A good and easy way to get inspiration, is to go for a walk and take pictures. I did that today, and because I like to make things difficult for myself, I added an extra rule: Go for the Little Things.
By little things, I mean the details that you wouldn't normally pay much attention to. Or even notice at all. Like this piece of cardboard, which was laying the gutter on an empty road between a closed down car lot and the back of an apartment complex. A grey, lonely and dirty place. But suddenly this little cardboard face was smiling at me from the edge of the sidewalk, and the street didn't seem so depressing anymore. I only noticed it becayse I was looking for something like that, and I am really happy, I passed this piece of litter.
First of all, I like the actual photo that came out of it. I shot it on my point and shoot (in jpg) and edited it in Lightroom only. It took me about 5 minutes to do the post-processing of this particular photo and in the end, I probably like this shot more than any perfect studio portrait, I have ever taken. Why? Because it inspired me by showing that ugly street in a new light. Only a few feet away, I also shot this abandoned Safeway cart and there are more examples from today's walk in my Flickr stream.
The next time you need a boost of inspiration, try going for a walk with a camera and give yourself a little challenge. It doesn't have to be "Little Things", just pick whatever comes to mind. Today my actual walk was about forty minutes long (with a 20 minute break in the middle for a coffee at a tiny, local coffeeshop). I shot a total of 30 or so photos, this particular one being today's winner.
Rasmus Rasmussen is on loan from iStockphoto, where he is part of the image inspection team.
Me thinks I ought to do the same exercise :)