Where To Find Fresh Ideas For Your Photography

[@Jackbrsp]

There's a phrase from one of the greatest photographers in the world, the brazilian Sebastião Salgado, that goes "The photographer shoots with his whole culture". The more you educate yourself and seek inspiration from different sources, the more you'll be able to gather new sources for photography. I highly recommend seeking Salgado's work. It is absolutely stunning!

[@qu14torze82]

Hi, I can't find that quote by Salgado anywhere. Could you please share a link? Thanks a lot!

[@sjurgabriel]

My best inspiration is to go out with the camera with absolutely no plans what so ever. That is; except the intention of not even turning the camera on unless my gut feeling demands it. Being totally free of expectation and ambition often let me find a state of mental "flow" that opens my eyes to scenes or motives I would otherwise miss. Thank you for being inspiratonal too!

[@IonutAlexandruApolozan]

Totally resonate with you. I typically to go the botanical garden and just shoot as I go, completely unscripted or planned.

[@marcp.1752]

This channel is soo refreshing, not about gear talks, like ~95% of all other YT Photography channels. Much appreciated, Alex.

[@CrisConstantin]

I did a video recently that made me think twice, actually about the purpose of clicking the camera. This creative rot, this lack of inspiration is definitely induced and sometimes self proclaimed. We are not machines running out of algorithms to solve the equations in place, we are humans and by just saying that you are out of ideas literally blocks your synapses and throws you in the pit of decay. I say, always shoot, no matter what grab the camera and forget about the means, just click away and than sit down and dissect your snapshots. If you consider yourself an advanced creature, than imagination and creativity should never flow dry. We are better than we think, or than others tells us so. We can easily fill the gaps because are gaps that we can understand. So, be a snapshooter for a while just to prove yourself that you are better than that. If all this makes any sense… Great video, Alex. 👍

[@erichstocker8358]

It is very interesting. Leonard Bernstein in one of his educational broadcasts was demonstrating how Beethoven's 3rd Symphony was so revolutionary. One of the things he demonstrated was taking the exact notes of a passage and play them as they would have been in early classical period style. He then demonstrated how Beethoven had transformed them with his genius into something new and original. That was a very eye opening performance. Taking ideas (motifs/notes) and making them unique and new and exciting. Very similar to what you described for photography.

[@scotskinner4350]

I go to my local art museum regularly. I don't think I know enough about art to call those visits inspirational.

[@victorcastle5679]

The changing of the seasonal weather inspires me to get my camera out and capture the images that I see.

[@HM.archive]

Great video upload and full watching! Thanks for sharing and have a great day.

[@lakijani76]

It was nice to hear you mention the "Everything is a Remix" theory. I actually have a tattoo on my forearm of the symbols of the three basic elements of creativity (copy, transform and combine) to not forget to play with the ideas I'm working with. Every time I feel stuck, I just look at it, and it helps me move forward.

[@stevemadrid6522]

I'm not a "student" of photography. I don't know all the great photographers or from which movement they came. One day I might pick up some photo books and delve into the history, but for now I get much of my inspiration from music, in particular, lyrics. One of the songs that reminds me why I love to take photos is Tracy Chapman's "At This Point in My Life." There's a line in the song that says, "At this point in my life, though I've mostly walked in the shadows, I'm still searching for a light." It reminds me there is still beauty to be found and all I have to do is spend a little time looking for it.

I also find inspiration in music. Unlike you I don't find it in the lyrics instead I find it by getting a special feeling for a song, and that sparks ideas in my head. But either way, music is great as inspiration.

[@nobodyhere4667]

I think "perspective" is my greatest inspiration. I am someone who has a conversation in my head 10 times before actually having the conversation and I probably review the events another 10 times after. I try to spin things around in my head to see them from multiple perspectives, its just something I have always done since I was a child. I think a camera can help me hold a perspective for a long time, this helps me to study those different perspectives and I can take more information in.

[@johnblunt1834]

What inspires me? The simple act of sitting and talking with a friend or stranger. As soon as someone relaxes in your company you can look at them and study different ideas without being invasive, elegance, style, and seductive poses seem to flash across their face as they express themselves. I've seen such beautiful portraits that way.

[@thestrangedot]

Great video! 👌 As many already told im inspired by the art world - paintings and sculptures or even installations or performance art. But mostly im inspired by faces. Emotional expressions. My proffesion is a nurse and I have experienced the full spectrum from despair to happiness. I think that's my biggest inspiration.

