I want to stop - i have become to hate it

thebaz

.. or nearly ... sometimes i find photography is like another addiction - in fact i stopped boozing and then started snapping - now i find i desperatly want to quit/reduce - but ive that obsessive personality - i remember a young brilliant original magnum photographer stopped after 4 years , rising to become magnum, and quit photography for 10 years - i couldnt understand it , but now i do - you go away on holidays, as i am , and the camera has to be cocked - you go to a gig , your looking at light and angles - in fact everytime i go out without a camera, i then nearly always feal i missed that perfect shot -I'm begining to think photography is ruining my life , instead of enhancing it - im certainly not doing doing it for the money - im probably just having another one of those day ...

smelltheglove

Oh don't. You are great at what you do. You probably just need to take yourself out of it for a bit. I find when I do loads of weddings in a row with nothing in between I start to feel like Im working so I set up a shoot for fun with friends and that to get my inspiration back.

Anyway photography is a much better addiction than drink.

Dodgykeeper

I hear ya Baz!

I went 18 months of going to football matches with the Camera, went once without it and realised that looking through the lens had become an addiction, I didnt enjoy the game as I kept seeing missed oppurtunties, I have not taken a shot in anger since Nov 9th and am raring to go now,,,

Everything in moderation!

32finn

Hang on in there Baz, maybe try and not use the camera while on hols, or at least as little as you can resist and just take the time to get away from everything, lay by a pool as relax.
Hopefully a few days away from the camera can bring back what you love about taking pix

5uspect

What ever you do in life is going to influence your outlook. If you were a web designer surfing could become a torturous experience too.

As a photographer, and a good one at that, you naturally look at things differently.
So maybe you need another avenue where your photography isn't going to influence you. If you're on holidays try activities that cannot involve a camera. Watersports or something that doesn't give you time to think about how you would compose a shot.

AnCatDubh

Do you think its like being a marathon runner when they describe hitting the wall? Maybe its just getting past that wall that you need.

I believe photographers who do 365 projects hit that wall at some point but stick with it, and then it flows.

Sometimes you need the end game to be in sight for your motivation to remain strong.

Fajitas!

If you feel you want to stop, then just stop. What's the point if you feel you hate it?

Give it a while, see if you want to do it again, if you do, great, if you don't, give it another while. Why bother forcing yourself to do something you feel you hate. It's not going to do you any good.

Put the camera away, and come back when you feel it's right.

sheesh

if you are that worried about it take a break give your gear to someone you trust to mind for a month and just go about your life without a camera.

most of us go through the very opposite where we do not see the point of bringing a camera and we just lose interest in lugging everything around with us.

I have gone through similar sort of thing with fishing where you always wanted to go out and always knew the state of the tide. These sort of things come and go. It is nice to have a passion just maybe every now and again maybe you and your camera need some alone time.

humberklog

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh-QWKGbm2Q

KylieWyley

thebaz wrote: »

-I'm begining to think photography is ruining my life , instead of enhancing it - im certainly not doing doing it for the money - im probably just having another one of those day ...

Maybe not for the money, no, but we love your stuff Barry.


The same can happen with any passion. E.g. a musician with an instrument/songwriter. Sometimes the best thing to do is just stop, take a break. You might find you'll come back reinvigorated and with fresh ideas.

Hugh_C

Maybe shoot more film.

thebaz

Dodgykeeper wrote: »

I hear ya Baz!

I went 18 months of going to football matches with the Camera, went once without it and realised that looking through the lens had become an addiction, I didnt enjoy the game as I kept seeing missed oppurtunties, I have not taken a shot in anger since Nov 9th and am raring to go now,,,

Everything in moderation!

Nov 9 is my birthday !! i guess its a case of moderation as you say - but for me everything is the extreme - sport, drink, love, and now photography - i lost a game of tennis once to someone i thought i should have beaten , smashed the racked and never picked another one up again - I'm away now - but my new home is Louth , so thinkin of pickin up golf clubs and getting my handicap down , if i can find a cheap golf club - when i played golf , it wasnt 3 hours of pleasure , but 3 hours trying to play the perfect game - bit like photography - back to photography , i feal better bout it today , but i feal somedays I'm on a mission to photograph what i see, and then when , i die people will see what i saw , and maybe understand - then other days i feal I'm wasting my time , and will never re-capture some of my natural raw shots from 3 years ago - 3 or 5 stand out for me - and for 2 years feal i have never been able to recapture that naturelness - i have completed a fairly complicated photography assignment here, which i found disturbing , probably didnt help

Scamp-

thebaz wrote: »

.. or nearly ... sometimes i find photography is like another addiction - in fact i stopped boozing and then started snapping - now i find i desperatly want to quit/reduce - but ive that obsessive personality - i remember a young brilliant original magnum photographer stopped after 4 years , rising to become magnum, and quit photography for 10 years - i couldnt understand it , but now i do - you go away on holidays, as i am , and the camera has to be cocked - you go to a gig , your looking at light and angles - in fact everytime i go out without a camera, i then nearly always feal i missed that perfect shot -I'm begining to think photography is ruining my life , instead of enhancing it - im certainly not doing doing it for the money - im probably just having another one of those day ...

I completely get. It's terrifying. I always have some sort of camera on me, but when I don't, I panic!

Sometimes I'm just taking photos, just snapping snapping snapping, knowing they are photos that are just going to take room up on my hard-drive.


Anyway, probably best to cut off your good arm, learn to shoot with your toes.

Best of luck!

Zillah

There is something very strange happening in this thread.