Okay, so I hit a wall a while back. Felt like I was taking pictures of the same old stuff, you know? My camera just sat there, collecting dust mostly. Felt like I needed a proper kick in the pants to get going again.
So, what did I do? I didn’t make some grand plan. First, I just picked up the camera. Forced myself, really. Then I just walked out the door. Didn’t even know where I was going, just walked around my own block.
Starting Small, Like Really Small
At first, it was boring. Same street, same houses. But then I kinda slowed down. Like, really slowed down. Started looking at the cracks in the pavement. Weird, I know. But then I saw some weeds growing through, and the light hit them just right. Took a picture. It wasn’t gonna win any prizes, but it felt… different.
I kept doing that. Just looking at the small things I usually ignore. Textures became a big thing for me.
- Peeling paint on an old fence.
- Rust on a drainpipe.
- The pattern of bricks on a wall.
- Even the bubbles in my morning coffee.
Sounds silly, right? But it worked. It got me looking, really looking, instead of just glancing.
Changing How I Looked
Then I started playing little games with myself. Like, okay, today I’m only gonna shoot things that are blue. Or only things that have strong lines. Forced me to scan the world differently. Sometimes it was frustrating, felt like I was missing obvious shots because they weren’t blue or whatever. But mostly, it made me find things I’d never have noticed otherwise.
I also just started looking up more. Clouds are always changing. Tops of buildings, birds on wires. And looking down too. Puddles after rain showing reflections, manhole covers with cool designs, shadows stretching long in the afternoon.
It wasn’t about finding amazing, unique things anymore. It was about seeing the regular stuff in a new way. Light hitting dust motes in my living room. My cat sleeping in a weird position. Condensation on a cold glass.
Honestly, the list isn’t really about what to shoot. It’s about remembering how to see. Just grab your camera, phone, whatever, and walk. Look close. Look far. Look up, look down. The subjects are just… there. Everywhere. You just gotta tune back in. That’s what worked for me, anyway. Took me a while to get back into the swing of it, but now I find stuff to point my camera at all the time, even when I’m not really trying. It’s more about the looking than the finding, if that makes sense.
