It is about staying 'alive' as you photograph.

One question I hear a lot, in many guises, is "What do I do to put some life back into my photography?" It often comes out in different ways. Such as "What to take pictures of"? "Where should I go"? "Maybe I need to try a different film/camera/lens/process..."?

What I hear from most friends who ask this question is "Why am I not having fun doing this any longer"?

I usually answer back, "What have you photographed that is new lately"?

Not 'new' actually, but challenging to you as a photographer.

If you started shooting a year ago at this time and followed the challenge in last January's article, you would have a nice batch of prints on your wall by now. Did you do it? If not, why not? Certainly not because it was difficult-shooting to get one or two decent, if not excellent, photos a month isn't really that hard.

It isn't hard even if you can't travel very far.

Yes, I can hear it now. "But you live only 12 miles from a National Wildlife Refuge". You live right below a Wilderness Area. You live in the mountains. And on and on and on...

Excuses all, and while it is true I live in a good area, most areas can be good for your photography if you will look for the visual challenges nearby.

As for living right near a National Wildlife refuge, how many photos can one take of grebes, ducks and eagles? A lot to be sure, but unless you keep up the interest level, many of the shots look the same as you stick to the same location time after time. Varying the perspective, shooting location and backgrounds really helps here.

Yes, I shoot a lot of the same subjects at the refuge. I can't bring in other species to photograph & our access is limited at best. Our local refuge is a car route refuge, for most who visit. You can't get much off the road or you will be in the water. But, you can shoot from the waters edge & get some nice eye level shots of birds, muskrat, fox and a few other animals. A few scenics present themself as you drive around. Early morning, late evening, moon photographs-all are available if one will go out & work on them.

Too many take only the 'hit you on the head' photos. If it is there and impossible to ignore, it gets on film. If it is work, takes getting up before sunrise, getting cold or wet or missing TV, it gets ignored.

One way to stay alive in photography is to push yourself with the same subject. You get to know it in depth. You get to explore boundaries. You get to see it in different moods, light and seasons. Yes, even people.

I am working on a photoessay on referees, specifically wrestling referees(real wrestling, not the slobs of 'pro stupidity') Mainly high school and NCAA refs. I am looking for faces, gestures and interest through my lens while matside. Yes, I shoot wrestlers, but this is a challenge that is different. A tournament with four to eight referees gives a lot of faces to work with. A dual meet with one ref gives me concentrated exposure to the referee, his mannerisms, expressions and character. A photoessay on a subject I both have access to and an interest in(yep, I was a ref for a bit, as well as a wrestler in HS, AAU and college).

So, what is stopping you from shooting an obscure part of whatever interests you?

Love to surf & looking for something different? How about surfboards on the beach, stuck in the sand, as a modern mirror of Stonehenge?

How about picking one tree & documenting the animal life, or seasons, surrounding it?

Why not one on your local main street, or the local cop on the beat, or traffic stops at a busy intersection or the local dairy delivery truck? The ideas are endless & can be a lot of fun.

Jim Brandenburg spent 90 days shooting 90 images. No reason other than for a personal challenge. A way to keep up the interest & have fun doing it. He got a book out of it as well as personal satisfaction.

Looking for a new camera to help with your interest? How about taking the old camera and doing something different. Something you haven't tried before, such as a project to photograph houseflies, butterflies or knives & forks in the kitchen? Or doing a series where each exposure is shot using only the self timer feature? Or all photos are taken at f/22?

Make it fun, not impossible. Make it a challenge. No one is grading you & no one has to see it either. But it adds an element of suspense & challenge both if you tell some friends what you are starting, when you are starting and when you will have it finished. This makes it harder to quit or give up. It also helps if you want another perspective or fresh ideas to mull over.

A lot of excellent photography is taken within a few miles of home, all over the world. Not everyone waits for a once in a lifetime trip to take good images. They do it all the time in places familiar and comfortable. Most of Edward Westons images were close to where he was living at the time. A few on longer trips, but more close to home in familiar surroundings. The everyday of Edward Weston is as familiar to many photographers as the image confronting them in the mirror each morning. These same photographers yearn for the chance to go to Point Lobos and forget their own neighborhood. Weston lived at Point Lobos, it WAS his own neighborhood.

