Stuck in a Creative Rut

I don’t like when this happens.

As someone who wants to create for a living, it’s tough to not be able to come up with any new projects. It’s been a lot of the same motions, too. I go out, do a shoot, edit the photos, pick the best one or two to post on Instagram and then write a blog post about the shoot. I’m sure you might be able to tell but I am way behind on my blogs.

 

I still have several from California to write, three from Yellowstone, and the four or five I’ve done in Buffalo since the semester started. I suppose it’s a lot of the same content; I shoot, then talk about the shoot. A lot of them are similar as well because I shoot primarily in Santa Monica and end on a beach. I suppose at the time I didn’t realize how boring that might be but now that I’m writing all of them…it’s a little tedious! I fell in love with Santa Monica and I wanted to do all of my shoots there because of the diverse landscape.

 

So, here we are now, present day. I feel like I’m stuck in a creative rut. Why? Perhaps it’s the weather; it’s been getting colder for about a week and since it’s Buffalo, it’s already dipped into the 40s during the day and high 30s overnight. It’s been raining more frequently when it hasn’t been raining, the sky has been overcast, threatening to pour. That’ll stifle people for sure sometimes.

 

I suppose my rut is different. I haven’t felt creatively empty in perhaps forever. I’ve always had some sort of idea of what my next project would be. There’s always been something to keep me going, but not now, for some reason. I’m not really sure what it is! I’ve been slowly getting out of this rut, though.

 

I wrote a short script for a film idea I have. In its most basic form, it’s a dream sequence the main character has after returning from a long day of work. I wrote down some camera technical directions, such as “close-up of subject’s hands” but also random thoughts and ideas, such as “running through a forest, Peter McKinnon style”.

 

See, I wrote down all these thoughts at 11 pm or so, after watching some videos from my favorite photographers and cinematographers and I felt inspired. If I showed this script to anyone in the film world, I’d get a “What the-” response but to me, it all makes sense. It was all very in the moment, and I wrote the whole thing in less than 20 minutes. For me, some of these shots I needed to describe to myself because if I end up shooting these shots in two or three weeks time, I want to make sure I remember what I was thinking at the time.

 

I think to conclude all of this, sometimes it takes a bit of time for a spark to materialize. Most everyone gets into creative ruts, so I know it’s not just me. I don’t want to create because I feel like I want to create. I create because I want to create. I’m definitely a quality over quantity person, so I want my work to express that notion.

But all I needed was a little spark.

Parting shot:

 

Next blog: Back to the regular scheduled blogs…but where?