[@shyamalganguly3598]

It's a deep discussion about what makes you gravitate all the time without being bored and this applies to doing something for just passing time in you fancy or doing it out of love grown inside your mind!! And like creating anything, photography has been a pass time tried by almost all individuals who didn't dabble in photography and it's eventually long been forgotten as nothing to be worried about not to parsue it anymore like many other things in life we all try our hands at!! And if we indulge ourselves to loving avidly toward something we always keep ourselves to in search of what's it that doesn't satisfying our attempt to achieve the intangible, make ourselves in persuit of something and every time you try though the process it must give out something new to the wondering minds who are not only beholders but have richness in their taste for pointing what is art and what is not!! Now there has to be a learning process and it's a rather rough and undulating path for keep going for a longer period of time without being wait upon it; unless you spend much of your time in treading this uninteresting, rather boring, and stressful undergoing as lovingly as you started in the first place you are bound to be one who abandoned in the prime of trying a hand to it!! Now you're capable of doing whatever you striving to do by the help of techniques you have learnt and the ropes will begin to give you results that may satisfy others instead of your inner soul to be fully satiated with the latest outcome of your results!! And this fastidious attitude keeps you going and going and in this runtime your every shot may call attention to connoisseurs but you!!

[@BrianChristopherPhotography]

My favorite genre is documentary photography and my inspiration comes from news articles highlighting daily human hardship. Most notably solitude, loneliness, and neglect among the elderly and children. It is a very sensitive subject to photograph that it is very emotive and impactful when captured by great documentary photographers yet I have been unsuccessful at grasping it myself.

[@arcanics1971]

I think that because in the age of the internet there has been a lot of plagiarism- and outrage as a result- than many people have forgotten the difference between plagiarism and homage. I come from painting really, so that still is a source of much of my inspiration. And movies too. But finding mundane things that can evoke emotion is the thing that inspires me most right now.

[@DeVriesBassBaritone]

Really enjoy your channel. It is very inspirational . Could you do a special on Ando Fuchs.

[@oliscurra]

🙂 Your many breakdowns of the various photographers (especially Anton Corbijn & Sally Mann & Gordon Parks) have given me so much inspiration. I truly appreciate your channel and all your efforts Alex.

[@cliveeariss880]

Terrific video, thank you Alex, always interesting and most of all very helpful.

[@geoffmphotography9444]

I like the waterhole analogy; the shrinking pool of inspiration today. Expanding horizons is a great idea. Another good video.

[@davidmcculloch8490]

I rarely have difficulty in finding subjects in landscape photography. A visit to a beach or a walk in the woodland does it for me. The images always work out better with patience: waiting for the right light or taking test shots on the initial visit. Taking care to pursue quality over quantity. Studying and exploring the subject with an open mind pays dividends.

[@tonycampton4231]

I made a living as a Landscaper for nigh on 25 years taking direct copies of photos of sections of Australian landscapes I took on camping trips and shrinking them down to fit the job I had at hand and was allowed to do, from waterfalls to rock pools and grassy rock strewn sheep country. Tony Australia

[@MadredeAgua9]

Perfect example of inspiration: Diane Arbus's work that she took into a different direction from her teacher and mentor Lisette Model. Great videos, sir. Thanks so much for sharing.

[@robertdavis1255]

Great video & advice... thanks for sharing as I struggle with what I want to photograph next.... As a hobbyist I just love having my camera with me whenever I go out & if I see something I like to shoot then that is what I take home.... cheers 😀

[@BrettOssman]

I think I'll start making notes of why a photo made me go WOW. I suspect various elements will come form this, and like you said, blend them.

[@m.gideonhoyle409]

I"m a lifelong fan of painting, sculpture and movies. I only started taking photos in my 40s, so I feel that I already had a good foundation in the world of visual art.

[@Campfirecow]

I love your Remix analogy and always get inspired after your videos. Bravo sir!

[@terrywbreedlove]

From a young man Art such as the Villa of Livia have always been my inspiration. The way the Artist used depth of field light and shadow and perspective on that Roman master piece. Dating from Caesar Augustus and it may have been his wives dowery by the way To this day I just find it stunning. I visit Art galleries every chance i get. The work can be so inspirational.

