I�??ve been a semi-professional photographer for some time now and without blowing my own trumpet too much, I think I could be described as a decent photographer who occasionally achieves exceptional results. Without being too self deprecating, I believe the occasionally exceptional results have come about more through luck than judgement. This is something I would like to change.
Generally speaking I would have to say that the development of my photographic skills has been pretty steady. I have seen improvement from one shoot to the next and every now and again I have had a Eureka moment where my skills seem to take a massive leap upwards. Recently however this development seems to have stopped. My photography skills seem to have reached a plateau. I�??ve reached a certain level of attainment that I just can�??t seem to improve upon. This isn�??t to say I�??ve mastered the art, far from it. It�??s just that I�??ve reached a level that I don�??t think I can improve upon without some help.

I think this has come about because I�??m self taught. I�??ve learnt through experimentation, reading books and magazines, researching on the internet and seeking advice from other photographers. At no point have I had any structured tuition. It�??s true that many photographers have learnt this way and they�??re doing just fine but I think that somehow I�??ve just managed to miss out some of the essentials. I feel I�??m lacking a solid foundation in the basic principals of photography and it�??s this that has caused a stunting of my development.

I�??ve decided to do something about it. I�??ve signed up to do an AS level in photography at the local college. With a bit of luck I hope this will fill in the gaps and get me back on track again.

I�??m going to attempt to chronicle each of my lessons / lectures (I wonder what they call them nowadays?) here on The Decisive Moment. Hopefully they�??ll be good reading.

Have any of you experienced reaching a plateau? If so how did you get yourself going again?

I sat down at my PC last night to write the next article for The Decisive Moment. Nothing happened. I stared at the monitor for a while, looked through my notes, made coffee, picked up a book, browsed my image folders; nothing.

So today I am having to play catch-up and not only do I not feel inspired, but now I feel pressure to feel inspired. I find myself wondering what is inspiration and where does it come from? According to the Oxford English Dictionary, inspiration is “a supposed creative force or influence on poets, artists, musicians, etc., stimulating the production of works of art”. Okay, well it’s definitely inspiration I lack today (although calling these articles “works of art” might be pushing it a bit!).

The same thing happens with my photography, too. I know what it feels like to find yourself inspired and it is wonderful when inspiration occurs while you have the time and opportunity to take advantage. Sometimes you just look at something, pick your camera up and you are off. What I want to know is how to induce inspiration when I’m not feeling it. Is there a technique I can learn?

I’d really like to know what other people do. Where do they look for inspiration? Does it just come to them?

Perhaps we can get some feedback and suggestions and come back to this topic another day? Inspiration permitting, obviously.

For the last few weeks I have been promising to take my eldest son (George, aged five) to Virginia Water on the edge of Windsor Great Park to photograph the waterfall. We were planning to arrive there in time for the sunrise so, as you might expect, the evening before was spent making sure batteries for both our cameras were fully charged and that all kit was laid out ready to go.

The getting up and getting there went off without a hitch. However, as we prepared to take the initial test shots, George reported battery failure. “No problem, I brought plenty of spares” I reassured him. I took the freshly charged batteries from my bag and replaced the duds in his camera. He switched on and… nothing. Three more sets of freshly charged cells later and… still nothing. (I’ll be ranting about this another time.)

Okay, so the sun is creeping up over the trees and we don’t have time to go to buy some more, so we agree to share my camera. One memory card each, taking it in turns to compose the shot, George operating the shutter release.

The “silver lining”? George gets to use Daddy’s “big camera” and the experience was a little more shared than it might have been.

We move down to the edge of the stream and perch carefully on a large flat boulder to get some low shots. We are a bit too close to get everything in, so we need a lens change. This is the point where it turns out the batteries in my brain are also going flat! I flip the camera onto its back and undo the lens. Then, as I reach down to pick up the replacement lens, I catch the tripod and catapult the lens out of the mount. I watch it falling (in slow motion, of course) towards the boulder we are stood on, anticipating the smash as lens and rock make contact. But it doesn’t break. No, it bounces and continues its slow-mo trajectory towards the stream!

As I jump into the stream (anyone who knows me will realize this is a shameful exaggeration!) I expect to struggle to locate the lens, assuming it would have sunk immediately. Instead, it was bobbing on the surface, making its way towards the faster flowing section. I was quite surprised that it floated, although this was short lived. A rapid series of bubbles escaped from the lens and it sank like a stone.

I have dried the lens out, but I have no doubt it is ruined. There are water stains on the internal glass surfaces, there are bits of mud visible between lens groups and I can’t begin to describe the sound when I turn the focussing ring!

The “silver lining”? It was a cheap lens (about £75) purchased as a fill-in while I save up the £900 for the one I really want. Throwing away £75 still hurts, but imagine doing that with a £900 lens you spent a year saving up for! Also, we did have a great time and we will always be able to look back and laugh about that time Dad threw his lens in the river and dived in after it (I’m sure I’ll be embellishing it even more over time!).

If you try hard enough, you can always find a positive among the negatives.