Wow, a new year is upon us, and my first blog entry is 21 days into January.  That’s gotta be some kind of record, right?

(The above image was taken about a week into 2012 – my five-year-old stepdaughter was eager to show me she could cross the monkey bars/rings all by herself.)

I had planned to write a “New Year’s Resolutions”-type blog at the beginning of the month, with ideas like: “Become more active in local photo clubs” and “Make better use of sites like 500px.”  <plug> (If you’re on 500px, you can find me at 500px.com/carnolddesigns.)  </plug>

I could come up with some legitimate excuses, including the flu-like-whatever-it-was that left me bedridden the weekend of the new year, or my upcoming wedding which my fiancee and I are diligently organizing (and by diligently, I mean we’re a little behind in some of our planning, but getting there).

There’s also my full-time job which, in this economy (how many times this year will we hear that phrase?) I know I’m lucky to have and don’t want to jinx.

But mostly, I just haven’t been inspired to create like I used to.

I still want to create, but lately I feel like my ideas fall flat, or that they just aren’t unique enough for my tastes.  I have motivation, but no inspiration, and for me, as a creative person, the drought is killing me.

And I think one of my problems is that I’ve been actively trying to discover (or rediscover) that inspiration.   But inspiration comes when you least expect it.  So, what have I been doing during this dryspell?  I sure don’t want to look back on this as ‘wasted time,’ so here are a few things I’ve been doing, and I hope you’ll share what you do when in the same situation.

1. Tutorials/Training/Reading. I’ve been trying to brush up on old skills, and learn some new ones, so that when the next great idea comes, I have the tool set to realize my vision.  Simply googling any type of software or skill will turn up a wide assortment of free tutorials, but I’m also a member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP), which is a great resource for training.  I also follow a number of pro photographers on Google+, Twitter and Facebook, and there are a few blogs/websites that I return regularly for inspiration and some vicarious thrills (Scottkelby.com, stuckincustoms.com, I’m looking at you!)

2. Learning from peers. I had the good fortune of being able to accompany Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers photojournalist Alex Boerner as he made a series of high school sports portraits for the top athletes in our area.  Environmental portraiture is not something I’ve done much of, but it was a great experience watching and helping him work.  The above image is just one of the series Alex created.  You can see more of the portraits, and more of Alex’s work, here.  You should check him out – he’s awesome.

3. Speaking of 500px… I have begun to make better use of this photo community, which I love.  The idea of  a ‘photo community’ is nothing new, but 500px seems to get the best images from awesome photographers.  Seriously, just take a few minutes to browse the Editor’s Choice collections, and you’ll find an assortment of fantastic images from photographers all around the world. Seeing them makes me want to be a better photographer and a better artist, as well as a better photo editor.

4. Try something different. Usually, when I go out looking for photos, I take my camera bag with multiple lenses, flash, remote triggers, tripods, etc.  But what if I went out with just the 55-200mm lens?  Or, what if I just tried making macro images?  I’ve been trying that, too.  The above image is a macro shot of one of my doodles.

5. Leave the camera at home altogether. I’ve often described myself as ‘the guy in the Hawaiian shirt with camera gear over his shoulders’ because no matter where I go, it used to be rare that I’d leave my cameras  home.  Hey, you never know when that moment, that light, that environment would be perfect, right?  Well, I think that over time, I spent all of my time out waiting for a moment like that to capture, which is probably not the best way to spend down time.  So I’ve started making a concerted effort to leave the gear home sometimes.  If one of those magical moments occurs, then I’m not stressing out about trying to capture it just right.  I’m just enjoying the moment.

6. Organize, organize, organize. Okay, so I’m still no grand poo-bah of this, but I’m trying to get better at it.  I’m reorganizing my existing photos (as well as my office, my garage, etc.), as well as backing them up.  Sounds like such an obvious thing we should all do everyday (or every week), but I have room for improvement here.

So, these are a few of the things I’m doing during my creative drought – what do you do?