What are your biggest inspirations/motivation boosts?

Thanks a lot! I've seen some of these shots already in the C&C thread and viewing them again made it clear to me, that I absolutely share some of the fascination you obviously have with nature and its marvelous colors in particular. I love the combination of colors and shapes you've managed to capture in the second to last shot for example. It's so vibrant and a true joy to look at. I think this forum has quite a few of what you describe as "left-brain logical, STEM types" but in most cases that doesn't mean that they don't have a creative side as well. I would recommend trying to not see yourself just as one sided or restricted to certain types of photography in general. I'm pretty sure it often just takes the right idea, inspirational subject or a kind of experiment, that gives your inner child the necessary joy to take over.

I'm really glad to hear that! It was my main wish for this thread to become a place where a people with different photography styles and approaches can perhaps share some of their sources of inspiration/motivation. I know the phases of feeling uninspired too well, and having something to try at the back of your mind, can help a lot from my experience.

And the joy of feeling reignited is well worth a little effort!

Reignited! And you? by simple.joy, on Flickr

Question:

What are/have been your biggest motivating factors, motivation boosts or sources of inspiration for your photography?

Answer:

For me, it's been not knowing what surprising thing I will find. I never know. Each day is an adventure and I look forward to capturing something unique and different.

Here's one example. I'll never see this again. I was so happy to have captured it.

Thank you very much for that great contribution and wonderful shot! I Love the colors - looks really fascinating and beautiful.

I also fully agree on the bolded... capturing something surprising is often a great joy and motivation to go out more (because SPOILER: chances increase dramatically as you do 😉). I also feel like with experience you can get better at spotting special things, even if they're less obvious. In my case they often are:

... Mama? by simple.joy, on Flickr

Nature smiling back at you by simple.joy, on Flickr

Dancing on the street! by simple.joy, on Flickr

I'm pretty sure not everyone will see these shots like I do... but it still filled me with joy, when I realized the things hinted at in the titles of the images.

In my case probably not always the best, but a very effective source of inspiration/motivation:

Making a statement/proving a point

I considers myself a spiteful person and also not very competitive in most cases... but sometimes, when someone strikes a nerve or some thing happens at the wrong time, I feel a strong need to react in an artistic fashion. For example, someone claiming: "You can't create anything meaningful with a lens like that" or "That's not for beginners" (I still consider myself to be one)... you get the gist. So in some of those instances I need to at least try to prove the opposite.

Here's one example, where I'm mostly having fun though... "Flickr Explore" is a daily collection of images which are featured prominently at the site. So everyone in there gets a lot of additional views, comments I think that it's created by an algorithm though and while it's not completely clear how it works, it often chooses similar images for the top spots - beautiful of course, but still, samey. One example is the famous mountain ridge "tre cime" (three peaks of Lavaredo) which have been seen there time and time again... So I though, I might just try and create such an image myself, perhaps I can trick the algorithm into choosing one of my macro images for the top spot. 😁

Of course it hasn't worked so far and most likely won't ever, but it's still a (hopefully innocuous enough) statement to the flickr team, that some tweaking might still be benefitial.

Here's the image in question (showing three tiny nails instead 😉):

Tre cime... again. by simple.joy, on Flickr

Of course there is an infinite amount of more important messages to tell by photography and every other form of art... So if you have ever created some real 'photographic statement' or 'proven a point by photography', please share it as well (at least if it hasn't been used to denigrate someone) - I'm looking forward to it!

Oh my, the photographs in "Flickr Explore", most of them seem so banal to me, a crude selection, 90% would not deserve to be selected.
I don't understand their selection method, it seems totally random to me, and at the same time biased.
And that's a shame, I'm unable to give the slightest credibility to their selection method.

The vast majority of your photographs deserve to be at the top of "Flickr Explore". 👍
I hope this happens to you often.
Personally, I rarely look at "Flickr Explore".

Good luck!

Thanks a lot - that‘s very kind! I agree with most of your assessment of flickr explore - it‘s neither terribly interesting, nor important. However it gives a lot of additional views and some tiny percentage usually stops by your photostream and gives it a look. It has happened quite a few times that people who did that reached out to me afterwards and started to develop an interest in adapted lenses or shared some knowledge about one or the other of my "mystery lenses" which I‘m always thankful for.

From time to time they also have "themed explores" which are curated by humans. Some have been interesting and worthwhile in my opinion. (It‘s also fascinating to see that real people tend to rank my images significantly higher than algorithms.., 😅)

Most of anything explore-related is superficial and uninspired though. I‘ve never been at the top really, but I‘m pretty sure many would disagree with my experiments being there anyway…

It's true that when a photograph suddenly appears on "Flickr Explore", visibility is multiplied by 100. 😎
That's how I found out that one of my photos was in Explore, Suddenly, I'm receiving a multitude of congratulations and the storyteller thousands of views.