[@jackwakeman7173]

Great episode as always. I know where you're coming from about that remix thing, but I think it's better to not think about it. If our mind absorbs and amalgamates various experiences and influences, then so be it. Just go about doing your thing without any intention to be like this great photographer or do a shot that looks like that cool image you saw in a photography book. You're right, we shouldn't worry too much if our shot looks like something that Ansel Adams or Henri Cartier-Bresson did millennia ago. But my concern about this remix theory is that it might be used by others to justify copying or cover up their vacuity. As you said, we get inspiration from all sorts of things. And the right way is to educate ourselves, feed our minds with knowledge and insights from all fields -- literature, politics, philosophy, science, current events, music, etc. -- from life itself. That's how we build our creativity. More power!

[@washingtonradio]

I find my creativity is inspired by other photographers sharing their enthusiasm on videos for the art of photography. My favorite ones share what they were thinking when they took the photo and the techniques they used to get what they wanted. The techniques I file away as something I might try. For some reason, I am seeing many videos discussing the idea 'Everything is a Remix' where it is highly unlikely in mature medium that someone has not done what you are doing before you. What all said was we need to put our unique perspective on the photo and we each have a unique perspective.

[@ashstubbings2603]

Hi Alex. I think you're absolutely right. I think we are all influenced my something or someone, and I don't think there is such a thing as a completely original idea that has not been done before. We all produce variations on a theme, whether that be in our photography or any other art form, and, like you, I don't think this is a bad thing. There's so much that can be learned from the so-called 'masters' of any art form. However out-and-out copying is wrong, and also pointless, unless, as you say it is a technical exercise. I personally love looking at other peoples photography. Apart from anything else, it can be very useful when your own 'creative juices', as you put it, dry up, as they will inevitably do at times. There are two things (among others) that I particularly like to photograph. The first of these is trees! I love trees. And the second is pathways.

[@arunasrimkus1922]

Alex, I am not sure if you marked my comment regarding the "500 Photographers" by Peter Wisse project as a spam, but you talking in the "Other photographers" section of the video sparked my memory of that particular website, which gathered so many different genres and ideas. I don't remember how I initially found it, I think someone recommended it on the internet and I spent at least three hours going through all of the blog entries to find images that truly intrigue me. If one doesn't have time to go to a gallery, it truly is a wonderful resource to look for inspiration from other photographers and to get yourself acquainted to new horizons.

[@pictureeyecandy]

Mind mapping is a good way of overcoming A creative block. Paintings were definitely a go-to for inspiration.

[@jamjo2357]

My favorite film is The Conformist directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. His DP is Vittorio Storaro who has a sensual sense of lighting and stunning compositions. There are specific images in a scene that stand as a singular entity.

[@jerryriner1891]

The non-photographic arts are certainly an inspiration. Happy thoughts are also very helpful. That sounds kind of dumb, but I want a sense of joy to come through in my work. If I'm down in the dumps then how can I sprinkle smiles into the ether? This one is photo related - I like to find a button or option in my camera or editing software that I never use and play with it just to see what happens. Boy was I amazed the first time I took pictures using bare candle light. I also sometimes divert myself by doing little craft projects. It helps me to creative in a different way and I can use my little creations as photo props or subjects.

[@michaeloliver1688]

I take ideas from many sources - often paintings which that is where my training lay. I find if I can get the abrstract impact satisfying for me then I can become concerned with the words orthe narrative of the image. So often I am thinking that a bit like a Jackson Pollock, or Barnetr Newman or Rothko. A couple of years ago was in Cambridge off the beaten tourist track a bit and the punt poles reminded me of Hiroshige. So I am always on the look out for anything that may enrich my language.

[@rakeshusharamkulkarni]

Go Inside Yourself, In your heart, the true inspiration, your true voice, style, purpose everything lies there...tap in and a great reservoir of true Art lies in each one of us...Great Video and Great Explanation...

[@Liisa3139]

I have been dry of inspiration for months now, but that's ok, it's good to take a break sometimes. Now I'm thinking about looking through my own photos, organizing them, making an album perhaps and deleting crap shots. I actually don't look at my pictures often. For me it is more about the mental work when concentrating on the shoots, the intensity of looking at things, than the actual pics.

[@ChrisHunt4497]

Great food for thought. Thank you Alex. I am inspired by museums. There are millions of ideas inside them.

[@carolinezaramati9193]

I think that in those times when we seemingly lack inspiration, our subconscious mind does not rest. It's like the gestation period. We sometimes need this apparent pause in creativity to make room for something new to come . As you've mentioned, I too find inspiration in other photographers work as well ae movies.

