How do you guys get motivated?

[meand]

Dead serious when I say I am quite active when back home, mainly due to the climate I suppose. I can't force myself to get out in the streets of Bangkok at all. I hate sweating and being that hot,and if I'm being honest the noise on the streets bugs me too. I love it photographically too is the weird part. It literally could not be better. I'm like a big blade runner fan, and Bangkok is nothing if not blade runner.

So why won't I go out to take pictures in my own personal picture taking paradise? I'm not afraid of the truth... Maybe I am afraid of something, or maybe it really is just the weather.

How do you guys motivate yourselves get out there. It's kinda a pitiful question I've never found myself asking, but there it is.

Edited September 23, 2014 by meand

[tifino]

make your day/workday life like a holiday

everyday my holiday starts at 4:20pm when get home...

camera or video in hand, and go for a walk - there's always something new and interesting to see ( or should I say 'witness')

[meand]

I did go out after that post. I didn't get anything I liked, but at least I went out.

I don't know how anybody deals with the heat here. I can see it when going to work or grocery shopping, but when going out for "fun" it just does not compute to enter that hot air. Maybe it's just the way I'm wired, nothing I can do about it.

[MJP]

Meand, I know exactly what you mean. Being a bloke built for arctic conditions I too find it tough going.

Max it out during cool season. Post process during hot season under air conditioning.

[meand]

When I do get tunnel vision here in thailand, and it start to work hard on something, it is even unbearable then. I'll just be moving stuff around or unscrewing or taking something apart, and I will have full blown water running off my eyebrows into my glasses. Can't see or function.

Anyway, sorry for such a downer thread. I just want to take some decent photos of Bangkok one day. December is just around the corner I suppose

[sunshine51]

^^^ meand....What motivates me to get off me bum is actually quite simple....there's crap

on the satellite TV and the internet is iffy! Then there's the fact that it may be a nice day

outside...read not raining...or I feel like going for a stroll or a bike ride or doing some

4x4ing or....who knows. Yeah...the weather can be a real bitch but if you stop at a Fresh

Mart or mon & pop store they'll usually have something available to cool you down. My

usual is a beer Sing and a "cold towel (size large!) and perhaps some grilled deceased

animal on a stick! Then I get up, toss the rubbish into a bin and get back to tromping

the streets & lanes. Usually in search of another Fresh Mart or mom & pop shop and

if a photo-op presents itself...much better! Keep the cold towel around your neck to

swab the sweat off your face and you can recycle them a few times by locating a tap

and soaking them again then wring the towel out...it seems to rejuvinate that cooling

effect they have. Plus I have found out that some mom & pop shops will gladly let

you swap an unopened cool towel when warm for one of their cold cool towels in the

reefer! 7-11's won't do this. The heat & humidity is just something one must accept

because not one single person can do anything about it...except to complain and

that doesn't do any good. Now I just mentioned having a beer & some mystery meat

on a stick however... I also drink plety of water while out on a stroll with my cameras

as that's the only real way to stay hydrated. Lastly...I have lived in SEA for most of

my life and I reckon I'm kinda used to the "heat"....but there are days when it seems

pointless to venture out of the comfort zone unless there's a fat paycheck waiting

at the end of the day. One tiny morsel of advice....when you feel bored at home

and the TV sucks & you have heard all the music on your stereo enough times,

and the missus/GF has a headache...damn the heat....go out & take pictures!

Edited September 23, 2014 by sunshine51

[klauskunkel]

It works for me if I find a "theme" I am interested in, for example during the construction of the airport rail link I saw all the heavy machinery, movements of huge concrete slabs, the workers accompanied by food vendors, the traffic, which went on for several months and it was all quite dramatic looking. So, I went out one day and walked down the line from Patthanakarn all the way to Phaya Thai. Started at 6am and finished at nightfall, didn't notice the sweat and blisters until I was home. Shot hundreds of pix.

Another day, I went to Lumphini Park at 5am, just to shoot all the morning activity: runners, tai chi, kungfu, Chinese sword fighting, aerobics - in the morning light and not hot at all. Finished at 9am and had breakfast!

There is this abandoned 40+ floors building close to Saphan Thaksin BTS. I have always wondered what views you would get from up there, city and river. So one day I went and climbed up in the dark, crumbling concrete, dangling pipes and wiring, past balconies where the weed grows...

