Discouraged :(

You need to embrace the season, even if you don't like the weather. I personally hate the cold, and I also hate extreme heat, but I just go with the flow,, and I know some of my most exciting photos have come when dealing with extremes. Just go have fun. For me its a job, but no matter what the weather, I try to make it fun. Or get a macro lens and shoot indoors, or learn light painting. No need to give up.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

Nice shots, Bosscat!!

To the OP:

During winter seasons, I mostly do flash and studio photography indoors. I'm relatively new to flash and studio photography, and I find such interest during winter seasons to go perfectly with my outdoors photography interests the rest of seasons. Thanks to winter, I'm a better photographer now than ever before, as the cold weather kept me inside and forced me to learn about light and lighting. I also do a lot of DIY projects related to photography, such as creating my own lightbox for product photography, just to name one.... So there are many ways to keep up with your interest in photography all year round...

I live in a perpetual summer,,although the wet season can be a pain..

0ozma wrote in post #7018136
Anyways, I really feel like I'm slipping away from the photography thing - even considered selling my lenses that I've purchased. Anyone have anything to motivate me to get back in to it? What do you do over the winter? Dress warm and bare with it? Even then there is no outside activity due to the cold.

Hey, it's a hobby. If it's not fun, don't do it. Wait until motivation returns.

That said, when I was doing endurance sports, I was running dozens of miles each week. I found that I hated running until I got fit enough to run more than three miles. What I hated was the first three miles. When my fitness improved to the point where I could routinely run six miles, the enjoyment of the last three miles made enduring the first three miles worth it.

To a certain extent, you have to develop a bit of fitness so that the enjoyment of photography can overcome the frustration of limited technique or ability to see. Then, photography can move from the "fun" category to the "deeply satisfying" category, and the hardship will become part of the adventure. It won't need to be particularly fun to be rewarding at that point. The good news is that once you have it, you have it for life--it's not nearly as easy to lose as being able to run six miles. But getting it sometimes takes persistence.

Rick "who has had long periods of dormancy when the muse went on vacation" Denney

JoYork wrote in post #7022511

Love it!

Anyway, I'm not a real big fan of the cold, either, but I do try to get a couple good days with snow shots so I have a little more variety in my library. Other than that, winter is my time for indoor light box shots, catching up on PP from the summer, etc.

I should add that I occasionally go through "photography funks" where I'm just not motivated at all and shoot nothing. Not being a pro it's not that big a deal since it doesn't affect the personal finances. It always passes and I get the bug again.

Don't be discouraged if you leave it for a little while. If this is your first experience with a dlsr, you have a lot of new techinques to learn. I put my camera away in January too. Don't pressure yourself to know it all by such and such date. You are not a failure and don't need to feel like all is lost bc you are not as interested at this moment. Forget winter photography, think forward... What do you want to shoot when the weather is warm? Plan for those expeditions. Just bc you like photography doesn't mean you to carry a camera around your neck everyday of the year. It is for pleasure. . Don't force it! Good luck!

JoYork wrote in post #7022511
I get into the same rut you're in from time to time... don't worry about it, one day you'll go out and come back with the one photo you'll treasure for years to come. It goes a long way in cancelling out all those days when you were in a pickle.

There are two areas of photography which can be great fun to do when the weather outside is dark and uninspiring... macro photography and night photography. Buy some extension tubes and you'll never be stuck for things to photograph. I once spent an evening photographing everything from buttons to paperclips, the fibres in clothing, even ball point pens. It's amazing how different everything looks when you're that close.

Night photography is good if you live near somewhere that has plenty of lights. All you need is a tripod warm clothing and you're away.

Oh, and there's nothing to say you can't torture your toy collection either. My friend came around one evening and we used my nifty fifty resting on an ironing board to create these:

If this isn't inspiration for creative winter indoor shooting, then I don't know what is!

By the way, the OP was discuraged almost 1 year ago. So I'm sure he's over it by now.

I'm in a current funk as well. Frustrated with my lack of ability and lack of creativity. I've been shooting seriously for about a year and for eight months with a DSLR.

ryant35 wrote in post #9598420
By the way, the OP was discuraged almost 1 year ago. So I'm sure he's over it by now.

Yeah, not to mention that the OP already sold off his gear and decided to go with a P&S months ago