Autumn arriving, experts say" {Insert photo of dead leaf}

rhys -

Just need a partner with a sledgehammer, and you can get some incredible action shots!

-Ryan

rdricks wrote in post #2053879
rhys -

Just need a partner with a sledgehammer, and you can get some incredible action shots!

-Ryan

I feel the need to report you to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Fruit for your suggestion that somebody should smack a sledgehammer down on a poor innocent little lemon

Man .. you sound like my kids ... "Dad I'm bored." If you are bored ... that is a problem with your imagination. If you don't have photo opps ... that is a problem with your vision.

Everyday peoples walk past photo opps thinking that there is nothing interesting. One of the kicks I get out of photography is to create/capture an interesting image from what people typically ignore. Look small, look up, look down, look behind you, look wide, look long, look at colors ... look at shapes ... but most of all look at people. There are wonderful and interesting photos everywhere an it is your task to sharpen your eye and figure them out. Try walking around with only one lens ... make yourself previsualize images with that single lens ... do the same with a tripod ... make youself previsualize a photo which can only be taken/enhanced with a tripod ... et cetera.

All you have to do is look. Photos are created not handed to you by a Kodak sign.

Gary

rhys wrote in post #2053910
I feel the need to report you to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Fruit for your suggestion that somebody should smack a sledgehammer down on a poor innocent little lemon

The RSPCF? They quit sending me their mailers, I must have offended them somehow!

-Ryan

Beleive it or not, but sometimes I feel like there's nothing to shoot in toronto. And there's about 4-5 million different cultures around here.

When there's nothing to shoot at all, I find it helps to harrow things down a bit. Choose a project of say... 30 images to tell a story of some kind.

Pick a narrow topic which develops over time. Horse branding... preparation for kentucky derby... the gangs... lol

And then shoot it to deliver a message.

you need to figure out what it is you wanna shoot.. then decide where it is... if its not there go elsewhere.. I used to say the same thing, theres nothing here to shoot, go for a walk wit your camera around your neighborhood, Im sure youll find something, or go get a macro lens..youll find all sorts of stuff to shoot!

I sometimes feel too lethargic to think of things to shoot. Then I saw somebody had been shooting food, which sent me off in a different direction.

Pick a passion... then photograph your passion.

Landscape, people, still life, sunsets, etc... pick one.

If you just go out with your camera hoping to catch something "cool", you'd be in for a disappointment. You'd be wandering around aimlessly.

BTW, we just came back from Lexington, KY this weekend and I'm telling you, if I have the money, I'd buy a 50 acre farm with barns and stable, and horses... my wife and dauther will be in heaven on earth.

Here's a pic... my daughter and Smarty Jones (2005 Kentucky Derby winner, $7.6million earnings total)
We're at the stud farm where Smarty Jones stay... his stud fee is $100K if you're interested in breeding)

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