[@oshcan]

I love the muddy sludge analogy

[@thatdeafguyuk]

And thank you soooooooo much for being able to move the artist's names, it helps immensely.

[@ThePhotographicEye]

No problem! Thanks for pointing it out to me :D

[@theupsidedowncamera5940]

If I am working on a conceptual image, I often will write out a list of at least 100 ways of visualizing that concept. Most of the ideas will be terrible but a few will point in interesting directions. And when I’m on the shoot itself, that preparation will help me refine the concept as I am shooting. If I am shooting in a documentary style, I find I get more inspiration by going to a location I am unfamiliar with and reminding myself to look closely at the things I would generally ignore. I look at other artist’s work when I am not actively formulating images because I don’t want to copy. If I do “steal” from another artist, it is only some very specific thing such as Sudek’s use of frosted glass or Maplethorpe’s way of lighting flowers, adapted to lighting a person.

[@matthewdejager9887]

Youre great, thank you once more

[@petecircenis8930]

I was recently in Davenport Iowa and had the chance there to go to the Figge Art Museum there. I looked at the art and sculptures there for what I liked about them, what I didn't like, and where my eye went when looking at the works. The Art Institute here in Chicago is such an inspiring place as well. In fact, when totally at a loss for inspiration, I find it useful to go downtown and simply walk around. It's impossible not to look at things and think about how to get it into a photo.

[@joeconnett8112]

I very much enjoy all of your content, Thank you.

[@paulspink2701]

Thank you for your continuing inspiration. I’m currently trying to capture scenes in the highly saturated style of some of my favourite 1960s TV shows, like The Saint, The Prisoner and Department S.

[@davidskinner274]

Watching a movie is inspiring to adapt cinematography, their use of rule of thirds, practically all the time in my opinion, back lighting, dampened colours for mod are just some examples. Cheers

[@MichaelZieschang]

The inlet of the latest Rammstein album has been shot in Irvin Penn's style and found out later what the inspiration was. And I've watched the discussion about Tyler Shields as well but loved his passion and the way he inspired people like Mike Gray whose KZbin channel is quite cool as well...

[@davehandelman2832]

Alex, you are the man!!

[@TheBiggervern]

Thanks Alex for more thought provocation. Two books which have inspired me in my creative pursuit are “Photograph Like a Thief” by Glyn Dewis which is itself inspired by “Steal Like an Artist” by Austin Kleon. Both books explore the concepts you describe in your video.

[@Rob.1340]

Thank you. 👍📷😎

[@gregorysargeant6305]

My inspiration is usually musical one of which is listening to Pavarotti's Nessun Dorma at sunrise.

[@kevinroberts1888]

Good video. I'm always on the lookout for inspiration. Just this last week I found a book in a thrift store called Timeless Images which a is a selection of photos from 65 years of Arizona Highways and since I mostly shoot in Arizona I thought it might be inspiring. Turned out to be a wonderful find, I've really been enjoying the photos in it. Seeing that it's quite cheap on eBay, I highly recommend it. Using movies for ideas is an excellent one too, I'll have to give that a try.

[@altonbarkley]

Great video.

[@teiva]

this really is a beautiful channel

[@JO-gp7yl]

A friend of mine did an interesting project while in lockdown last year recreating editorial portraits by other photographers using only the materials he had in his house at the time for styling. In the end he published a zine with the results, after having gone through the laborious process of obtaining permissions from the photographers he had "copied". (The zine features the original with accreditation and his interpretation side by side). It's pretty brilliant work.

[@sputumtube]

When I did the first part of my Photography A-Level, one of the most helpful things was called an 'ideas blast'. Difficult to describe in words (for me anyway), it was an explosion-view of ideas (on paper) after a subject had been chosen. For example Cars. Old cars, colourful cars, relatives cars, vintage cars, moving cars, derilict cars, crashed cars, small details of cars, cars versus nature, cars in cities, parked cars, cars at night and so on. The principle can be applied to any subject, people, wildlife, indoor, viewpoint and so on. Make notes of your ideas before you forget...

[@robertpopper9001]

Rodin was inspired by Michelangelo.....it is unavoidable that we have a remix and I find it a good thing

[@paulcrutchley4348]

Thank you, I really enjoyed the video.

[@chipdorman5385]

Alex, regarding the everything is a remix idea, Jamie Windsor did a video essay on this thought that is titled "Why your idea's not original."

