5 Ways to Lose your Photo-Mojo

It’s true. Losing your ‘photo-mojo’ really does happen.

But what is your photo-mojo? It’s where you run out of steam, juice, energy, desire and ideas. When you reach that moment where you find no reason to pick up the camera, yet you really want to, but you don’t know why. When your eyes say “Stop now!” and your brain wants “Keep going!”. Where there used to be a will and way, there’s now a couch where you stay.

Here are five things in your life that may have turned off the light on your eternal-photo-fire:

1. You’ve sold one framed print and now you are caught up in the money trap. When you shoot, all you think about is whether it will sell.
With this continual attitude, you will be continually comparing your next shot with the one you last sold.
This has the potential to freeze your shooting indefinitely.

2. You have stress.
Nothing kills the creative spirit more than a double-dose of anything that takes you away from your passion. Probably every pro’ photographer has been through this at least once. Once something else has taken over your time – ie: TV, PS3, Social Media sites – it’s incredibly difficult to return to the journey.

3. Nobody is returning your calls.
Oh, they may be answering your messages on Facebook and Twitter, but nobody is engaging in any real conversation.
This van be an ego killer, yet you’d hope most photo-artist would be grounded enough not to let this affect their art in any other way than as intended. Negative art has its place.

4. Opportunities to be spontaneous are thwarted by moments that have more importance: Family.
(Wait for it! There is a counter response to this article.)

5. You feel like giving up because nothing seems to be falling into place, or the world isn’t cutting you a break, or nobody is commenting on your artwork.
Whilst some journey take their course all the way to closure, giving up is the lazy man’s action when they find no other option.

So we end where we begin: Finding ways to find ways to regain our photo-mojo. Tomorrow is the follow up article that responds to each of these issues, outlining ways to overcome them all!