Well it's been ages since my last blog post. It's not that I've lost interest in photography - far from it. Life has been busy. Work gets in the way. I'm finding that I have to specifically schedule a session with my camera in hand in order to get more shots and build my portfolio.

The problem with 'scheduling a shoot' or 'making time in my schedule' is that it doesn't always FEEL right at the time - I'm not in the right place or time. So I'm becoming more of a 'when the opportunity arises' type photographer - and that means that I'm getting to sites not in the right light, or visiting the same places hoping to see something different than last time. I could imagine for (say) a wedding photographer that it might become pretty repetitive after your 5th wedding for the month.

I've been trying (since adding the Fuji XH1 to my stable) to re-visit some earlier spot to re-capture the images with the better camera as it gives me more flexibility to publish larger prints. It feels a bit like cheating - diluting the special nature of the first capture? Maybe I'm overthinking it in my old(er) age ...

Had fun in Sydney recently for an RnR trip with my long suffering photography widow Jo traipsing all over the place. The usual Sydney icons (the Bridge, the Opera House) were the focus and I tried hard not to just take tourist-style 'I was here' type images. Again it was still a bit opportunistic tho - the time wasn't right to wait for sunrise/sunset light. The midday overhead sun was really all I had to work with. Interestingly when we did the Opera House tour I was the only one looking INWARDS to capture the inside - it's the architectural training in me perhaps ...

So how can I stay inspired and grow my skill and art as a photographer? I've been thinking I could do a little session locally concentrating on perhaps a single focal length - I've got a couple of prime lenses to work with. Maybe that keep the fires burning...

How do you stay inspired?