Here's the Answer to Shooting Outside Block

We've all heard of writer's block. But there is also OutideShooter's Block. I hear this all the time: "I am going to start shooting this year again. I just don't know what yet" or "I'll think of something soon" But the 'What' evades us. The answer is already in our heads, we just have to shake it out to reveal it.

Let's take for instance the last time you drove down the street, or walked in your neighborhood. You saw trees, your watched other people, their dogs, you noticed steps and staircases, benches, doors, old windows, the hardware on doors and windows, building styles, outside art perhaps, taillights, flowers, insects, leaves unfolding, cloud formations, curbs, I could go on until I prevented myself from actually shooting some of this myself. But I think you get the idea. While there are some really special sites and subjects to shoot, literally anything including rusted scraps of metal, mud puddles and so on can make for an interesting subject and even more enriching get us going again. One day I was sitting on my porch watching the water go by in my stream to the pond on a sunny day when of a sudden it began to rain.


It was just a simple thought. Rain & sunshine reminded me of John Fogarty's song "Coming Down Sunny Day".

So let anything at all inspire you. If you were to take a walk and shoot only steps & staircases for a day you would certainly find some of your images given the proper perspective and lighting, very interesting. Then with a touch of Photoshop even more so. You don't have to know what you want to shoot in every case, just get up and go. If you wish to link back to your shots, please just comment here and leave a link. I'll be sure to look them over and so long as they are not inappropriate, approve it. Good luck.