inspired by my wild things {week 1}

I recently read an article with tips on how to feel more confident in your photography, and one of them was to look back at your work from several months or years ago and compare it to what you're producing today. Obviously, you'll notice big improvements in your skill and feel way better about yourself, right?

Turns out that can backfire. I look back at old photos and feel like if anything I've stagnated, or even slipped backwards. I feel like I've been in this weird place with photography for a while and I've been trying to figure out what's behind that, and I think I hit on it as I was editing these photos tonight-- I'm frustrated, like I'm hitting the limits of my skill/ability/equipment and don't know how to break past them. After nearly 6 years, I think I'm finally outgrowing my current camera and find myself wishing for features and dedicated buttons that it lacks. I import the files into Lightroom, and feel annoyed because I have a vision of what I want a particular photo to look like but don't know how to create that effect. I see so much potential in many of the shots, but don't have the skill or time to bring it out.

And that right there is at the crux of all this-- I want to learn and practice and grow and perfect, but can't find the time to do so (battle hymn of the exhausted parent, right?). So what happens is I end up rarely picking up my dslr, opting to use my iphone most of the time which is great and fulfills the basic desires I have for photography-- to capture the moments of life and create a beautiful record of them-- albeit in a much simpler way. Which, again, is really great for its simplicity and convenience, but I don't like feeling so detached from the very different kinds of images I can create with my big camera + computer.

Soooo....solution? I've been trying to seek out things to inspire me to shoot more, to at least get back into a groove and try to work with what I've got. I've tried a few things, including joining that blog circle which kinda helps but posting once a month is infrequently enough that I tend to forget about it. So then I thought of maybe trying a weekly challenge of some sort... and then I remembered You Are My Wild, the photo blog I've been kind of obsessed with the past few months. I squee a little inside every tuesday when I see a new post show up in google reader feedly, then wait till I have a chance to sit down and properly drool over view the photos on my computer because they are just breathtaking.

And then I thought, maybe I'll just copy that idea. Try to take and share photos of my guys once a week, as a push to at least get my camera out and get a little practice. They are, after all, what inspired my down this path to begin with.... Now let's see if I can keep it up....