Lost it for a while I think

[Ralph]

I have not been out seriously to take bird photos for well over 2 weeks.
This happened after me and a mate went out to take some out at a place called Hattah/Nowingi.
And it started a month ago. We went out there only to discover I had forget to put my extra batteries in my bag.
The ones in the camera were flat real quick and its would have meant a trip of over 2 hours there and back so we called it a day.
So I owe him a trip out there but he has been dodging me for some reason but this is his loss as he needs someone with a 4x4 to get out there.

So I decided to do a trip on my own and when I got up I wasn't feeling the best but I still went.
I got on to the track with the hope this would make me forget how I was feeling, but no.
I rang the wife to let her know it was going to be another early day.

And since then I have had no real interest in going out.
To make matters worst a bird which is hard to find which is the target bird is being found be everyone lately and yet this has not set a fire under me,
My car in going in to get a few things fixed and I hope after that I can get the ignition I need badly to get back into it

Has this happened to anyone else and if so how did you combat it?

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

I have not been out seriously to take bird photos for well over 2 weeks.
This happened after me and a mate went out to take some out at a place called Hattah/Nowingi.
And it started a month ago. We went out there only to discover I had forget to put my extra batteries in my bag.
The ones in the camera were flat real quick and its would have meant a trip of over 2 hours there and back so we called it a day.
So I owe him a trip out there but he has been dodging me for some reason but this is his loss as he needs someone with a 4x4 to get out there.

So I decided to do a trip on my own and when I got up I wasn't feeling the best but I still went.
I got on to the track with the hope this would make me forget how I was feeling, but no.
I rang the wife to let her know it was going to be another early day.

And since then I have had no real interest in going out.
To make matters worst a bird which is hard to find which is the target bird is being found be everyone lately and yet this has not set a fire under me,
My car in going in to get a few things fixed and I hope after that I can get the ignition I need badly to get back into it

Has this happened to anyone else and if so how did you combat it?

Totally lost my mojo recently, partly because I've been concentrating on getting our house ready for sale, and partly because of lockdown, but I just can't get going, even though we too have had a very rare visitor nearby. I just couldn't be bothered to go.
Getting out of it is not easy, but I've been out today, in the beautiful warm sun, and it has rekindled some interest. I think having a total break does you good, find something else to interest/occupy you for a while.

 

[garuda]

I have not been out seriously to take bird photos for well over 2 weeks. ..... We went out there only to discover I had forget to put my extra batteries in my bag.

.... And since then I have had no real interest in going out. .... Has this happened to anyone else and if so how did you combat it?

.
Interesting you mention this now, because a week ago I was talking with an alpha-shooter friend and shared with him basically the same scenario you are describing. And I agree with Kev. I too have had lulls and a recent one also. Priorities often shift, distractions pop-up constantly, winter can cause blasé attitudes, unwittingly unconscious fears can plague us, and the list goes on and on. And a year-long lockdown can impact us in ways that are not always consciously visible. Sometimes, minor disappointments can trigger minor depression when we’re out of sorts. But we always rebound later when it’s time.

An ancient wise man once shared, “all things happen for a reason, even if we don’t understand why at the time; even the unwanted results might be telling us something important, teaching us a lesson if we listen carefully.”

Maybe we’re being told we should slow down for a spell, relax, and enjoy the contents of this simple now moment. The wisdom masters exhort that we can only experience the moment when full attention is embraced w/o some hidden agenda. They claim that too often we never really experience the sunset intimately if we are obsessed with capturing it on film. Obviously, there’s nothing wrong with photographing a beautiful scenery, but maybe we should occasionally forget the batteries at home, take off our shoes, and feel the moist grass between our toes.

Perhaps genuine true happiness is when we’re able to genuinely accept everything “as it is” even accepting the unwanted and not allowing our finite, limited ego construct to dictate its often un-wise will.

 

[Ralph]

Totally lost my mojo recently, partly because I've been concentrating on getting our house ready for sale, and partly because of lockdown, but I just can't get going, even though we too have had a very rare visitor nearby. I just couldn't be bothered to go.
Getting out of it is not easy, but I've been out today, in the beautiful warm sun, and it has rekindled some interest. I think having a total break does you good, find something else to interest/occupy you for a while.

