Getting inspired and learning skills

Learning skills and getting inspired.

Sometimes the hardest part about photography and any form of art is finding the inspiration, especially when balancing a full time job and home life, life can very easily get in the way of creativity. 

So I thought I’d share a few ways I re inspire myself and some great resources out there that I use to spark inspiration. 

Firstly just getting out there and taking photos of everything and anything can bring out inspiration (of course this can be a bit expensive with film). It’s a great exercise to stop treating film in such a precious way sometimes the most interesting shots are the the failures these can teach us a lot about what we wanted to capture and what to look for next time. The worst photos are the ones you didn’t take! 

Of course if you are on a budget or just don’t want to waste your film use your digital or your phone take some test shots get a feel of your environment, what your shooting then go back with the film camera there really is no rules. 

In terms of getting inspired seeing others work really does help you gather ideas on subjects, lighting, places, tones, etc. This can be from galleries and exhibitions, social media like Instagram or other blogs and websites. A great place to see other amateur photographers is Analogue Wonderlands wall of inspiration it’s a collection of reviews and posts of their customers sharing their photographs and it’s great to see the shots people have taken and is also great to see new films to try. 

On the subject of analogue wonderland they are part of a great project #sheheartsfilm for all the female and nonbinary film photographers out there i recommend searching this hashtag and following along the posts, they promote film photography being fun and accessible for everyone it’s a really great ethos. Their mission is to give a platform and spotlight to those who are often overlooked and underrepresented in the photography industry. 

There’s a great community out there for aspiring film photographers there’s often photography walks hosted by groups like the ones previously mentioned just looking and searching locally to you a lot of the film labs run these too. Film labs are now running a lot of workshops and classes. Locally to me is take it easy workshops which is great for learning new processes and becoming confident in your craft of photography and home developing. 

A great resource I also love currently is the film photography project as on their website they host a podcast talking about film, it’s great fun and informative. They mention meet ups mainly in the USA however some of the meet ups like beers and cameras have a UK (London) group allowing a community to come together to connect, network and learn. Plus they talk about cameras while drinking beer my favorite two past times. (Don’t worry if your not a beer drinker there is also a brew and cameras for coffee lovers) 

Another great way to learn more and gather inspiration is to read and there is some great film photography magazines.

A few I recommend for their really great and interesting articles would be:

Silvergrain Classics - https://silvergrainclassics.com/en/

Analog Forever - https://www.analogforevermagazine.com/

Lomography magazine - https://www.lomography.com/magazine

As an amateur film photographer these are just a few resources that help inspire me to keep creating and taking photos and hope they can inspire others too.