Losing interest. Please help

[ILCA77M2user]

Before I start please let me assure you that this isn't a troll post, rather a request for help.

Almost 2 years ago I picked up a Sony A77ii and slowly amassed some gear (lenses, lighting, tripod, ect).

I would spend hours reading, watching YouTube videos and studying photography & LightRoom during the week.

At Weekends I would try what I had researched during the week. I experimented with a lot of different techniques and scenarios.

Over the months I have printed 4 photographs to hang on the wall.

I would be almost constantly thinking about photography.

Over the last 3 months, I've used the camera once.

I don't seem interested with photography anymore.

I took a course at my local college to try and reignite my interest.

It didn't work.

Picking up the camera now seems a chore and I just have no interest.

Is this a normal phase that will pass?

Has this happened to you?

Should I just back off for a bit?

Or force myself through it?

 

[curiousmike1300]

I don't seem interested with photography anymore.

That's ok. We all pick up hobbies that don't stick.

I would recommend finding a local photography club or go to meetup.com ( or similar ) and joining them. One of the good things about joining a club is that, beyond the photography, you a) meet new people and b) find new places to explore.

 

[dmartin92]

[No message]

 

[dmartin92]

It would seem to me that forcing yourself would not be a good idea. But each person is different. I wouldn't force myself.

 

[Brian]

Before I start please let me assure you that this isn't a troll post, rather a request for help.

Almost 2 years ago I picked up a Sony A77ii and slowly amassed some gear (lenses, lighting, tripod, ect).

I would spend hours reading, watching YouTube videos and studying photography & LightRoom during the week.

At Weekends I would try what I had researched during the week. I experimented with a lot of different techniques and scenarios.

Over the months I have printed 4 photographs to hang on the wall.

I would be almost constantly thinking about photography.

Over the last 3 months, I've used the camera once.

I don't seem interested with photography anymore.

I took a course at my local college to try and reignite my interest.

It didn't work.

Picking up the camera now seems a chore and I just have no interest.

Is this a normal phase that will pass?

Has this happened to you?

Should I just back off for a bit?

Or force myself through it?

If you can't answer that, then maybe it is time to move on to a different hobby.

Every now and then I like to listen to country music. I don't know why, but sometimes I really crave it.

 

[mosswings]

Before I start please let me assure you that this isn't a troll post, rather a request for help.

Almost 2 years ago I picked up a Sony A77ii and slowly amassed some gear (lenses, lighting, tripod, ect).

I would spend hours reading, watching YouTube videos and studying photography & LightRoom during the week.

At Weekends I would try what I had researched during the week. I experimented with a lot of different techniques and scenarios.

Over the months I have printed 4 photographs to hang on the wall.

I would be almost constantly thinking about photography.

Over the last 3 months, I've used the camera once.

I don't seem interested with photography anymore.

I took a course at my local college to try and reignite my interest.

It didn't work.

Picking up the camera now seems a chore and I just have no interest.

Is this a normal phase that will pass?

Has this happened to you?

Should I just back off for a bit?

Or force myself through it?

You're probably burnt out, after a period of intense learning and practice. You need time to let yourself integrate what you've leared into your personality and life. Do other things. Perhaps bring along a simpler, pocketbook camera that you don't feel so compelled to make Art with. Have fun with just perceiving the world and occasionally when it moves you take a photo.

You'll soon find out if this just a fallow period or the end of a passion. That's OK either way.

 

[yardcoyote]

Were you interested in "photography" or were you interested in taking pictures, capturing images, making art, etc? If you were interested strictly in the technical side, then you may simply have learned everything you care to learn about it.

If you are interested in pictures, and see pictures everywhere around you just waiting to be cropped out of the wider scene and preserved, then forget about studying and go out and make art. I personally could care less about "photography". I just want to make pictures and I know enough about the basics to do it. When I meet a problem or find something I want to do and I don't know how, I learn something more. I don't bother with RAW or postprocessing beyond cropping.

None of this may be of help to you but it may suggest an alternate approach.

 

[TRIODEROB]

this hobby is not for you

this hobby will give all the accolades and success to the young and or hungry who are dying to make images

 

[justmeMN]

ILCA77M2user wrote: Picking up the camera now seems a chore and I just have no interest.

Then put the camera down. Maybe your interest will return someday. Maybe it won't.

There is no shame in losing interest in a hobby, and deciding to do something else.

 

[felix from the suburbs]

The same sort of thing happens to me once in a while with respect to my band playing. I play bass in several bands and every so often the thought of one more rehearsal or lugging my equipment to the next gig seems too much of a chore. I have found that usually I end up taking a break, listening to some great playing and then I get inspired to get better and end up practicing more. I think, in every endeavor or hobby, it's never a straight line progression but pauses and bouts of boredom followed by a resolve to make up for lost time and work harder. Anyway, good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[Glen Barrington]

So you take a break, and find something else to learn about for a while. This is something to celebrate, not worry over.

I've had a life long interest in photography, but I have taken 2-3 years off of active pursuit of photography a couple of times and eventually I go back to it. I still enjoyed the work of others, but had no desire to produce anything of my own.

Then I'd get the 'itch' and start taking photos again. But if I had developed an abiding interest in painting, or model railroading instead of going back to photography, neither I nor the world of photography would have felt extremely put out.

 

[buybuybuy]

When Pavlov wanted his dogs to salivate to a bell, he paired the bell with food.

