Everyone that pursues their passions in life are, from time to time, faced with complacency. Once we get good at something, we tend to just repeat steps and after time, we get bored. The difference between a good artist and an incredible artist is how they combat complacency. We all go through spurts of inspirational booms. Inspiration is a funny thing. We somehow, by default, try to find inspiration in specific places. Being closed minded and becoming complacent go hand in hand. I know this because I fell victim to my own complacency a few years ago. As a music photographer, I found myself doing the same shoots for the same bands over and over again and I did not push to grow. I thought that I was as good as it gets. I just kind of settled for one specific style and I stuck with it. In my return to photography, I have made sure to never let that happen again. I have made a lot changes to my lifestyle that allows me to grow. I started exploring different genres of music, trying different kinds of food, and reading about different cultures. I want my work to not only reflect my own intuition as an artist, but to reflect the amazing people I work with. There are millions of different things that make up the human experience and each and everyone of them can be drawn upon by artists to perfect and broaden an inspirational spectrum of possibilities. I am constantly looking for new things to find inspiration from and to draw new ideas. Without a constant pursuit of change, we don't allow ourselves to grow. Without growth, we get bored and the next step is giving up. We all live a lifestyle that is specifically designed to fit our personalities and interests. Although self-reflection is important, it is also vital to maintain an open mind and explore the lifestyles of others in order to grow. This is true in everything but speaking specifically from the perspective of an artist, it is paramount to bettering ourselves. Nobody wants to hear a band put out the same record over and over again and that is true with any other kind of art. If there is anything I am trying to get across here his that; sources of inspiration surround us and in order to get the most of your talent, take advantage of that. 

Dont give up, push through the droughts. Channel the inevitable disappointments back into your craft. Break molds, think, create. Make your art about others, it seems to work.