Starting to Get the Inspiration Back...

In glancing back at my recent blog entries, I'm noticing a large preoccupation with athletics. It seems to be all about the ups and downs of the running and cycling and the Crossfit and the rugby. If you were one of those people who, after a long period of being out of touch, are just getting back in contact with me via Facebook and the like; you'd think I'd turned into a complete meathead.

Well, it's not like I've been holding back. There really hasn't been much else to write about. The training and sport are the only things I've found I've been able to through myself into whole-hog lately.

I haven't been feeling creative in months. The influence of the Muse had been waning since the New Year, but she completely left me back in mid-February.

I haven't been inspired to go out and really shoot since I did this St. Lawrence Market photo project back in February. It sucked. I was incredibly annoyed by this lack of inspiration and photographic productivity. I still went out a couple of times to shoot, but it was without any plan; I just figured that I'd see what I could see. I wasn't 'seeing' shit. I came back from those trips with some exposures, but everything was just pure crap.

To make matters even worse: on the last of those trips, I managed to break my 50mm f/1.4 lens. I must have just spaced out. On a lens change, I somehow forgot to completely lock in the lens, so when I picked up the camera, down it went . Onto tile. Warranties don't cover that type of stupidity. The glass didn't break, and everything looked fine, but I couldn't focus the lens. When I went in to get a quote on a repair, it turned out that the impact destroyed the auto-focus motor and detached the focusing ring. Also, there was a hairline fracture on some of the inner glass. The repair cost in Canada would have been close to the cost I paid for the lens in the States.

I was not happy. And it gave me even less motivation to go out and shoot.

That changed yesterday.

Ironically, I felt the Muse reasserting herself while on a run. I was finishing up a run during the Golden Hour, when I noticed the warm light cast on the clock tower at the old Summerhill railway station. I made a mental note to myself that I had to come back and shoot that.

I'm actually 'seeing' things again. And getting ideas.

I think I'll head out this weekend.