We’ve all been there; so many great photographers having such an inspirational time together that there seems to be no life after coming back home.
Or maybe you haven’t even attended a workshop or a photo tour but you’re just feeling a horrendous lack of creativity. These tips from Rusty Parkhurst will come in handy either way!
Although this article may focus primarily on photography workshops, the same principles can be applied after a solo photo trip, a trip with a group of friends, or even a family vacation where you take lots of pictures. Returning home after an amazing trip can be kind of a letdown. However, it is possible to stay inspired and to keep creating.
MAKE SOME PRINTS
I won’t go through all the different options for print labs or the different ways to print your images. There are tons of options! Jim wrote a great article on the Improve Photography website comparing 11 different print labs.
I would hazard a guess that the majority of us would say that we don’t print nearly enough. I know that I don’t. I’m not sure why that is, because I certainly never regret it when I do. There’s just something special about making prints of your images. Sure, you can post them on Facebook or Instagram, or share them on 500px or your website, but there’s something so much more ‘real’ about a print that you can hold in your hands and hang on your wall. A print is something tangible that you created. A work of art. Your masterpiece. Maybe that’s going a bit too far, but it is a good feeling when you hang your images on the wall of your home, or maybe at a local coffee shop or library. For me, it in some way validates my work as well as the time and effort spent capturing that image.
Another great option is to create a photo book with images from you trip. It’s a great way to tell your story and something to leave sitting out for family and guests to peruse. I will generally make a photo book following a trip. They are fun to create, relatively inexpensive to print, and a wonderful keepsake to have around for years to come.
SHARE YOUR IMAGES
We’ve probably all heard at some point how important it is to share our work. Whether it is on social media, photo sharing sites such as 500px or Flickr, or on our own personal website, putting yourself “out there” can help in a few ways. For the full-time professional photographer, sharing is an obvious way to advertise and show existing and potential clients your work. The same is true for the weekend warrior who shoots an occasional family or senior portrait session or a wedding. However, sharing images can also be fun and an important part of growth for the hobbyist photographer.
I must admit that I’m guilty of not sharing my work enough, at least most of the time. As a hobbyist who has an occasional portrait session, there are many other responsibilities that take priority and there’s not always enough time. At least that’s one of the excuses I use. Quite often, I’m just not doing much shooting at all, or if I am, the images just aren’t compelling enough for me to share with the world.
Things change after being on a photography workshop. You will likely come home with thousands of images. All of those images won’t be portfolio quality, but there will be plenty of good images to provide you with material to share with others.
THE POWER OF POST-PROCESSING
You will take a lot of pictures when you go on a photography workshop. Usually, the workshop will be in some awesome place where you may have never been, so you likely will want to capture as much of that newness as possible. Each time I’ve been on a workshop, I have come home with thousands of images. I don’t typically spend a lot of time editing the images while on the workshop (since I’m out shooting as much as possible). That means there is tons of post-processing time that can be spent after I get home. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s always interesting to dig through all those images and find the hidden gems. You generally have a pretty good idea while shooting which images will be the best. However, when you get them on the computer, you may find some that are unexpectedly your favorite images from the trip.
PLAN YOUR NEXT TRIP
It may seem premature, but it’s never too early to start planning your next photography adventure. Heck, I’m usually thinking of my next trip even before I get back home. There are just so many amazing places that I want to visit and photograph. If only there were more time…and didn’t have to worry about that pesky day job.
Even if you don’t attend another workshop, there is always the option to meet up with a group of photography friends for a few days of shooting. Perhaps these are the friends you met at the workshop. Maybe they are people you have met at a local photography club. It’s tons of fun to bounce ideas off each other and to come up with a plan for shooting together.
Read the full article with even more tips over at Improve Photography.
Source: Improve Photography
