I know we’ve ALL been there. You’re rolling along, taking and editing photos. Expressing yourself. Capturing and preserving moments. Telling stories with pictures, and it feels really good.

Then…boom…an obstacle presents itself. Whether it be work, school, illness, family matters or other things life throws our way, sometimes it’s hard to keep up the creative process. Oftentimes we’ll mourn the loss of the routine: shooting–and especially editing photos for me–can be relaxing, an escape, a treasured ritual. And when you don’t have the time to put into it or you feel like you’ve lost your “photo mojo” (or both!) it can be frustrating.

I’ve found myself in one of these ruts lately and I decided it’s time to go back to basics in order to recapture some inspiration. I thought, hmmm…I used to love to twirl in my self-portraits. I think I even joined a Flickr group once dedicated to photos of people twirling. How whimsical and fun! So I got out my tripod a few weeks ago, clamped on my iPhone and twirled away! (and OK, I got a little dizzy, and I don’t remember that happening last time)

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Alison // I know this world is killing you. -Elvis Costello

Even so, it felt really good to twirl again, I have to tell you. And I decided that I would try to take two self-portraits a month in an attempt to get back into the groove. It’s been hard to find the time, but also fun to see my 8 month old daughter sit there and watch me running back and forth as the self-timer counts down. I’ve explained to her that Mama is taking pictures and creating art and that someday I’ll teach her about photography if she’s interested. She just smiles that perfect toothless grin. Sigh. I reset the timer, and start running to my mark again…

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When you came in, the air went out. -Jace Everett

So for now I’ll re-engage with the old and familiar. I’m not learning anything new or breaking any barriers and that’s OK. I’m settling back into my comfort zone in search of inspiration.

How about you? What’s your creative comfort zone? That familiar place of simplicity that you know you can always turn to when in search of a little motivation? I could use a few new ideas to keep me going!

~Christy (Urban Muser)