Inspiration defines us.
Inspiration is the
“process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, esp. to do something creative: “flashes of inspiration”. ~Google Dictionary
What if you could bottle up your inspiration for a rainy day? If you grew up in the country then you may be familiar with catching lightning bugs or grass hoppers and putting them in a mason jar (sadly most of these poor creatures died of asphyxiation and/or fear). And, if you are familiar with this past time then you know that in order to bottle these little buggers you need to find them first. So what inspires you to pick up your camera and take a photograph when you’ve had a rough week at work and the couch beckons you?
Finding out what inspires you should not be terribly difficult. Think about the last time you sat through a touching movie and was moved, I mean truly moved. Maybe you were inspired watching a movie where the main character played the piano, so much so that you went home that evening and played the piano for hours… something you may not have done in years. For others, it’s that song that comes on the radio and gives you the tingling feeling that runs up your back, a feeling of urgency to do something life changing. Maybe it’s as simple as looking at photography you and others have taken and the desire to capture similar photographs of your own.
Once you pinpoint what it is that truly inspires you, makes you want to be the best possible version of yourself, don’t let it go. So, bottle your grasshoppers (grasshoppers are the things that inspire you in this analogy) and be sure to open the lid and let the air in regularly (reflect on what inspires you) otherwise they will suffocate (you’ll lose your inspiration). The things that inspire us don’t have to be fleeting moments, imagine waking up every day and feeling that rush of inspiration like you get when you watch that inspiring movie or listen to that inspiring song, what an incredible life that would be.
Get Started
Flickr, Google Images, photography magazines, National Geographic’s website, Pinterest, and your own photographs are all good places to start looking for inspiration. What better way to get inspired to capture beautiful photographs than by looking at other beautiful photographs.
Open a new folder on your desktop or a new board on Pinterest and start collecting those images that make you want to pick up your camera and shoot. They could be images that you took and love looking at or photographs that another photographer took and you want to replicate. So, shake out of your routine and harness your inspiration.
Photography is a universal language… What do you have to say today?
