Motivation in Photography

What is your motivation in photography?

In other words, what keeps you excited about photography and what drives you to keep reaching for your camera? Think about it. There are any number of things you could do in a day and perhaps just as many “should-do” items in your daily routine. So what is it that keeps you photographing subjects day after day?

Motivation is that inner drive that keeps you behind the viewfinder time after time. It is that driving force that never says die and certainly never says quit. Perhaps it is no different from what keeps athletes practicing and working out. Maybe it is similar to great musicians who not only rehearse over and over, but actually appear to enjoy the rehearsing!

How do you describe or explain this motivation? What words can you use to describe it as clearly as possible?

I am honestly curious about this because sometimes I lose my focus and get distracted by things other than photography. These distractions recently kept me from blogging on a regular basis as I had done previously, but they did not prevent me from keeping my camera busy. In fact, I’ve been as busy as ever with my photography! After all I do love my time spent in photographic endeavors.

Maybe it’s the drive of capturing that priceless, once-in-a-lifetime shot. Or maybe it’s the challenge of capturing the exciting action and freezing the motion for all to see. Perhaps it is simply an inner feeling that keeps encouraging you to keep shooting.

I know, for me, a whole lot of motivation comes from fellow photographers. I hear about their photo opportunities and hear how they excited about a photo trip or some cool subject they photographed recently. These collegial relationships and friendships are certainly great motivation for me!

In this vein, I thank Willard Hill who recently contacted me to say that he missed my blogging. That was more than enough to motivate me off my lazy backside and re-enter the wonderful world of photo blogging. Thank you very much, Willard!

Where do you find your motivation in photography?

There’s Always Something to Do!

Photography is a strong passion for me and one thing is for sure–with an interest and passion like photography there is always something to do! Here is a short list: go on a photo shoot, plan for an upcoming trip, edit photos, keyword and organize photos from past trips, scout out new locations, read photography blogs, watch photo software tutorials, make prints, create photo slide shows, clean equipment, shop and dream of new photo gear, browse through coffee table photography books… the list goes on and on!

So what do you do with your passion of photography? What are your favorite tasks? Are you willing to admit your least favorite photo duties? What do you enjoy the most? What you like the least? What gets your passion ramped up? What excites you in the world of photography?

There is always something to do in our field of interest and it seems to me that it can be valuable to share with each other what we enjoy the most about our photographic passion. This thought motivated me to create a simple poll that I will post later today. It seeks feedback from fellow photographers about what you all like the most about photography. I hope you will take a minute or two to think about this and respond to the poll or comment here on the blog. My thinking is that we can always learn from each other and also motivate one another as well.