The Portland Metro Photographic News

A PMPN guest commentary by William Neill

Editor's Note: PMPN recently published a review of William Neill's e-book, Meditations In Monochrome.  While preparing for this review, I mentioned to Bill that I was writing an article concerning "Photographer's Block".  He said he had some thoughts that he would like to share with PMPN readers.  The article below is the result and forms Part 2 of our discussion on ways of jump starting the creative process when a photographer experiences a shooting slump.

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Photographer William Neill

While I was trying to figure out what to write for this guest commentary, I wondered how often this happens to photographers. We don't often hear about "photographer's block" like we hear about "writer's block".  Still, we all have drawn a blank at times when standing in front of a scene.  How do I compose all this information into a cohesive photograph?  What lens?  What angle?  Is this light special? 

However, landscape photography, unlike writing, is mostly a reactive process.  Thankfully, as long as the lens cap is off, we don't see an empty page in our viewfinders. Words don't appear on the page by themselves, but with photography, content is always there from which to create a composition.  It is a "simple" matter of editing what is in front of us rather than creating ideas with words, or a visual idea from scratch like painting.  If we are unsure what or how to photograph, we can zoom in closer or try another angle, or walk on.

My father, a gifted writer and journalist, taught me about writing.  When I was writing for homework in school, he said to just start putting down what came to mind.  He said to worry about editing later, and that your first instincts are usually the best.  In a broader sense, he was saying: trust your intuition.  I think I carried that lesson into my photography from the beginning of my career.  Trusting intuition means listening to your own heart as well as your intellect.

So, dive in.  When the flow isn't going, try something, anything.  Make the effort to set up your camera, even if uninspired.  By looking through the viewfinder or looking at the LCD on a digital camera, you can often move towards a good composition by seeing what does not work, trying another option, and trying again.  Working an image is an important part of creative photography, especially when stuck.  And finally, after working through all the options that come to mind and nothing is working, we learn quality control by not photographing when there is no inspiration!

In Summary:

• Trust your instinct.  Don't second guess yourself. 
•  Try the first composition that comes to mind, just like putting something down on paper, and worry about editing it later. No such thing as a blank page in photography, so click away.  With digital capture, review your efforts to get ideas and experiment further. 
• Be playful.  Relish in all the possibilities!

-- William Neill, August 31, 2009

Visit William Neil's website.