[@wayneclayton5426]

I have a little red book just for writing down photographers names. But I know when some one mentions them in conversation, I won't recognise 90% of the names unless they describe the image too.

[@gemini2261]

Great tips 👌🏾

[@yagankiely]

I have a background is classical music composition and I've had the exact thoughts as you on originality, especially with regards to exploring and building on older concepts and it is refreshing to hear a similar point of view! The most common retort I get is that I need to do something uniquely and wholly different to stand out and make be able to make money from the works but money isn't a factor in 'art' (it may be a factor in being an 'artist' but that's a different matter). A hypothetical: were I to have composed Beethoven's 5th symphony (and he never did) the work would be lambasted by much of my field for being unoriginal and just copying Beethoven. But why would that stop *the work itself* from being a masterpiece? I don't think it should and I think works should be mostly judged by themselves and not by who composed them and when. That said, I don't think I would personally enjoy exploring exclusively the style of Beethoven but I do personally think there are many older concepts in music that were inadequately explored and I do want to explore and *build* on those styles. Thanks again for being one of the few people who I've ever seen have comparable ideas on this! haha

[@hmuz8388]

Hey Alex, where can we see your work?

[@ernestmartinez4106]

Great video

[@rayanmattar8821]

Thank you

[@chrispatmore8944]

As someone (Picasso I believe) said, “Bad artists copy, good artists steal”.

[@buyaport]

The #1 tip is still: Find something interesting to take pictures of. // If you have no time to travel, find places in your area you never visited before...

[@denislaroche3957]

hope you like the coffee, i didn't put sugar in it... cheers

[@Catxslam]

Sometimes if I'm stuck, i let my mind wander to other things and get burried in normal life stuff. And then ideas start popping. It's not so much about squeezing the juice out of your brain. But leaving room for it to breath.

[@darrenleigh201]

"leaving room for it to breath" - how inspirational. Love it!

[@Catxslam]

@@darrenleigh201 thanks 😊

[@JohnDrummondPhoto]

I found "Everything Is A Remix" on KZbin. Its creator is remixing the original series and he released Part 1 last month. The original series is still on KZbin also. kzbin.info/www/bejne/g4uVeKisiryUhpo Interesting stuff; he's talking about music but it applies to other disciplines. Like Picasso's apocryphal quote "Good [or, 'lesser'] artists copy. Great artists steal." Meaning, to take influences from others but then recombine them to make something new.

[@Hirsutechin]

There was, until about six years ago, a type of photography that simply hadn't been done before: fine art black & white underwater photography. Unfortunately that's been done now too... XD

[@kurtkuechenberg1684]

Gotta' be ready...I always have my camera in my bag. Always be ready because you never know when it will hit.

[@karendavtian6651]

Sometimes you have to look back!

[@Tonysmullen]

Jamie Windsor had a video about why your photo is not original Also what does “ beta “ mean

[@MWB_logic_reason_respect]

Much of the photography that we are exposed to is for advertising, designed to 'pop'. Vibrance is turned up to the max, smoothed skin, pure white eyes etc. I wonder how this influences both our photography edits as I see so much that is edited to the extreme but presented as normal and real. People view a photo online for all of 2 seconds before casting judgement, hence the over-processing style we see today online. Its an odd of proselytisation via photography. (I like using sci-fi films to influence me. )

[@bradleyrieger1517]

I don't know if anyone came before but it's startling how many photographers copy Michael Kenna.

[@Riverrockphotos]

If you don't study the past photography you are bound to repeate it.

[@SakariKaripuro]

Moving image: look for the lights. the movie and tv guys are the masters of light. far, far ahead of photographers.

[@diogopereira9806]

I say sure look at other photographers work... learn new techniques and ways to shoot... But best, THE BEST inspiration comes from outside of photography. books, music, movies. Kinda like bauhaus school of thought, "want to be an architect? Go learn how to paint and learn image composition to aply that to architecture". And i do hate the "everything has been done before" thats not true... our minds "library of images" is limited sure, but hell, if this is the FIRST TIME in human history that we have all this technology (cellphones, computers and what not) Then that that is proof that new ideas can surface all the time... so why the hell not in art? can the average joe have these ideas? Dont know... but it is well damn possible!

[@RS-Amsterdam]

Why are you deleting my comments when I tell where I get my inspiration ??

[@IAmR1ch]

I have had this happen to me before on other channels. If you put a http link in your comment, it may violate copyright or go to a bad location or somewhere that youtube does not want people to go, violates terms of service, like nudity or anything they don't like, your comment may be deleted automatically. Best not to put links.

