Where do you go for inspiration ?

leinsterman

I'm sure we have all had those days when everything we pointed our camera at has produced a less than inspiring result... (fair play to ya if you have NOT!!) ... it is at times like this, when I need inspiration, I sometimes turn to the work of others such as Ansell Adams (my original inspiration to take up photography), the Dublin museum of photography or the many photo books I possess ... one good place to look for great ideas is the internet ... via blog sites etc ...

In my case here are two sites with photography I really like -

This one is from Stockholm where I lived for over a year and regularly make return visits courtesy of my employer -
http://www.motivstockholm.se/
I love black and white ... and the style really captures the beauty of Stockholm as I know it ...

This one was recommended to me through this forum (thanks whomever you are for this link it made a big difference to me...) -
http://blog.so-net.ne.jp/photolog/ or http://fotologue.jp/bittergirls/
Simply put, it is brilliant ... what I aspire to when I pick up a camera ... I love it ... especially the use of the tilt shift lens to great effect ... some of the pictures look almost artificial, as if they were models ... I only wish I was advanced enough to justify buying a TS lens ... but perhaps I can rent from Conns for a play some time ...

OK so ... I'd like to hear from the rest of you ... can you post a few of your favourite inspirational links on this thread ?? Don't forget to say why you like it...

... don't be shy to post your own work ... I need to get my act together a build my own blog in flickr .

ChityWest

I have found a few absolute works of art on Deviantart.com -filter what to search for and browse away. Sometimes following hyperlinks based on comments added to a particular piece. Ocassionally a photographer with say 23 crap photos in their gallery and 1 jawdropping oh-my-god amazing one - there are some real finds on there and I get real inspiration from that. Also knowing that these people by and large are amateurs like me who have day jobs and yet manage to take /distribute amazing pictures.

I dont have a list of favourite photographers or books - as its hard to find somone who is consistently that good - but I would have certain pictures that I love picked up from a huge variety of sources - to be honest I couldnt name the photographers for most of them.

FWIW this one is the most recent I came across yesterday and blew me away - http://ic1.deviantart.com/fs10/i/2006/125/2/1/Ray_of_light_by_sweetcharade.jpg

Fajitas!

I usually go into the library in college, watch films, go out on the piss, write or sketch... Usually gets something going.

Reading magazines is also a great way of getting inspiration.

elven

Can't see the pic Citywest... Those deviants are winding me up again!

I don't tend to go for one particular person either, depending on what mood I'm in I'll do a tag search on flickr then sort by 'interestingness' to get the good stuff. Recently I've been feeling a bit bored with the usual stuff, and also looking for inspiration when there's no sunshine to be had so I've been frequenting the 'black' and 'dark' groups. Anyway, as I'm trawling I will mark the good ones as favourites, then I have a fabulous bunch of pictures to look at when I feel like it: My Flickr Favourites

There are one or two people who I think produce pretty consistently excellent pictures, so I'll mark them as a contact too and that way I see whatever new photos they post day to day.

There are two professional sites that I really enjoy looking at, one is www.cambridgeincolour.com that has some amazing HDR work and also fantastic digital/photoshop tutorials, and the other is that Chromasia blog. It's amazing what he's come up with just from the landscape outside his front door - in Blackpool. And he has a really cool name too, David J. Nightingale. If I was a bloke I'd change my name to that.

Fajitas!

Actually, there are some pretty inspiring pics on www.lomography.com

It shows what you can do with the most basic, faulty pieces of plastic!

ChityWest

elven wrote:

Can't see the pic Citywest... Those deviants are winding me up again!

Thats wierd - that opens for me no prob - here it is anyway . . .

peepingtom

still not working mate..... i think it maybe because you have to be a membe to view it perhaps???

ChityWest

hmmm - not sure - it seems to be that the linked image doesnt work in Internet Explorer ? ? - if I try it in Firefox it works each time whether I am logged into this site or not.

Any way take my word for it it is a really cool picture - i can email a scanned drawing it if anyones interested ! !

Seriously though - these are the links :

http://ic1.deviantart.com/fs10/i/2006/125/2/1/Ray_of_light_by_sweetcharade.jpg

(This one above may not work in IE linked from this boards site - I have just discovered.)

&

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/32855297/

& zoomed in :

http://www.deviantart.com/view/32855297/

There are no probs with deviant that I have ever come across - Except - every one in 10 or 15 times if you follow a link you hit a ad page (for people not logged in) - if you do hit the ad page just 'continue' in the top right and it should then take you to where you want to go.

melekalikimaka

a good ol punk rawk concert, portraits galore, wonderful colours, nice action shops and basically a bit of everything, fun too, just watch the camera

leinsterman

elven wrote:

Anyway, as I'm trawling I will mark the good ones as favourites, then I have a fabulous bunch of pictures to look at when I feel like it: My Flickr Favourites

Hey ... there are some nice shots in your own blog ... you seem to have a talent for close up and Macro photography ... I really like the one with the wheel so some strange reason .... nice use of light and dark ...

Thanks all for the replies ... some good links added to my browser ...

Fenster

Up the river Corrib to either Dangan or Menlo, which are both incredibly beautiful and peaceful areas on the outskirts of Galway city. If I ever need to clear my head I'll go up one side of the river or the other and go tramping around for an afternoon.