You’ve been pursuing photography assignments with a speed to rival Tim Lincecum’s two-seam fastball, you’re up to your elbows in editing, and the e-mails just keep coming. You need a break, so you’re praying for just a couple of easy photo shoots, free of friction.
But is another routine shoot the way to avoid burnout?
Probably not. In fact, taking on new types of assignments and mastering new technologies may be the best way to reignite your creativity. At least that’s the advice of a few veteran professional photographers, including LicenseStream subscriber and Pulitzer Prize winner Deanne Fitzmaurice.
Fitzmaurice knows something about taking on challenges. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 2005 for an essay she created for the San Francisco Chronicle about a nine-year-old Iraqi boy who was badly injured when he picked up a bomb, mistaking it for a ball.
© Deanne Fitzmaurice
Frank Capley and Joe Alfano get married at
City Hall in San Francisco in June 2008.
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"You can sit around and wait for an assignment to come to you,” Fitzmaurice said, “or self-assign a story that will prompt you to present new material in a new way.”
Fitzmaurice did just that when she found she needed new inspiration about a year-and-a-half ago. “I went out and did a story that followed a gay couple through their marriage and all of these doors started opening for that story,” she recalled. “Time magazine ran one of the photos from it, MSNBC ran it as a multimedia piece and then Time chose a different image from that same group of images for a story about Pictures that Mattered in 2008.”
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Fitzmaurice said that by creating a story with multimedia elements, she probably enhanced the story’s appeal.
“I had recorded ambient audio while following this couple, and then I went back and interviewed them and brought all of these pieces to MSNBC,” she said. “MSNBC ended up putting it on their Website as a video by using the still images and incorporating the audio from the interview and the ambient sound that I’d collected.”
The experience provides a good example of two ways to get unstuck.
“First of all – go out and shoot the stories you care about whether they’re assigned to you or not,” she said. “Then if you can, also shoot video and collect audio. Adding these elements offers such a rich way of telling a story, and enables you to add layers of information to your photographs.
You’ll also find that there are multiple places where you can license these different pieces of media.”
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Lee Roth, a LicenseStream subscriber and celebrity photographer who shoots more than 150 red carpet events per year, breaks up his routine by participating in different types of photography.
"There is an art to getting that great shot on the red carpet, but it is not an artistic process," Roth said. “On the red carpet, we often have 35-45 seconds to shoot a celebrity, there are 40-60 camera people all yelling at once, and we really have no control over the set, the lighting, the pose, the talent. So there’s really little artistic control at all.”
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© Lee Roth / Roth Stock
Hornbeck Homestead, FFBNM, Colorado
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To counterbalance such high-stress assignments, Roth photographs scenery and creates glamour shots of models, both of which give him artistic control over the location, the lighting, and the talent.
Roth also stays inspired by engaging in activities that help him refine his photography skills.
For example, he said, “Just yesterday, I served as an assistant for a photographer who is extremely talented with lighting. I looked at the opportunity to be an assistant as a way to appreciate and learn from his techniques.”
He also strives to keep current with – and gain inspiration from – new technologies. “I participate in webinars that highlight new technologies at least once or twice a week,” he said.
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©Alex Centrella
San Francisco Giants’ pitchers Noah Lowry, Tim Lincecum,
Matt Cain, Jack Taschner in the dugout at Chukchansi Park, Fresno
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Long-time Fresno-based photographer and photojournalist Alex Centrella agrees that taking on new types of assignments and trying out new technologies are the keys to remaining inspired.
“About three years ago, I started doing sports photography, and so the National Press Association sends me to shoot games for the Fresno Grizzlies and for the San Francisco Giants,” said Centrella, also a LicenseStream subscriber. “More recently, I’ve ventured into food photography.”
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However, he advises younger photographers not to focus too narrowly on certain technologies.
“They may work a lot with HDR or fool around with Photoshop but then they get stuck doing those things,” he said. “I’d suggest they really learn the basics of photography – even basic film photography – and then try out all kinds of different software and play around with it all until they feel comfortable.”
He applies the same advice to genres of photography. “Pursue photojournalism if you want to,” he said, “but be prepared to shoot food, sports, architecture and any other avenue that interests you.”
Centrella added that he has learned to use social media tools – especially photography forums – to stay in touch with colleagues around the world. “It’s a way to find out what’s going on, who and what’s working during slow months, and what lenses people are using for particular shoots,” Centrella said.
Centrella also counters burnout with another tried-and-true way to counter stress: “I can go fishing and take my camera, which is fantastic. It’s fantastic because it means I’m always looking – and always finding – new sources of inspiration.”
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