Here is a confession: I get bored shooting my hometown. Knoxville is great, I love living here, but when you have walked the same streets a hundred times, the camera starts to feel heavy and the eyes start to glaze over. If that sounds familiar, this video is for you.
The fix is not a new city. The fix is new eyes. Shoot at a different hour. The street you know at noon is a different street at dawn. Shoot in the rain, shoot at night, shoot the parts of town you normally drive past. Boredom is not a location problem. It is a habit problem.
My favorite trick is to give myself an assignment. One lens, one block, one hour. Or only shoot reflections. Or only shoot the color red. Constraints sound limiting, but they are actually liberating. When you cannot shoot everything, you start seeing something.
Watch the video for the full pep talk. Your hometown is not boring. You are just on autopilot. Turn it off and go shoot.
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