Why You Should Take Boring Photos

Taking boring photos in a boring place with the Sony A7CR.

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[terra___photo]

Man. I miss taking photos like this. At some point either I became bored or longed for more creative, time consuming photos. Either way, I looked back on my page and barely recognized the photographer I was. I could see I was interested, inspired, shooting everything regardless. I miss that a lot. I think I need to get back to the mundane again.

[michaelgrobin]

There’s an art in street photography to make the ordinary seem extraordinary. Always inspired by your work!

[duvalpenny]

Dude, this is so accurate. When I vacationed to Japan I had a lovely time and had awesome photos. BUT, what I REALLY wanted to do was visit the regular parts of the country where people live life like "normal people" and take pictures/experience there.

[deadtothewxrld]

Dude, I spent so much time in T-vegas when I was in high school. Had a close buddy who still had a lot of connections there. Lots of great memories in that town, very cool to see you put it in a different light.

[rickbiessman]

3:46 100% (if not more)! I’m from a medium sized town in Germany and I find most of it completely uninspiring. Whereas that American rural and small town thing you mostly show is interesting to me and I could probably spend weeks photographing only places like the one you’re showing in this video!

I do think though that the areas you photograph really lend themselves to pleasing photos because it’s easy to get visual simplicity with those large, simple brick buildings, and maybe throwing in some powerlines to spice things up. Where I live, everything is pretty cluttered and it’s hard to find an urban place that looks calm in any way.

[Chromatomic]

I've been focused a lot more on taking photos in the places around me instead of thinking I have to go to another city or national park or travel to get an interesting photo. It might even feel boring to me that has seen it a dozen times but it's brand new to almost everyone else. I was pretty uninspired last year and one of my answers was to just go out to a place with one lens and see what I could do. When you're not worried about getting the best or most creative shots but are also technically limited it opens up more room to be creative.

[FinnishSuperSomebody]

Photos you show in this video is something what I would not see as a boring photo, so yeah, definitely everybody have different point of view what is boring photo.

About boring photos, as you mentioned, it shows me different place, culture and atmosphere. When I think my boring photos photography mindset it does not feel that "boring and meaningless" if I think about that it is a moment of time captured on photo. I mean, years later many buildings might have been destroyed and not exists anymore but on my boring photos there is history of some place still captured. Photos of old ads on the streets is also reminder of times what we have lived on that time when I took that boring photo of trashbin with an ad next to it or similar boring photo.

Many boring photos are especially that - representation of a culture and era of that time when the photo is taken.

Also, the more I take boring photos, the more I learn also that photography does not tell about the subject I shoot, but about me. Why I am keen on shooting photos of X or Y? Why I take closeup pictures of rusty nails or trashes on the ground etc. There is SOMETHING in it what made me take the picture, so the more you shoot photos the more you start recognizing patterns about your point of views. I have noticed some patterns on my own photography especially I have started to print lots and lots of photos what I take. I can see that there is quite often some kind of style I have without even thinking, but after printing I have started to see that I am keen to take photos of rooftops etc. for some reason.

After my last camera purchase - Leica D-Lux (Typ 109) - I have "returned to my roots" in many ways and started again shooting lots and lots and lots of boring photos just for the sake of enjoyment of the photography. I just walk around, take photos for whatever random things like I did with my first point and shoot cameras 20 years ago when I started shooting photos on my first digicams. Somewhere in time I had lost that habit and photography have changed to something else. Better equipments have given me better quality photos many times at least on technical sense, but photography have changed to be more "professional" kind of photography, but sadly only in techincal ways. You know, all the cliches, "awesome bokeh", rules of thirds etc. :D

With my Leica I have again started to take photos a lot. I carry it with me almost everywhere I go and I have started again to look areas where to go after workday to take photos. Within less than 2, 5 months with this camera I have seen so much more places than I probably have seen in many years in my local area. With this I also have started to realize that there might be truth in that theory that time goes faster as you get older just because you do not feel new experiences that much anymore :D

By this I mean that since I have started to go in new places, new nearby cities and towns many times within a week, gone to see different churches, lakes etc. it feels that last less than 2, 5 months has been like many months more even it has not been. When I browse my printed photos it feels that "oh it has been already a long time since I was there" and it might be only couple of days. Time definitely starts to go in totally different ways when you go to new places to and see new things! Keep that in mind when you are older if you want to try to slow down time ;)


This camera and printing my photos also changed my photography in other ways as well. I do not care anymore that much about technical details of the photos so it is much more enjoyable process to shoot photos. Just for fun, you know. Irony in this is that the more I have shot "just for fun" without caring that much about perfection, the better photos I have also taken.

It feels (for me at least) that the better the equipment is in technical specs, the more I see photography like an engineer, but when the quality of the camera is just "right for me" I don't care that much about perfection in technical details and I start to see photography again as an art, not just pixel peeping. Surely there is different kind of photography when I use more modern cameras, but in this kind of "I just take photos just for fun" it is most important thing is that camera "feels right and is fun to use". For me it has been this camera, but it could have been Canon PowerShot as well. :)

[IsaiahClonch]

Dude, I remember when you had just started with photography. Truly amazing to see your creativity and growth more and more throughout the years. It’s cool to just be on the sidelines watching you succeed.

[takenbytim]

There's so much hope for all of us now. Boring Photos Rule!

Great video - I 1000% agree with you and have begun a similar "campaign" of love and appreciation for my current home town by taking photos of it

[sedegg]

Very lovely! "photography made me more appreciative of where I live" - a very strong sentence!

[PhilKnall]

Good thing you went back for that last one, was a nice shot.

[tea.leblanc]

I look forward to your weekly videos and always learn something from you!

[madelinehayley]

I love the beauty in the simplicity of these images :)

[POVwithRC]

Boring photos is all I do. The grade fills the gaps in though.

[kaazd]

Great video as usual. I forgot what camera you use for B-roll?

[Iain_M]

I think you should never get put off of photographing something if vehicles are in the way. I guarantee the van will look dated and add more interest to the photo in a decade or so. Like planting a small tree, future generations will benefit from it and photography can also be viewed in this way.

[samandmox]

That’s all I shoot because I live in Iowa 😂