Do you ever lose that creative spark? If so, you are in the majority. It doesn’t matter how long (or short) a time you have been into photography, sometimes the creative urge disappears.

And it can be very frustrating!

We are at our most creative when there is a specific goal. This goal might be using a new piece of equipment or finding a potentially great image in the making. Accepting the delivery of a piece of photographic treasure – for example, a new lens or camera – can set the pulse racing and the urge to snap away gets greater. It’s understandable.

Yet at other times, even with that same lens in the bag, there is no spirit in you, no incentive, no motivation.

You are flat and lifeless.

Nobody knows why this happens. But we do know that it happens to a great deal of people including famous people in important situations. We have all heard of writer’s block. This is “photographer’s block”.

There is no known cure apart from leaving things to their natural devices. It will get better in time and, quite frankly, you might as well go off and do something else for a while.

Sharing your plight with others might help as might reading a camera magazine or looking at some online images taken by others.

The ultimate cure might be to go and buy a new lens or digital camera. But that works out might expensive in time!

Eric Hartwell runs the photography resource site http://www.theshutter.co.uk and the associated discussion forums as well as the regular weblog at http://thephotographysite.blogspot.com.

• Keep Your Digital Images Safe


• Best Digital Photography Book: Decide For Yourself


• Take a Candid: Await the Response


• How to Photograph Children


• Simple Steps For Picking Your First Digital Camera


• Digital Photography Histogram: Correcting The Unbearable Lightness Of Your Image


• Digital Photography Lighting: Just Get In The Right (Preset) Mode!


• Identifying A Good Digital Photography Camera Review


• Male Nudity and the Realities of War


• Use Light