Like anything you do, the more you do it the better you become. However you can also become disenchanted with everything, you loose you mojo, you don't have the motivation to go out or even become bored with what you are doing. Photography is no different and it is easy to become burnt out.
This has happened to me in the past and I am sure it will happen again. I would only go out in the best of conditions and even then, I struggled to find anything to make a composition out of. For landscape photographers, it usually happens in the summer months, when everything is green, the sun rises in the early hours, it sets late at night and the night skies don't get dark enough.
What I have learnt however, is that you have a project to be working on, then it does help to keep you motivated. Take my 2021 Calendar that I have just finished working on. I know that each year, I will need to have taken 12 images in a portrait orientation that will be strong enough compositionally wise to let me create it. I also need to get out at all times of the year to ensure that it flows correctly. I can't really use an image of the moors, covered in snow for July's image. This year has proven to be challenging in that Lockdown restricted where I could travel too and I have had to pick 12 images that were taken in and around Helmsley and the North York Moors that boarder the town. This has really force me to get out more often than I would have probably done and in so doing I found locations that will work at different times of the year. Whist these locations are not suitable now, come the Autumn, Winter or Spring, they could be perfect in the right conditions.
I am also doing research for another couple of projects at the moment that will keep me busy over the next few months if not years. Firstly, I have experimented with creating YouTube videos in the past, but there is so much similar content available that you really need to find an angle that viewers will want to watch. I am looking at how I can create a series of videos that will focus on 12 of the best locations to photograph on the North York Moors. I am hoping to start this in the Autumn and image that it will take a good 12 - 18 months to complete as I want to revisit each location during the year, so audience will understand when it is best to visit. Secondly, I am in the initial stages of researching the content for a book that will be based along the coast from the Tweed to the Humber. I will share more about that over the coming months.
Whilst you may not have the time or the inclination to start a major project, setting yourself a challenge will undoubtably improve your photography skills along with also giving you the motivation to get out into the great outdoors when it may be easier to switch the TV on.
You can see this years Calendar and the images contained within it by clicking this link.