P#20 Q2: How to Get "Unstuck" from a Photography Rut Using the Restrictions of a Photography Theme

Limits Are Good

Bryan Peterson: That's a great question and it's a pretty easy thing to overcome. For what it's worth, in 38 years of shooting, it's definitely something I'm familiar with. I don't know anybody who's not familiar with it.

I've always managed to get out of my funk, as they say. I remember one very important piece of advice that I was given a long time ago. That is, "There's nothing wrong at all with having a host of themes that one day you want to be able to photograph."

By themes, I want to stress I'm not talking about, "Okay, I want to shoot weddings," or, "I want to shoot buildings under construction," or, "I want to shoot nothing but five and six year old boys and girls because one day I hope to be the world's greatest children's photographer."

I don't mean those kinds of themes. By a theme, I mean some pretty off the wall ideas. For instance, how many of us have seen a wonderful portfolio of all of those bugs that get hit in the front grill of your car? The answer is nobody.

Why not go hang out at a truck stop on Sundays and do nothing but photograph the broken wings and the smashed yellow black bodies of yellow jackets that have got hung up in the front grill of these trucks? Particularly with your macro lens. People are going to be shocked at the amazing amount of fine art you walked away with and further shocked when they discover that it's the remnants of the dead on the front grill of trucks.

While themes may interfere with spontaneity, I don't think any of us can be creative 24 hours a day, seven days a week, without some degree of limits. Without limits there would be utter chaos.

When people say they just can't see anything, in my opinion it's because they're working without limit. They're going out everyday just willy-nilly and just trying to be spontaneous.

Spontaneity is great and I'm all for it, but I also recognize that much of what becomes spontaneous is a direct result of having limits placed on you for too long of a time.

It's a rebellion to limits that creates spontaneity, in my opinion, and subsequently, if you have a combination of both, you say, "This weekend, I'm going to do nothing but work on my dead bugs on truck radiators." I don't care what's going on between you and the time you get to that location, but your focus at that point is very clear. As a result of that, you are very focused.

Subsequently, you will get tired of working on the same thing. You'll have so much pent up emotion from having this limit placed on you by the theme; you'll have no trouble being spontaneous.

So you have two answers there. One, make certain that you have a theme. Again, by a theme, it doesn't have to be off the wall but you do need to have a specific focus when you head out the door -- something that you like to shoot. It can be roses, dewdrops or hub caps, but whatever your focus is, make that your goal.

After doing that for a while, you're going to rebel and become more spontaneous. You'll start seeing things you didn't normally see.

In Closing

What's the best way to get out of a rut and stay spontaneous? According to Bryan Peterson, the best way to inspire spontaneity is to restrict yourself to a theme. Eventually, in rebelling against that photography theme, you'll find the creative inspiration and spontaneity you were looking for.