One of the hardest things about creating new content is finding the inspiration to create something that people haven’t already seen 100 times on your page. If you find yourself lacking new ideas then don’t worry, it’s completely normal. Sometimes all you need is a new approach and some guidance, and that’s exactly what I’ll give you in this blog post.
Why is inspiration important?
Before we jump into how to find inspiration, I want to talk about why it’s so important to have daily inspiration in your life.
Inspiration is what keeps us going. When we don’t feel inspired or creative, we get bored and it makes us feel trapped in a sense. We all have different ways to let out this creativity - through art, music, speech, technology, or in our case, through photography and content creation.
When it comes to photography, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for finding inspiration – everyone is moved by different things, and what inspires one person can have little effect on another. Still, trying new things is the best way to discover your own inspiration, which in turn will help you create some amazing images or videos. So, let me share with you, what inspires us. At the end of this blog, I will also show you how to find the perfect location for your next photoshoot!
How to find inspiration
If you find yourself lacking creativity, here are some tips to help you recharge your batteries and find inspiration again.
Look at the work of others
One of the best ways to spark your creativity and find inspiration for your own work is to check out the work of other creators. This is especially helpful if you’re just starting out and are trying to improve your skills. We often see pictures or Reels of other people, which give us ideas for our content. And there is nothing wrong with that. Now, I’m not saying that you should copy them, but use what they create to get inspired and discover how you can transform it into your own work.
Learn a new skill
One of the most common reasons people have a lack of inspiration is from doing the same thing over, and over, and over again - especially if you’re stuck in this situation because you just don't know how to do something else. It’s very easy to lose inspiration when you’ve got the same skills, the same poses, and the same techniques every day. So, in order to stay motivated and keep your content fresh, it’s important to constantly be learning. Take a course on posing (psst… we actually just released the posing module from our TPI course as a separate course if you want to improve your posing skills), read photography guides, or learn how to edit your photos and videos (have you already taken our Mobile Editing course?). There is always something new to learn about content creation!
Join a challenge
Challenges are a great way to get new ideas and stretch your skills while cultivating your inspiration. Having someone else come up with a theme or topic is a great idea if you’re struggling to find new ideas for your next shoot. Often people find that challenges offer the perfect amount of pressure to get the job done without the stress of having to deliver a “professional assignment”.
We have done several challenges with our CLD students and the results have been amazing. Our students stepped out of their comfort zone and got inspired to create new things by the task. Here are some results from our day and night challenge:
Or how about these amazing results from our double exposure challenge:
Plan a trip
Now, if you have the opportunity to go on a trip, even if it’s just a little weekend getaway - go for it. Traveling, and seeing new things is the best way to get inspired (plus: so many new opportunities to take pictures, especially if you are in the travel niche!). If you don’t have a specific place in mind, try to see if there are any cheap flights or hotel deals and just discover something new. Explore, and let yourself be inspired by the culture and your surroundings.
Stop thinking about it too much
If you constantly think about how stuck you feel, and how difficult it is to think of new ideas, well, it’ll just get worse. Give yourself a break and stop thinking about new content ideas. Go for a walk, meet up with friends, watch a movie, or do something else that makes you happy and takes your mind off things. It often happens to us that we get new ideas when we’re just out having fun. We see something that inspires us and gives us the motivation to create new content.
Brainstorm with others
Lastly, the best way to find inspiration is by surrounding yourself with others. That can be your family, your friends, or maybe even strangers. Sit down together and share all of your ideas - and remember, there are never any bad ideas. We are more creative when we are with others that are creative too. We talk about things we have seen others do, and share our experiences and thoughts. Then, all of a sudden, we come up with things we would have never thought of if we were home alone!
How to find the right location
Alright, once you have found inspiration for your next content creation session, it’s time to plan your shoot and find the right location. It doesn’t matter if you go on a trip or are in your hometown, there is always a place that is perfect for your next picture. But how do you find these places?
Fortunately, there are plenty of ways that make it easy to find amazing spots very quickly. But, before I share them with you, I have a small tip: When planning ahead for a shoot, I recommend creating a mood board on Pinterest or Canva. This will help you to have a vision and vibe for the shoot. it’ll be easier to plan everything and know what you need to bring.
Now, the first thing you need to think about is the type of location you need to get the picture or video that you want. Do you want something scenic or do you want a city vibe?
What is the purpose of your shoot? Think about the overall composition you want the final shot to be. Do you need to see a large part of the background? Or do you only need to see a small portion of the background? This can determine where you go to shoot. You don’t always need an epic location to make your content successful.
Check out what others are doing and where they are going
I’ve already told you that sometimes the best way to find inspiration is to look at other people’s content - well this also goes for finding new spots too. People from the same niche as you might have some great destinations that you could visit as well. Check if they added the location tag, or see if they mentioned the location in their caption, comments section, guides, or in their Story highlights. Every time we see a picture taken at a location we want to go to, we save it in a separate folder.
In general, Instagram and TikTok are great ways to find cool new spots. On Instagram, we usually search for the city that we are going to in the hashtags and then look to see what people do there. And on TikTok, we go a bit more specific and put “city + Instagram location” or “city + hotspots” etc.
Read travel blogs
Another great way to find cool spots is by reading travel blogs. You can find a bunch of articles for basically every big city and countless amazing places to go. Simply google “most Instagrammable places in + city” and check what blog posts pop up. Extra tip: check if they share the best times to go to a place, what you need to consider, or even how to get there because sometimes a few places are more secluded and hard to find.
Go to Pinterest
Pinterest is another one of our favorite places to find inspiration and locations. The key is to follow the right boards. Look again for “most Instagrammable places in + city” or “photo spots + city”. Sometimes it can be a bit tricky to find the exact spot since not everyone always mentions it on Pinterest (if you’re lucky you can find it in the description or in the comment section), but at least you will be able to get some ideas for your photos.
And there you have it - my top tips on finding inspiration and the perfect location for your next photoshoot! If you should still need ideas for some poses, check out our post "8 posing ideas for your next photo shoot".
Don’t forget to tag @clublifedesign, so that we can see your work and share it with our community!
Lots of love,
