[millsware]

Try to pick a specific subject or technique when you can spare a few hours. Instead of wandering around with your camera, go out and get 1 good HDR landscape, or ten photos of statues, or something like that.

[Kozlok]

Join the "single in" group. One photo each day with just one lens allowed each month. Great group, great photos. You'll find your mojo there.

[bigted]

Join the "single in" group. One photo each day with just one lens allowed each month. Great group, great photos. You'll find your mojo there.

Another vote for the Single In challenge. We are a friendly bunch and it is totally informal. We'd like to post everyday, but life gets in the way and sometimes you can't.

I'm trying to regain my mojo after spending 5 weeks in the hospital. It's been a rough couple of months and will continue to be that way for a while (if not for the rest of my life). I'd be lying if I said it wasn't an incredible adjustment. Having a baby is an adjustment too, although a much much nicer one than mine - congratulations BTW. I'm wondering if you are just too tired (and busy) to enjoy photography?

[mrNewt]

Another vote for the Single In challenge. We are a friendly bunch and it is totally informal. We'd like to post everyday, but life gets in the way and sometimes you can't.

I'm trying to regain my mojo after spending 5 weeks in the hospital. It's been a rough couple of months and will continue to be that way for a while (if not for the rest of my life). I'd be lying if I said it wasn't an incredible adjustment. Having a baby is an adjustment too, although a much much nicer one than mine - congratulations BTW. I'm wondering if you are just too tired (and busy) to enjoy photography?

Well, whatever it is, I wish you a speedy recovery .

[frogoutofwater]

Lots of great suggestions here. I will add two (one of which builds on some other suggestions here).

First, if you are the kind of person who is motivated by formal assignments or courses (I know I am), consider taking an online class that incorporates assignments. Online courses can be fit around your schedule as a parent, and give you a forum to trade some ideas with the instructor and other students. While I haven't loved every course I've taken through the Perfect Picture School of Photography, I have been satisfied with all but one of them, and a few of them were truly outstanding and transformative for me. One course that might be good for getting back your mojo is the Art of Seeing.

Second, if you are more of a self-starter (current mojoless status notwithstanding), then you could consider taking on a little project that focuses on improving your technique in some area - especially if it's something you can do at home. For example, experiment with using flash more effectively (check out Lighting 101 and 102 on strobist.com) if that's not a strong area for you - and photograph your new little one. Or do some macro photography, which can make the ordinary fascinating and also can help you improve technique in terms of precision, getting DOF right, use of tripod, etc.

[pentaxian_tmb]

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone.

[Kerrowdown]

In funk. Lost Mojo

There are several friendly challenges here that will get you going again, like this sort of thing.

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/26-mini-challenges-games-photo-stories/24...kehcember.html

[6BQ5]

I would say that if you are truly interested and passionate about photography you will find your way back Like a ball bouncing back and forth in a funnel, you will get to the center.

Personally, if it were me I would say just pick something to shoot. Switch lenses, switch cameras, switch lights, switch whatever you want... but take a picture. Use your smartphone camera. Don't worry about the subject not being "artistic". Pick something simple that you think you know. A pencil. A rock. A napkin. A measuring tape. Just photograph it. If you feel like photographing it once then just do it once. But if you feel like you can take a picture from a different angle then do it. Study it. Go close, be far away. Suddenly that simple subject has become very interesting. You'll see the texture of the wood on the pencil end. You'll see the dirt stuck in the rock. You'll see things that may ignite your imagination!

I heard Paul Strand say that if seeing turns into looking then you're done. But if you see then you should shoot. (Or something like that!) I don't think you're done or you wouldn't be here asking this question.

I also heard something about Edward Steichen. He has shot WWI and WWII and he has shot the same cup and saucer 2000 times! Maybe you just need to find your cup and saucer!

[TaoMaas]

When I do pick up a camera, I feel like I did back when I was a beginner and don't know what to shoot, or wind up deleting everything I take for not being up to my standards.

Perhaps you're over-editing. That's what happened to me when I hit a huge plateau. I had begun selling my pics and I kept throwing things away because I was saying to myself, "Oh...who would want to buy that?" It took a while before I realized that what I was really doing was editing myself out of my photos! To get over the hump, I had to give myself mental permission to shoot pics that may only appeal to me. I had to tell myself, "So what if nobody likes them but me? As I am now, I don't like my pics and I don't think anyone else will, either. But if I shoot to please nobody buy myself, at least I'll be happy. And that's better than where I am now."

[waterfall]

Perhaps you're over-editing. That's what happened to me when I hit a huge plateau. I had begun selling my pics and I kept throwing things away because I was saying to myself, "Oh...who would want to buy that?" It took a while before I realized that what I was really doing was editing myself out of my photos! To get over the hump, I had to give myself mental permission to shoot pics that may only appeal to me. I had to tell myself, "So what if nobody likes them but me? As I am now, I don't like my pics and I don't think anyone else will, either. But if I shoot to please nobody buy myself, at least I'll be happy. And that's better than where I am now."

Sometimes I switch to Manual mode and manual focus. It re-teaches me the mechanics of the hobby and combines with the thrill of chasing The Shot. Playing with f stop, shutter speed, ISO and WB selections are, well, Play!

[mikemike]

Congrats on the kiddo! Having children is actually what really got me into photography. Take them to fun and interesting places like the zoo and botanical gardens. Take pictures of him or her and the rest of the sights.

[Rondec]

Take photos of your child and start to scrap book them. Buy a new lens (or an old new lens). Make a project for yourself (a photo a day or a theme).

Don't worry if not every photo is a work of art (they won't be), but just enjoy the journey you're on. If nothing else, your child will appreciate the photos some day.

[waterfall]

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone.

How's your Mojo doing? Did you find it again?

[MetteHHH]

Honestly, sleep deprivation is the no 1 killer of creativity in my experience, and babies equal sleep deprivation. Also, having a new HUGE responsibility is enough to make any sensible person a big panicky, and then with all the new practical every day tasks and routines, you just don't have the energy to do things just for yourself. I sympathise very much - I have three kids, and my youngest just turned two!

For me, I tried to focus on the new motives. Kid snapshots may not seem the thing if you have artistic ambitions and used to go for more unorthodox motives, but children ARE hugely photogenic, and at the same time they pose new challenges that contain new learning experiences in photography. My advice would be to not panic, wait a while and the passion will return. An meanwhile, keep shooting your new little one. In a few years those photos will almost certainly seem the most precious picture files on your disc.

I like my little motives, and although they steal my time, they have also brought me photos I would otherwise never have taken. Like these:
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/12-post-your-photos/252619-people-underwater-fun.html
and this:
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/12-post-your-photos/252803-people-babyseal.html

Good luck - and remember to enjoy the rough years, sooner or later you are bound to miss them!

[pentaxian_tmb]

motivational mojo is slowly returning. I have been exploring my K-5ii (new toys always help) and shooting my son everynight. I am also planning to sign up for a local weekend photo seminar. And, I am really interested in trying out some new techniques, such as stereographic panos. My biggest problem is work has been a bear, and most of my shooting opportunities are limited to indoors at home or walking to the parking garage in the dark. I have been carrying my q7 to/from work, but so far little good has come of it. Guess I just need to get out more.

While my motivational mojo is slowly returning, I am still suffering from the "all my work sucks" phase and find myself deleting entire cards (as compared to when I started I thought everything was a masterpeice and kept raw, tiffs and jpegs of every shot).