Getting Myself Out of a Rut
April 16, 2024
Tags: Out and About, Photography, Film Photography

Lately I’ve been trying to get myself out of a photographic rut.
My habit these past few years has been to use my photography as a vehicle to get myself out and about. For regular exercise, what I often do is grab my camera and go on solo photo walks. When I do this, I find myself in a frame of mind where I am looking for pictures to take. I often fall back on familiar composition types like long views down sidewalks. Over time, I’ve accumulated far too many photographs of the same basic thing.


For decades since my late teenage years, I practiced a rather casual photographic technique. With a simple point-and-shoot camera in hand, I was ignorant even of what F-numbers or ISO settings meant. The camera took care of that for me. I didn’t really need to have a deeper understanding in order to take pictures.
Just in the past two or three years, I’ve gotten more serious. Armed with more advanced interchangeable lens cameras, I developed a better understanding of exposure theory and have become more cognizant of how I can use the symbols of photography to create a more powerful image.
The common thread that runs through all those years and all of my various skill levels has been using photography to record my lifetime experiences. I think pulling away from that is how I’ve gotten into a rut.
To be sure, I’ve gotten satisfying images as a result of wandering around without any particular goal other than simply to use a camera. Last month, I shot a roll of Kentmere Pan 400 that I dropped into my Nikon F partly to practice shooting without a light meter and partly just to get out and about. Sometimes it’s satisfying to shoot through a roll of a cheap but well-performing film in a carefree way. One doesn’t always have to be making a profound statement.


I don’t think there is anything wrong with going around every now and again with a camera looking for something to photograph. Doing photography for the sake of doing photography is great, and I still enjoy wandering around with a camera without any particular thing in mind.
But I have been asking myself about what purpose my photography has. Grabbing a camera and looking for pictures to take sometimes feels like putting the cart before the horse. Conversely, a lot of my best work has come out of those times when my photography has functioned as an adjunct to something else. Documenting major life events, making a travel record, or preserving memories of commonplace yet significant personal moments have always given my photography a meaningful purpose regardless of how sophisticated my gear or skill level has been.
If I’m sick of taking photographs of long views down sidewalks, perhaps it’s time for me to put more intentional effort into seeking out new experiences and using my camera as a tool to record them. Those experiences don’t always have to be grand journeys to far-flung places. Local events I would never have thought to go to, neighborhoods I’ve never explored, or types of subject matter I’ve never encountered are all things that would help shake things up.