[PPPPPP42]

Perhaps many of you ARE old enough to have lived through more interesting times with a camera, but to me the world seems a tad photogenically boring compared to varying degrees of years ago. Cars today look more like they were based on the design of a potato, planes all look the same and only differ in size and engine placement, trains are boxy utilitarian affairs that quite literally look so nearly identical across all brands and models that an amateur cant tell them apart, buildings (with a few exceptions in some major cities) tend to lack ornament or any real style, being mostly big flat rectangles, people don't normally dress in very interesting outfits (lady gaga aside). Perhaps its also a regional effect, some countries are still visually exciting, where I am is most definitely not, unless your keen on nature photography maybe, though its not really tops there either, everything just lacks style.

I'm finding most of my favorite pics I take are of things that were made before I was born, most of which have been photographed to death by others, and there's less of that every day. Maybe its just because everything around me is what I consider "normal" and to people 50 years from now it will all seem really cool.
In general I feel like I've missed the bus and all the best pics are already taken. I think I need some creative inspiration.

[magkelly]

It does depend upon where you live. I'm often bored silly shooting here. There's practically nothing to shoot except for aluminum sided mobile homes, small lizards and rabbits. I never was bored out in CA. I walked all over, shot everything, never lacked for subjects. But no, I don't believe you can't get shots like that anymore. You just have to go find them sometimes.

[monochrome]

Every picture I show my wife, she says, "Already been done," and can often say when and by whom.

[pezmaker]

Hopefully this is a continuation of the original topic and not a threadjack, but how do some of you keep finding interest in the same things, or how do you keep finding new things (to you, obviously...)? I've only had my DSLR for a year now, and only been shooting (photographically speaking - let's not include point and shoot snaps) the same amount of time. Yet, i'm already looking around me and thinking, shot that, shot that, don't care to ever shoot that, etc.

I see PPPPPP42 that you're also in WI. maybe it's just here.

[Mattco26]

Go into town. Find a block. Spend one hour walking around that same block, both sides of the street, from different directions. You'll be amazed at what you start to see that you didn't notice before.

If you invited 25 photographers to walk around your home town and shoot, I can almost guarantee you'd find some of their photos very interesting and there's no reason you can't take the same ones.

You feel like everything you're shooting is boring, so it is. Simple as that.

So you've got three different answers, none of them have anything to do with being born in the wrong time or things being more interesting or stylish in the past. Good luck.

[PPPPPP42]

Quote from Dogma:
Bethany: Were they sent to Hell?
Metatron: Worse. Wisconsin. For the entire span of human history.

That pretty much sums it up.

I've found you have to go a bit random to find things around here, a lot of the time I just go driving, some of the shots I like best were completely unplanned in location, like a cemetery at a church in B.F.E rural nowhere
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/members/46390-pppppp42/albums/4594-pictures/picture38923.jpg
or a waterfall in a state park that everyone should know about but most have never seen and almost nobody goes to in winter when its frozen. https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/members/46390-pppppp42/albums/4594-pictures/picture38546.jpg
Or one of the most impressive rail bridges in the country if not the world, that most everyone doesn't even know exists despite the fact that its been there for 100 years (Arcola high bridge in case you were wondering). (No pics of that uploaded) I find that looking at things in really weird ways helps too like a macro lens. Different weather or time of day in the same place.

But on the basic point most things are still fairly dull under normal circumstances. If only I were female I could also take pictures of people without everyone assuming I'm a child molester or a rapist, though being from Wisconsin you already know how wonderfully exciting the people here are so maybe I'm not missing much there.

I really just want more stuff like this to take pics of: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/members/46390-pppppp42/albums/4594-pictures/picture46003.jpg

[fuent104]

I think I need some creative inspiration.

This is really what's going on.

You've mentioned some of the things you find interesting to look at. How about doing some research to find out where more of those things are? Maybe there is some sort of graveyard for old trains within a few hours driving distance of you. Or maybe the train tracks themselves are interesting.

Maybe you could get some models of old trains, dress them to look old and dirty, and do macro photos of them.

Maybe medium format film is the way to go.

There will never, ever, be a lack of things to photograph. Sometimes you just have to really search for inspiration, and put some time, effort, and / or money into creating something.

This may not be great, but hopefully it is a different look at a common object...

[VisualDarkness]

This is really what's going on.

You've mentioned some of the things you find interesting to look at. How about doing some research to find out where more of those things are? Maybe there is some sort of graveyard for old trains within a few hours driving distance of you. Or maybe the train tracks themselves are interesting.

Maybe you could get some models of old trains, dress them to look old and dirty, and do macro photos of them.

Maybe medium format film is the way to go.

There will never, ever, be a lack of things to photograph. Sometimes you just have to really search for inspiration, and put some time, effort, and / or money into creating something.

This may not be great, but hopefully it is a different look at a common object...

I'm in a bit of a creative drought at the moment, even though I'm only approaching one year of shooting. I guess the trick is to try and find a different view on common things, like your great M&M shot there.

[Na Horuk]

I feel I was born too late to get a stable job and good pay.
You are right in some sense - things are becoming homogenized in their appearance and such. But then again, decades ago people were used to what they had at that time, and that seemed normal and bland to them. The problem today is that there is no general mainstream "style" other than technical perfection. We no longer want a certain style of photos, we just want them to be super sharp, contrasty, saturated.. But people 10 years from now will look at us and think "wow, those were pretty interesting times."
The other problem is of course that cameras in general are very common now, which devalues photos, takes the novelty out of them.
You just have to go and find interesting subjects. Or make a series where you expose how bland we all are

[magkelly]

This may not be great, but hopefully it is a different look at a common object...

M&M freak that I am I've got to try that. Nice shot, lol.

[fuent104]

Thanks for the compliments on the M&M shots. I had just purchased my M50 f1.4 and tried to do something other than my usual run of the mill test shots. I made some mistakes, though...stupid ones, like shooting at wider f-stops than necessary. I know better than that.

I repeated the exercise the next day with my SF-1. I haven't gotten good scans of that roll yet.

Here is a couple more images from that series.

I haven't done a ton of post processing on the series, because I didn't come up with any compositions that really spoke to me. Macro is hard!

[fuent104]

[PPPPPP42]

I am SO doing that with a bag of assorted Jelly beans.

And its not that there isn't always something to take pictures of, its that you get sick of eating the same food day after day and there's only so many ways to dress it up. I need to go farther, but I don't have the time or the money very often.

[fuent104]

Believe me, I feel your pain. I'm from a rural environment. I hope you keep us posted.

[slackercruster]

Photo ops all around. Just got to look for em.