I live right across the road from a wetlands and honestly its the same ones there each time you go over there making it boring.
I like collecting old bottle and am after bottles from my area as we have a few smaller towns about but this is just like setting up to
set photography in some cases. But I enjoy doing them.
I know where this all started so I need to get back to a place called Nowingi.
To start We went out there and me being the dopey one forgot to place my extra batteries in my bag so it was drive all the way out to turn
around and call it a day. The next time I went out I was on my own and I woke up not feeling too well.
So 15 minutes in I had to calll it a day and driv the hour or more back home .
I need to get back out there and make a full day of it as I think this might have broke me.
My car in getting fixed tomorrow and doctors appointments the rest of the week so as soon as I can I will head back out there.
And hope I can turn the corner.

 

[Ralph]

.
Interesting you mention this now, because a week ago I was talking with an alpha-shooter friend and shared with him basically the same scenario you are describing. And I agree with Kev. I too have had lulls and a recent one also. Priorities often shift, distractions pop-up constantly, winter can cause blasé attitudes, unwittingly unconscious fears can plague us, and the list goes on and on. And a year-long lockdown can impact us in ways that are not always consciously visible. Sometimes, minor disappointments can trigger minor depression when we’re out of sorts. But we always rebound later when it’s time.

An ancient wise man once shared, “all things happen for a reason, even if we don’t understand why at the time; even the unwanted results might be telling us something important, teaching us a lesson if we listen carefully.”

Maybe we’re being told we should slow down for a spell, relax, and enjoy the contents of this simple now moment. The wisdom masters exhort that we can only experience the moment when full attention is embraced w/o some hidden agenda. They claim that too often we never really experience the sunset intimately if we are obsessed with capturing it on film. Obviously, there’s nothing wrong with photographing a beautiful scenery, but maybe we should occasionally forget the batteries at home, take off our shoes, and feel the moist grass between our toes.

Perhaps genuine true happiness is when we’re able to genuinely accept everything “as it is” even accepting the unwanted and not allowing our finite, limited ego construct to dictate its often un-wise will.

I am totally unsure of the reason to why but can can think of them.
When I went over to the wetlands It wasn't inspiring at all. Though I think I got so nice shots.
So I now know this isn't the reason

I did like the part of curling up your toes in the wet grass, but have you seen the Aussie bush the just wouldn't work.
Way too many prickles in the sand.

The leader of our group asked me to go out with him. I said yes as he has forgot more than I will ever know.
With luck this could be the magic pill I need.
One thing I am able to do is get my photo's into better order instead of being in their original folders moving them into their groups.
And the its still easy to find by using the dates.

I was on a recent biding trip and this is exactly what I done. I tripped or slipped and down I went.
Hitting my arms , hip and side on branches. Ended up with a bruise bigger than a grapefruit.
The doctor wanted it x-rayed but if it is broken they can't do nothing for it so I said no to it.
But we were all looking for bird and there were few to be had so I went into landscape mode.
Why waste the time and get nothing out of it plus I did find and old bottle.
But overall it never helped in wanting to get out there birding.

 

[Tim Mayo]

How are you getting on now Ralph? Sometimes it helps just to take a break from wildlife and try shooting something else. I enjoy shooting motorsport when I get the chance, which hasn't happened over the last year! There's a superbike event coming up at the end of this month that I hope to get to, although that may be cancelled yet. Macro photography opens up a whole new world as well if you aren't already dabbling here. Try not to have any more accidents please!

 

[Ralph]

How are you getting on now Ralph? Sometimes it helps just to take a break from wildlife and try shooting something else. I enjoy shooting motorsport when I get the chance, which hasn't happened over the last year! There's a superbike event coming up at the end of this month that I hope to get to, although that may be cancelled yet. Macro photography opens up a whole new world as well if you aren't already dabbling here. Try not to have any more accidents please!

Yer thanks Timothy I am back on track and worked out just why it happened.
I went to a place called Nowingi Track and its a little over 50 kilometers away from home.
We I got out and started to take some shot and looked at the camera and noticed that my power was down. So I went back to the car to swap batteries.
In my bag there were no batteries there. I had them ready but forgot to put them in my bag.
It was too far to drive home and back again so I called it a day. Strike One.
A few days later I went back out there on my own and I woke up not feeling the best.
I seen a few birds and I hardly had any energy to follow them. I messaged my wife telling her I was on my way home.
I spent the rest of the day in bed Strike TWO.
Strike THREE was I was out there again and every stop had nothing and then I went and got a little lost.

Then I went back out there and hit a honey patch and then hit another one and low and behold another one.
This lucky day was the right medicine I needed to get myself out of am I doing this right.
And I have been out there a few more time and hit a honey hole each time.
So I am now back on track and my mate was really happy as he finally got a bird he has seen but never photographed.
Now I need to get my big lens back and get out there once the tracks dry up a little as well.

Thank you for asking and it ws a horrible feeling but it ws good to be able to pin point just why.