Inspiration is a fickle force.

I go through periods of time when I am driven to make images and do my thing. I can see so clearly and the motivation is so strong and I feel so creatively alive.

Then there are those times when I don’t pick up my camera for weeks other than for the day job. I’ve taken maybe 5 shots in the last couple of weeks. They were employee mug shots so we could check off a box for our PCI compliance that we have all of our employees’ photos posted. And believe me, with the run and gun pace we had to do it, there was certainly no art to it at all.

It’s times like those – times like these – when I don’t really feel all that creative. I can’t find my muse and everything I do either starts looking the same or just doesn’t feel right.

I’m never sure how to get myself out of the rut. I look at other photographers’ work, which often makes me feel inferior. I try to think up little projects for myself – finding circles, or the color yellow, or something like that – but it sometimes feels forced. It’s so frustrating!

What do you do to pull your creative self out of moth balls? Where do you turn to get back into it?