Influence vs Inspiration

I’ve been feeling stuck with my photography lately. Happens every few months, like clockwork. The shots start feeling repetitive, the edits uninspired, and suddenly I’m questioning if I even know what I’m doing.

Maybe it’s burnout from shooting too much of the same thing. Maybe it’s not shooting enough. Either way, I know the best way out is to mix things up, new locations, different focal lengths, some weird self-imposed challenge that makes me rethink my approach.

All of that is short term, surface level or low hanging fruit if you will. We need to look deeper, so where I look for inspiration makes all the difference in the long run.

The Social Media Trap

Instinctively, I reach for Instagram or YouTube. Let’s be honest—we all do. Scroll through some pages, see what’s happening. But I’ve learned this is a trap. And let’s not even start on doom scrolling. The junk food of the internet. Short-form videos. A vortex that sucks you in and demands your time.

You’re probably thinking, "Not another lecture on avoiding social media!" But hear me out. Social media doesn’t inspire, it influences. And that’s not always bad. You might pick up new techniques, find locations you hadn’t considered, or get a fresh take on editing. But more often than not, it just leads to copying. Not in the strict sense—a like-for-like rip-off—but it skews you toward someone else’s vision without capturing the essence of that thing.

You may start tweaking your edits to match what’s getting the most likes. Shooting what’s already been shot a thousand times. Comparing your work to some hyper-curated feed and feeling like you’re falling short.

That’s not inspiration. That’s chasing a moving target. And it’s exhausting.

The real fix? Looking beyond the algorithm.

Finding Inspiration Elsewhere

Books & the Greats

Social media is fast. Books are slow. And that’s exactly why they hit different.

Some of my biggest creative resets have come from digging into the work of photographers who weren’t thinking about engagement metrics. Saul Leiter, with his dreamy colours and abstract take on reality, or Lee Friedlander, making the everyday mundane chaos look intentional.

Studying their work reminds me that photography isn’t about what works on social media, it’s about how you see.

Your photography isn’t just a technical exercise. It’s an extension of your experiences, your memories, your instincts. What catches your eye? What colors, shapes, and moods do you gravitate toward? That’s not random. That’s your lived experience shaping your photos.

Maybe you live near the ocean, and your photography leans toward open horizons and seascapes. Maybe you live in a dense city, so you see patterns in chaos.

Your perspective isn’t just about what gear you use or what’s trending. It’s an amalgamation of everything you’ve seen, felt, and experienced in your life. That’s why chasing trends is pointless. You can imitate someone else’s work all day long, but if it doesn’t align with your perspective, it won’t stick.

The best photographers? They lean into their unique way of seeing. They’re not worried about whether their work fits into an algorithmic mold, they shoot what feels right because that’s the only thing that will ever be truly theirs.

Museums

This one’s weird, but stick with me: put the camera down and go to a museum.

Doesn’t matter if it’s art, history, science, just go somewhere that forces you to slow down and look. Classical paintings will teach you about light. Abstract art will challenge how you think about composition. Even old artifacts can spark an idea.

And if museums aren’t your thing, find another way to shake up your visual input. Pick up an old hobby. Play some retro video games. Flip through old comic books. Listen to some old tracks. Your brain connects dots in ways you don’t always realise, and sometimes creativity needs a detour to find its way back.

Movies & Cinematic Storytelling

I love movies. Always have. And when I’m feeling creatively dead, films bring me back to life.

Not the Marvel or Fast & Furious kind (though, respect to them for doing their thing and I enjoy smashing them down like a tasty burger… sometimes). I mean the ones where every frame feels like a carefully composed photograph.

Blade Runner. 2001: A Space Odyssey. Star Wars. Pulp Fiction. The list could fill pages. And lately, I’ve been struck by the Netflix show Ripley. It’s a masterclass in composition, literally a series of moving photographs. The way the camera lingers, the use of negative space, the precise control of black-and-white contrast, it’s the kind of visual storytelling that makes you want to grab your camera immediately.

Next time you’re watching a movie, hit pause. Study the frame. Where’s the light coming from? What’s in focus? How does the shot guide your eye? Directors and cinematographers put insane thought into these details, and there’s so much to learn from!

Nature & the Art of Doing Nothing

This isn’t some spiritual “find yourself in tibet and become a monk” advice. It’s just a reminder that Getting outside—I mean really outside—can do wonders for a fried brain.

Find the greenest place near you. A national park if you can, a local trail if you can’t. Go alone if possible. No distractions, no podcasts, no endless notifications, just you and the world. Take a slow walk. Notice the details. The texture of tree bark, the movement of clouds, the way light filters through leaves.

Creativity doesn’t always come from doing more. Sometimes it comes from doing nothing at all. I’ve had so many Eureka moments from a simple walk around the block.

Breaking the Routine

Social media is fine as a tool. But real inspiration? That comes from experiencing the world, not just consuming it. Books, movies, museums, nature, whatever pulls you out of the loop and makes you look at things differently.

So if you’re stuck, put the phone down. Step outside. Let life happen. The creativity will follow.

Photography isn’t about what’s in front of you, it’s about how you see it. And that brings me to one of my favourite lines from The Matrix:

"There is no spoon—that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself."

It’s not about forcing the world to fit your creative rut. It’s about shifting your own perspective. The way you see is entirely within your control. You dictate what catches your attention, how you interpret a scene, what moments you choose to capture.

Your reality isn’t just something you photograph, it’s something you shape. Ted Talk coming in October.