Some want to photograph nudes & can't figure out how to do it or where to go. Weston photographed his wife, wherever they were. Cold weather may have put a damper on it, but nothing else seemed to. He found time and space to photograph her & made excellent images, year after year. Maybe your spouse isn't anxious to be immortalized on film, but models are available across the nation, probably closer than you think. If you want to photograph, you will find a way.

Budding sports photographers are one group I hear complain often. I can't get into Yankee Stadium...(neither can I) is the refrain. But, I can get into little league parks, High School games and sandlots. There we hone the skills & present our images to the folks who can get us access to a higher level & it grows from there. I like sports & shoot kids a lot. In many ways it is more challenging than photographing the Dodgers or the A's. At a major league park I can't roam around. In a sandlot game I have a lot more freedom & seldom find the attitude problems seen with pro sports. Besides, I like having fun & shooting kids is a lot of fun. I even make a dollar or two at it from time to time. So, if you like sports, figure out how to shoot it. Access is easy on the lower levels & a good shot is a good shot.

Like street photography? Afraid of getting shot, maced, mugged or arrested? Your challenge is no different now than fifty years ago. Or a hundred and fifty while photographing American Indians while traveling in a wagon with glass plates & a bulky view camera. The Indians didn't have mace, so maybe it WAS easier back then? Right! Street photography has always been a risk & always will be.

Sports photography is as well. We have all seen the photographer nailed by the linebacker or running back who doesn't stop on the sideline.

As for wildlife photographers, some get killed by bears. Others get rift valley fever, etc. ( I have been sunburned). In the office I have gotten paper cuts-dangerous stuff here.

All in all, if you want to take photos, you will. If not, you will make excuses & sit back when I or others present their latest work. We will be explaining something about it to someone while hearing another photographer in the background telling their latest flame(or anyone who will listen). "I could have done this..."

The question is, why didn't they?

To keep alive in photography, get out and photograph. Take pictures. Make pictures. Spend darkroom time to become proficient in printing so poor print quality is something you hear about from others but don't see in your own work. Learn to mat, mount and frame you images so you can show them proudly, allowing the image to speak its own message. After all, this stuff isn't hard. Getting really good may be, or at least time consuming. But, the results are worth it.

If you would stay alive in photography, seek out the challenges. Look for them nearby, they are there every day. After all, how many excellent photos of houseflies do you have? You keep swatting the things but do you know photos of the common housefly are always in demand?

Or your local little league umpires? How many photos of them do you have? If you are like most, none. But the sad thing is, most don't even have any good shots of their own kids playing on the team either.

To keep alive in photography you have to photograph. Take pictures often. Generate a self assignment & then actually do it. Then show the images. Then do it again. And again.

After all, how many images of egrets does the world need? Well, they need some more of mine. I need some more of mine-as long as they aren't the same, old thing, over and over and over. If I work at it, they won't be. Same with the refs. Same with whatever I decide to shoot.

Same with whatever you decide to shoot, IF you challenge yourself & actually get out and produce more images. Good images destined to be finished, shown and admired. Given as gifts or donated to help a cause. To stay alive in photography you have to stay alive yourself and this only happens to those who seek out life. Your photos will show it. After all, how often have you gone to something you were not too sure about, but the passion & excitement of the person presenting the subject made it come alive for you. Your camera should be doing the same thing for you and those who see your images. To stay alive in photography, be alive & record it on film.

For something So easy, photography can seem So difficult. But if you get out & do it,(high quality in images, printing & presentation is a given) the difficulty gives way to your vision and excitement and your images will convey this inner satisfaction & expression.

No, you aren't Eisenstaedt. But, the early Eisenstaedt was a button salesman.

You aren't Adams. The early Adams was going to be a concert pianist.

I don't know what the early William Henry Jackson or Jay Meisel was going to be, but they became excellent, exciting photographers by getting out and taking pictures. Doing what they loved, over and over and over again. All these photographers have faced the same problems we do. What to photograph. All have overcome the blocks. They found subjects. People. Landscapes. Still life images. The found image. They did it all by photographing what they enjoyed, overcoming challenges along the way.

They stayed alive in photography by staying alive as people, just as the rest of have to do if we are to create & capture interest in our images. They all got past the beginner stage & kept improving the rest of their lives. No, they didn't shoot the same stuff, they shoot what they enjoyed or what they were paid to shoot & made the best images possible under the circumstances. They were challenged constantly & because of it they are the photographers we look up to.

To stay alive in photography, stay alive.