The creative process, like the creative business, can be a feast or famine ordeal. Sometimes everything just clicks. The clouds part and the most beautiful sky appears. You're bursting with more ideas than you can manage, and you've got "keepers" to edit for weeks. But at times nothing works. Everything is shit, and no matter what you do, the shots you take can leave you pondering the thought of quitting the craft altogether.
For weeks, I had been starving for inspiration. I was in a rut with my architecture photography, and despite my best efforts to "shoot my way through it," every picture I took was well below my standards. I just couldn't find anything interesting to shoot and every location I visited managed to disappoint with the light it was hosting.
Luckily, I was commissioned to do a series of videos that took up a good chunk of my time for the first half of March. For two weeks, I didn't even think about shooting architecture as I was occupied with the production and post-production process.
Then, a few days ago I was driving home from a video shoot and drove past a building I'd never seen with the perfect, dramatic lighting hitting its facade. Without regard for my own safety, I made an immediate (and illegal) u-turn and began setting up. For some miraculous reason, I had my tilt-shift lens with me but unfortunately did not have a proper head for photography. I had to make due with my video head, which kind of limited my camera placement. But that sure as hell wasn't going to stop me from getting my first decent shot in almost a month. It's featured at the top of this post and I am more than happy with it.
The moral of the story: If you find yourself in a creative purgatory, the best thing you could do is take a break from it all and engage different sections of our brain for a bit. In no time at all, that inspiration that's been eluding you will show up to punch you right in the nose and you'll pick up right where you left off.