What you need to pair with your photography is an equivalent to this "food"--i.e., something that is guaranteed to release dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, endorphins etc.

I'm sure you can think of something.

Remember: classical conditioning can be very powerful--in the right hands!!!

 

[Tom_Bruno]

Should I just back off for a bit?

Or force myself through it?

Do NOT force yourself through it! If you spend enough time on DPR, you'll see hundreds of comments to the effect of "My passion for photography," "I've always been passionate about making pictures," etc.

You cannot force passion. It will not work. And without passion, you won't enjoy photography.

Best to put the gear away, or maybe better yet, sell all your gear while it still has some value and put the cash into an envelope, just in case you get a passion for it in the future.

Meantime, take up something else that's involving. You choose. A few suggestions: Skiing, boxing, martial arts, mountain climbing, playing piano or guitar or some other instrument, dancing, doing design work in fashion or automobiles or furniture, hiking, camping, traveling to remote places in the world, charity volunteer work, cooking, and so on. The choices are many.

You're bound to find SOMETHING that excites you. If you can't, you've got a problem. But do NOT do photography with your mindset. It will be a miserable experience.


---------------
Tom B

 

[Graham Meale]

Have you considered stamp collecting? Train spotting? :-D

I do three or four overseas trips a year and enjoy the photography, then designing books in InDesign and getting them printed on Blurb. (See my website.) But between trips my camera is hardly used. A few of my lenses, the ones I don't usually travel with, such as my macro, I've hardly used.

C'est la vie.

 

[ultimitsu]

Is this a normal phase that will pass?

Has this happened to you?

Should I just back off for a bit?

Or force myself through it?

A short answer is, all that is normal and just go with the flow, do what you want. do not force yourself.

But I think you want more insight than just that so I will try to give some.

A hobby is a manifestation of a particular or several particular needs. as far as photography goes, it could be any one or more of the following:

• the need to document events you experience - travelling, family events, baby growing up, sports events;
• the need to record the most beautiful moments of people or places you like - portrait of your family members or friends, landscape shots of your favour places;
• the need to create something artistic/creative - lomo, etc;
• the need to play with gear;
• the need to explore nature in a way that is impossible with naked eye - BIF, macro, wildlife;
• meeting and mingle with hot girls under the guise of "I am a photographer".

Think back which need drove you to photography in the first place. and see where that need is now. if that need is no longer around, then there is no shame in ditching photography as a hobby.

 

[tony field]

The only solution I can think of is to find something that excites you: you need a subject that is interesting to your mind.

Many years ago in high school, the thing that excited me was the technical side ... in the darkroom, chemicals, etc.

At university, I joined the campus "photo directorate" and took images of various things for the newspaper and yearbook. I shot sports, classroom, events, theatre and dance.

For some reason, theatre and dance became my most interesting subject material because I was mentally involved in the performances. Quite exciting ... and I became quite proficient at capturing good photos.

I also found shooting pretty ladies to be very interesting ... the frosh queen, etc. I continued with performing arts and added pretty ladies to my interest.

After that faded a bit I found that my interest moved to the mountains: I loved hiking and climbing.

Eventually, business and earning a living became more important than the "art": I seriously cut back photographic work.

For some reason or other, because of the Calgary 1988 Olympics, I started to shoot sports: first speed skating, subsequently I found motor cycle racing exciting, and after that I attended a Show Jumping event an pursued that quite extensively.

Today, I still shoot performing arts and pretty ladies (fashion, nudes, etc) simply because I find the subject material very interesting and my free ticket to do this is my camera.

I never became an "artist": I found that shooting subject material that I enjoyed is the thing that keeps my interest in photography.

Just a thought: shoot an "interesting subject" is much more captivating than simply "taking pictures".

 

[Mark S Abeln]

I was really into photography when I was a teenager, and stopped in college due to the overwhelming work load, and lack of money and darkroom space.

As an adult, I did lots of hiking in nature, and desired to capture some of the awesome scenes I experienced, as well as wildflowers. I used a cheap film camera which was disappointing (by that time, I broke some of my old camera gear, as well as selling some off).

Knowing that digital photography was maturing, I kept an eye on the market, and eventually purchased "the best" digital camera at the time. I assumed that the computer technology embedded in the camera would provide a perfect image with no effort on my part. I bought the best, I thought, and so my images should be the best. But I was hugely disappointed, and it killed my interest in photography for years.

Later on, I had to use the camera to document some buildings that were at risk of being torn down; driving around taking the photos, I was still disappointed: but later that day I had the sudden inspiration that it wasn't the camera's fault that the photos were bad, but rather it was my fault. That experience really pushed me over the hump.

Photography is an art, more than it is a technology.

 

[DonParrot]

My tip:
Think about a subject that really interests you, even if it's not about taking pictures - as I have found with dog racing, disc dogging and RC boat racing. Or any kind of sports or whatever. So attend some of these events and enjoy them just for the fun of it. And then begin to take the camera along and shoot what you are most interested in. I'm rather sure that you quickly will enjoy taking pictures again.

 

[yardcoyote]

Are you talking to me or the OP? Because as far as I'm concerned whoever hands out these so called "accolades" can keep 'em.

 

[ILCA77M2user]

You make a good point here. Thinking more about it, I do stress more about settings, sharpness, lens choice than I do about what the image is about.

Maybe I got caught up in all the technical stuff, which only takes a few months to learn (but a lifetime to master).

I've always been more theoretical than practical.