p.6 #2 · Getting Unstuck - How do you re-motivate yourself?
I see I don't expect anything like "I'm HIS girlfriend" as a follow-up now
Well, I am a bit of a loner, when I photograph. I can be social, or I can take photos. It is like I have 100% for two tasks, and I can split it any way I want, but it never adds up to 200%. I do my best work when I am not talking to people for extended bouts. Travel might be different. I prefer to travel with others, as long as they are tolerant of potentially frequent stops and stays. At the moment, however, I have little opportunity to travel. That should change sometime next year.
p.6 #4 · Getting Unstuck - How do you re-motivate yourself?
You are on a roll Carsten. I have followed this thread as I from time to time return to the question "Why do you take photos?". I have a huge backlog where I actually need to sort about 800 images, and delete close to as many, taken during the last 12 months.
Seeing how you wrote up on on your trip to Russia and now also having processed your images make me a bit jealous. I wish I was as fast going from thinking about something to do it.
And; when getting stuck I leave the camera for some time spending it in front of the computer and graphic design and writing instead of capturing reality. I have decided not to push myself. I know I'll always return.
p.6 #5 · Getting Unstuck - How do you re-motivate yourself?
I am not always fast, but I am *really* motivated to get my passion for photography back. Having all these obligations and unfinished projects swimming around in my head is wreaking havoc with my clarity.
If you don't want to do 800 tonight, do 100. Then next time you only have to do 700... That approach works for me.
p.6 #6 · Getting Unstuck - How do you re-motivate yourself?
Not sure if this was mentioned, but a year ago I bought a printer. That was sort of a new world, photography wise, to see my own shots in A3. That kind of motivated me - seeing my own shots on the wall.
p.6 #7 · Getting Unstuck - How do you re-motivate yourself?
I would love to start printing again, but for the life of me, I have not been able to unclog my R2400. I am considering trashing it and getting the 3880, but the spectre of clogging with that device too is holding me back. I wish they would not clog, it pi$$es me off.
p.6 #8 · Getting Unstuck - How do you re-motivate yourself?
All I can say is that the Pixma 9000 Mark II has worked without any clogging or issues at all. Honestly I got totally turned off on Epsons due to the clogging issues. No way in hell I'm spending money on an expensive printer that doesn't work without silly tender and care. Just sayin'...
p.6 #9 · Getting Unstuck - How do you re-motivate yourself?
Hmm. I have avoided the Canons in the past, due to quality of construction and driver issues (and my old beef with Canon over a scratched sensor), but I have to admit I haven't looked at them in quite a while. Is there a good A2 or A2+ printer for around 1000 Euro?
p.6 #11 · Getting Unstuck - How do you re-motivate yourself?
Okay, that is no good then. My R2400 is A3+, and I would like to print larger than that. I guess I have to find another solution. Maybe the next 3000-series Epson will solve the clogging issue.
p.6 #12 · Getting Unstuck - How do you re-motivate yourself?
carstenw wrote:
Another thing which gets me stuck is to have a backlog of testing I want to do. I want to try various films and decide on 2 or 3 favourites to use. I want to try various papers to decide which I want to print on. I have to experiment with different ways to scan to get the best results. I have to test various lenses against each other to decide which to keep. Etc etc etc etc etc.
Un-backlog yourself. Just tell yourself it doesn't matter - until the day you go to sell one. And then, as/just-before you shoot the images for the sale, do the test. Typically indoors for me. Films tests (for me) already exist in great abundance on-line so no need to test anything there - just hit the search engine.
The only testing I currently loath is printer testing and that's only cuz inks are so over-priced, there's so little difference, and shelf-life of the printed images are one of the main concerns - dang robbers they are; those ink sellers!
carstenw wrote:
When you get stuck in a rut, how do you get the fire in your belly back?
Why, I just look at some of your photographs!
For others, how do you find passion if you never had it yet?
The 1st time I got passion I think was due to gazing at magazines. So I guess that means looking at images. It helps me a lot if the photos are in contextual spread - So like photojournalistic stuff. It helps me terribly if part of the drive is to also go somewhere, explain something, or observe something only seen through photography. Like and ant-war, bug macros, flower centers, and so fourth. Heck, even the weave of my jeans at 2x is inspiring to me.
conversely, what gets you stuck?
I think for me that's not an issue cuz I already know I suck. But my motivation decreases with repetition if that's saying anything. Like, I can only shoot so many flower macros before I need some oceanside sunsets or snowy slopes to break the monotony.
p.6 #13 · Getting Unstuck - How do you re-motivate yourself?
I want to build up a print collection with time, both my own and prints of others. I also want to make presents of prints, and hang a few around my apartment.
Film tests cannot be done by looking online. I want to see the negatives. After scanning they look different, although that is of course also important, since I don't plan to make optical prints for now.
p.6 #14 · Getting Unstuck - How do you re-motivate yourself?
Edited above.
But just to add, on-line film comparisons are plenty good enough for me. I can't learn enough (more) to just the effort of doing it over again myself - in almost all cases. And I can't learn anything at all by looking at negs - except whether or not the film is scratched.
p.6 #15 · Getting Unstuck - How do you re-motivate yourself?
Film tests cannot be done by looking online. I want to see the negatives. After scanning they look different, although that is of course also important, since I don't plan to make optical prints for now.
Could you have your local pro lab to do contact prints for you?
p.6 #16 · Getting Unstuck - How do you re-motivate yourself?
carstenw wrote:
I would love to start printing again, but for the life of me, I have not been able to unclog my R2400. I am considering trashing it and getting the 3880, but the spectre of clogging with that device too is holding me back. I wish they would not clog, it pi$$es me off.
3880 does not clog if you print once in a week or once a two weeks. Its a great printer with great B&W. The only weird thing is that it wastes ink if you switch between matte and glossy media too often.
In fact, I originally wanted to write that getting the 3880 several years ago was what got me unstuck at that time.
p.6 #20 · Getting Unstuck - How do you re-motivate yourself?
Carsten, I suppose you've tried all the tricks to unclog your R2400?
Methods include (but are not limited to):
- remove & shake each cartridge, perform nozzle check
- leave print heads on a tissue soaked with Lidl window cleaner overnight
(print a couple of nozzle checks thereafter and repeat a couple of times if/when necessary)
- get an unclog kit for Epson (involves replacing cartridge with an adapter/syringe contraption and forcing the clening liquid through the print head - this would be the if-all-else-fails-method, and it's probably wise to use the tissue method a couple of days to dissolve the dried up ink beforehand)
I recently bought an R3000 myself, and it has been good to me in that I had a very busy period at work some time ago and left the printer unattended/unused for a couple of months, and the first print thereafter was flawless. I don't know if they've done something to the design since the R2400, but I was expecting it to be clogged after sitting unused for so long. Thereafter I educated myself on how to keep it alive for as long as possible, as I photograph/print in spurts myself.
Someone suggested that the best method to keep an inkjet printer alive is to just print a nozzle check every week on normal copy paper: the amount of ink used is minimal and copy paper is cheap. This keeps the head filled with fresh ink and also prevents the printer from performing a clean cycle (which would consume very much ink) before the next print job. I've been following this suggestion, and the nozzle check is always clean, and the printer hasn't performed a head clean even once.
I will say that the 3880 would be a very nice printer. I recently saw a lightly used one for sale for 500 euro. I would have bought it on the spot had I not purchased the R3000 already.
I don't expect anything like "I'm HIS girlfriend" as a follow-up now 