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I really believe that all photographers can use some external inspiration from time to time. This site covers a lot of subjects and has nice examples of each:

https://www.thephotoargus.com/

Joe

I appreciate the sharing of this. It made me stop and think about the inspiration process that takes place within myself. It made me think of a wonderful book by Ryan Holiday, “The Obstacle Is The Way”. It is not a book about photography, or art, or creativity, yet it has many pearls of wisdom that apply to creators and life in general.

I have at times felt “external” inspiration. But I always try to fight it off before it influences my thoughts much. I feel it too artificial personally in the way I would prefer to approach creative work.

I enjoy looking at works of art as much as the next person. But the moment I realize looking at, reading about, or thinking about what I would like to do I immediately realize I should be doing. Not looking, reading, or thinking about it. The inspiration I experience is never pre-planned or visualized. Not to be confused with visualization (as Ansel so wonderfully describes) of a result once the inspiration has taken hold.
 
If I were to advise anyone on finding inspiration I would simply say, go do the work. Makes mistakes, hope to make mistakes, and learn from them. Within a healthy mindset the more you are willing to fail the more inspired you should become.

This article is about what I feel regarding external inspiration. It’s about being open to other genres and styles. It’s about thinking out of the box we’re accustomed to. I truly believe that experimentation awakes enthusiasm and inspiration in a creative that carries over to your specialty. Genres can even be combined e.g. wildlife/landscape/infrared. I know that when I shoot infrared or landscapes or street photography or cityscapes, etc., I am forced to think of composition and subject much more conscientiously that when shooting what I love to shoot; wildlife. It takes the monotony out of shooting. I also like to shoot random light images where no true composition is involved, but it’s still art. It is refreshing and mentally stimulating. Here’s the link to the article:

https://fstoppers.com/originals/experim ... ive-332701

And one more:

Another View of the World Outside the Box

Joe