Once again, your photos deserve to be seen by as many participants as possible. People may come to realize that it's not the most expensive camera with the most pixels that make a good photo.
It's the photographer's talent and boundless imagination. 👍
Unfortunately, if the most popular discussions on DPRevived are anything to go by, it's not going to happen any time soon. 😱

Flickr is a great site. It all depends on how you use it. Participation is key. Dump and run without any involvement yields a poor return of appreciation, feedback and being presented on explore. Many haven't figured that out yet and feel slighted when their image isn't highlighted on the top of the world.

When I first saw the work of Vieri Bottazzini on dpreview it really turbo boosted my interest in landscape photography 🙂

At about the same time I became more interested in digital art as well. It's amazing what can be done in apps like Photoshop (Photoshop Elements) to turn an "ordinary" looking image into art.

I agree! I would consider flickr my photographic 'home base' online. Lots of very nice people there and a real focus on photography for the most part. There are some wonderful dedicated groups, particularly the weekly themed ones, like "Macro Mondays" etc. As you‘ve stated it all depends on real participation though, and so it surely isn‘t for anyone. Because it‘s such an old site its users also tend to skew older, which (in my personal experience) helps in making it an overwhelmingly polite and friendly place. I like it a lot!

That being said, to me the 'Explore' system and algorithm still seems to be quite shallow and deeply flawed in many ways - far from a good representation of what makes the platform great!

Thanks a lot - I totally get that! Very impressive landscape work.

Indeed, post processing/digital image manipulation can be a powerful and also quite creative and fun tool and add a lot. I get the notion of some people who prefer not to overdo it, but even that can be a lot of fun, if you view it as its own kind of art/creating.

How do you think they could reform the flawed 'explore' aspect? Millions of images from all over the world and having to view and select ones for explore is a huge undertaking.

Can‘t say that I have thought about that extensively… but for a beginning perhaps let a rotating cast of 5 flickr staffers each add 5-10 images per explore and let the algorithm handle the rest, then re-check the top 50 images for doubles (the algorithm likes to place almost identical looking images right next to each other which seems like any curators nightmare…) and very similar top images from the past 2-3 Explores.

The strange thing is: there‘s a weekly curation by flickr staffers (featured in the blog) and those images are not automatically in Explore… why not?

Another thing would be for users to suggest an Explore image, if they find something really outstanding - perhaps limit it to 2-3 times a year and have those approved/denied by staffers so it won‘t be abused easily. This way you could get some 'hidden pearls' with a handful of likes to get a chance as well.

Also get someone to look at the 'genres' of the images shown. If 30+ of the top 50 are roughly from the same, perhaps change it up a little bit manually. Would probably not be more work than a lot of volunteer group moderators put in every day.

And one final thing: expell the people who use Explores to spam their copy/paste comments all over the images shown there from a number of future Explores. It spoils the fun, if you‘re a newbie thinking you get a lot of nice comments and then realize they‘re from the same people copying that to every single image in order to get exposure and likes themselves.

Do you like it the way it is, or do you have some ideas about alternative solutions as well?

(All of this is a bit flickr specific and so off-topic here, but as I‘ve mentioned I like flickr a lot and would want it to be better in certain aspects)

Back on topic: I would be curious to know, what inspires you to take your interesting captures? (as mentioned I really like your drone shots!) Do you imagine/expect them beforehand or are you often surprised by what you find?

@simplejoy - I really don't know of any good ideas to suggest. I basically go with the flow because I'm not completely certain as to how they do it all. I've read many people trying to guess how it all works. You have some good suggestions though...
You also have a great photostream which makes for enjoyment of all that view it! Your posted images here are very well done as well. Your enthusiasm is top notch! Don't let that fade it.

SimpleJoy, I found the link to this thread in this week's Wednesday C&C topic. Better late than never?!

I've enjoyed the conversation and inspiring photos here very much.

Besides the quality of light, one of my inspirations of the past few years is to have an assigned theme. This has mostly been through Facebook's private group, Create 52 Photography Project. However, I'm also now getting into some of the flickr groups - thanks to you!

The conversation here about flickr Explore was fun because my "Wind" image (posted to the Sliders Sunday group - my first group participation) was in Explore a few days ago 😁

Seeing common or familiar scenes in a different way is what I get most out of the assigned themes. The garages below (for "Shadows") I had walked past many dozens of times and never thought about a photo opportunity. "Traffic Lights" was just driving around early one morning to see how I could present traffic lights in a different manner from the most obvious. "Wind" was a processing-to-the-max exploration.

I particularly like your second photo, the treatment is magnificent. 😍
Very inspirational picture for me!

I'm so delighted to hear that, thank you! Some people can't get past all the "ugly" wires and poles, which I often photograph as subjects. I use PS Elements, Nik Collection and Topaz Studio 2. Have lost my info on what I did to this specifically, but I'm sure some warm glow was involved 😀

Wonderful shots - all of them! And thanks a lot for adding your thoughts as well.

I agree that themed groups (no matter how shallow some might appear at first glance) can be a great incentive for many of us because it can help thinking about the things we see and shoot differently. And the regularity might also help those (like me) who are easily distracted. I've never done a full year thing, as I'm also working on a pretty time consuming series of articles on unknown adapted lenses with a friend... but perhaps there will be an opportunity for that in the future.