Then, maybe one of the large flower markets, also starts early...Chinatown characters...

Whenever I venture into town, I keep an eye out for potential shooting location...and write it in my little, black book (or record it on the smart phone).

So, find something you always wanted to shoot and reward yourself.

Edited September 23, 2014 by klauskunkel

[MJP]

^^KlausLegend. Quite right. Themes is where it's at. You need a plan. You need to feel artistic that day. It's hopeless just taking the camera out and hoping for the best.

[samuijimmy]

Not a silly or pitiful question at all....

I find when it is really hot, I am usually less motivated to get out and take pictures.... but I do usually take a camera with me where ever I go... some times I use some times not...

I really don't have themes, but usually key images to some of the topics here on the Photo forum.... or Farm Photos....

I fully understand about BKK, usually being much more humid and hot...

Perhaps try heading out early in the morning, while a bit cooler... Light can be good too, before the sun gets too high some times the light is better for photography....

It's some times a matter of making adjustments to the routine, we sometimes lock ourselves in to... .. This morning I headed out at 7 am... as I was asked to take some photos of an event for some friends....

The thought of doing it was actually worse than doing it....

Edited September 23, 2014 by samuijimmy

[sunshine51]

^^^ Outta likes SJ...

[sunshine51]

^^KlausLegend. Quite right. Themes is where it's at. You need a plan. You need to feel artistic that day. It's hopeless just taking the camera out and hoping for the best.

M....I disagree 100% with this statement. Have you ever left your camera(s) at home because

you didn't have a "theme" or didn't really want to take any pix that day...perhaps just a visit to the

local? Then Wham...a pic presents itself and you have no camera? How about...puddle reflections

...so you get up early and hit the streets because you "know" there's puddles everywhere and

"it's gonna be good"....then you forgot about the army of street sweepers who get up way before

you do and they've swept all the puddles away?! So you have your camera & there's no puddles

to grab reflections in...then what...head home sulking or change the plan to something else...like

office girls on the streets at lunchtime...especiallly if it's a breezy day! It's not hopeless taking a

camera for a stroll without a plan & hoping for the best...may not be what you wanted to do but

there's heaps of photo-ops out there if your brain is willing to see them. Human beings are always

a good subject any time of the day or night and there's loads of subject matter all over the world

...ya just gotta see it...and see it you will...if your brain accepts it that is. If not...then go home &

wait for another day...perhaps tomorrow or the next day or the day after that...adnauseum.

The days when I don't want to go out pic taking I stay at home & play with the missus & fool

around with our dogs and perhaps clean some gear or update the computers or help out around

the home etc. Yes...there are days I take a camera(s) for a stroll and I see very little or near to

zero....that's life...but it's not hopeless. Mind you I keep forgetting that I always have at least

one camera with me all the time...a nifty 20MP jobber in my handphone...I really must train

my brain that I have it all the time and it works pretty good instead of saying "S@!T...I wish I

had brought"....

Remember the words of General Dwight D. Eisenhower concerning the D-Day Invasion planning:

"Planning is everything....the plan is nothing."

[Robby nz]

You may find one day that there is more to Thailand than BKK with its seathing masses of people.

I prefer to get out in the morning around 5-30, first light, when its cool, home by about 9 unless I am in a forest where it stays cool for longer under the trees.

The town local fresh markets are great places to start they get underway around midnight or earlier in some cases so have a go at some early morning shots. Even on the major roads theres not that much traffic before 6-30 other than the stallholders setting up for the day. Or the bigger parks Jatajak, Lunpini in BKK in the early morning you will be surprised just how much nature is there, have a look in the butterfly house while you are at Jatajak park, some fantastic tropical vegetation in there and its free.

In BKK try bus No 53 which does a circuit round china town grand palace and other places, no walking just sit by the window and stick the camera out the window.

Have you any particular interests ? Follow them up if you have, if not look round these pages and see if there is anything you like then go out and see if you can do better.

[meand]

I am interested in the people and structures around Bangkok.

I'm not at all wired as a morning person, so maybe on the opposite end night images may be in order. I just don't find it very cool at night, but yes in the morning I do notice it's quite a bit cooler. Maybe I'll have to change my lifestyle

[sunshine51]

^^^ people can be nicely photographed in any city at any time of the day.

Structures tend to look better in the mornings & late afternoons to early

evenings...IMO.