[@ThePhotographicEye]

Hi. Because of spam bots I've got URL's blocked. So any comment that has a URL in it I have to manually approve before they are are seen. There is also some YT level comment moderating that I'm not in control of which occasionally deletes comments

[@RS-Amsterdam]

@@ThePhotographicEye Okay, thanks for the feedback, I will take that in consideration !!

[@RS-Amsterdam]

@@IAmR1ch Thanks for the heads up

[@00sinders]

I agree that Tyler Shields can photograph whatever he wants, but when he copies ideas without bringing anything new to them (and I don't think he did, beyond a few minute visual changes) then he should expect to get called out for it, especially given his prominence. It's a shame, I was aware of him in the '00's before he became well known, and he was a much more interesting photographer back then. Richard Prince might have been an interesting inclusion following on (gawd..!) Great vid, as always, though Alex.

[@ThePurpleHarpoon]

At around 8:17 you say ' everything you can think of has been done before'. That's a very odd thing to say. Let me back that up with an original idea for a photograph. A bald man with half a dozen bald Barbie dolls in each hand, and he has the hair from all those Barbie dolls stuck to his head with Sellotape. If you can show me who has done this photo before, I will eat my shoes.

[@marksieving7925]

I don't have access to every photo ever made (neither does anyone else) but I'd be surprised if no one has done a photo like that. Fetishes about dolls and hair are not particularly uncommon.

[@ThePurpleHarpoon]

I've never seen it done with 12 Barbie dolls.

[@thomasclark631]

Copying .......... reminds me of an observation regarding plagiarizing. Impressing the less knowledgeable while revealing oneself to those who are informed.

[@PhilKoenigBrooklyn]

The worst is the never ending memes. Am I the only one tired of seeing a 1000 birds rising as if a halo around the lone dingey captain? Anyone else tired of triangular shadows pointing to a person in front of a brightly colored background. Or how about the shot from above of a human walking through the stripes of a crosswalk? On the 'net, everything is derivative, repetitive, and ultimately stupid laziness.

[@IAmR1ch]

I get very frustrated. I use to really like photography but I wanted to get better at it. I watched youtube videos, bought gear, payed for different teaching, payed for workshops. I have been told many things. You must shoot for yourself, not for friends, family, social media, only for yourself. You must obey the rules of photography. You must know the rules of photography so you can break the rules. There are no rules only suggestions. Then I am told, You must learn all these terms and camera settings. You must put a lot more time and effort into it.You must know the phases of the moon for astrophotography. You must scout your locations first, then come back to those you like and shoot those You must arrive at your shooting location before sunrise or sunset for landscape or just about any good lighting condition. You must have this type of gear, strobes, light modifiers for portraiture. You must go to school/lectures/online learning/masterclasses ect.. So after doing all these things when I reluctantly submitted an image for critique I am told I broke the rules or did not follow the rules. I made mistakes (how many youtube videos say the X number of mistakes new photographers make). You should have shot it this way, you should have shot it that way. But in the end "they" all say. You need to purchase my books, buy my presets, take my masterclass or online video presentations, the right gear. Basically make my images look like theirs, or meet their expectations. So after a substantial investment in time and money, my photography is not any better. "Don't blame the gear, a master photographer can take better pictures than you can with a cell phone. Don't blame the teacher, their results speak for themselves. Are my expectations too high? I am also told, do not compare your photography to others or I will be disappointed and frustrated. After spending time trying to get better, my expectation would be that I got better. So there is only one person to blame and that is me. So then I think, well I put a lot of time, effort and money into this so the only possibility is I do not have an eye for photography. I believe most things can be learned, and with time even if you have no talent for it, you can improve even though your results may be sub par compared to others. At what point do you move on and give up? I did watch your video about 3 exercises, on being looking and shooting normal everyday things around you in different ways, perspectives angles. Is the exercise only to do that or can you move things around and "stage" things, move the cup into the windows light. I have been told you have to look for the light. But I have not tried to look at common object and shoot them in different angles. Or trying to be situationally aware of your surroundings and envision what the image would look like if you shot it in a particular way. Anyway thanks for your videos. I will try your method and suggestions.

[@SongsOfTheMerryEarth]

Your titles are more and more clicbait-y ... That's sad, considering a huge part of your initial appeal was your modesty regarding the craft of photography.