5 Sources of Inspiration for Photographers

Have you ever walked into a photographic situation and felt like you didn’t have a creative bone left in your body? Were you thinking to yourself: “If I have to photograph one more set of snarky siblings for a parent who is determined to win her mommy’s group ‘Holiday-Card-of-the-Year’ contest, I’m going to scream?”

Every creative professional has moments like this, and most agree that it’s a signal to search for inspiration. When Marathon designer and marketing specialist Brian Headlee needs inspiration, he turns to one of many blogs that he says keeps his creative vision fresh. In addition to designing for Marathon clients, Brian provides graphic design for this blog as well as for Marathon’s promotional materials and program products. Here are a few of Brian’s favorite sites and blogs:

Abduzeedo
Abduzeedo is Brian’s favorite design blog because, he says, “It has a little bit of everything, and it’s updated frequently. Photographers will find lots of interesting images and ongoing features there.” One of Brian’s favorite past logo design features presented logos categorized by letters of the alphabet. The first post showed nothing but logos beginning with the letter A, then it continued through the alphabet. By using the site’s search feature, you can find all of the entries one at a time. Use the following search terms: Logo Design A to Z. To get you started, here’s a link to the “A” logos: http://abduzeedo.com/logo-design-z

You the Designer
Although it targets designers, Brian believes photographers can benefit from visiting You the Designer, as it provides inspirational articles for anyone in search of creative energy. It also links to free creative stuff such as fonts and vector graphics. For the free stuff alone, this blog is a must! “Just yesterday,” Brian points out, “the blog published a post entitled ‘5 Places for Graphic Designers to Find Inspiration’ at this link”: http://www.youthedesigner.com/2011/12/13/5-places-for-graphic-designers-to-find-inspiration/

Toxel
“Toxel,” says Brian, “isn’t really a design blog, it’s more of a creativity blog, and it’s really cool. Find the ‘Featured Posts’ links on the right side under the ads. Just click on ‘Alarm Clocks’ or something. But be warned . . . this blog can be addictive!! Read some of the comments too, as they can be very fun.”

Lovely Package
Lovely Package is Brian’s go-to blog for packaging inspiration. “You know it’s good packaging when people purchase that item based on the packaging alone. There are a ton of examples on this site. So cool. When I find something that I’m really drawn to, I try to figure out what exactly the appeal is. Is it the cool graphics, the colors, the fonts, the shape of the packaging? Or maybe it’s how it opens. More than likely it’s a combination of several things. The next question I ask myself is ‘how can I use these ideas to get the same feeling and reaction in what I’m trying to do?’ Of course it can influence packaging, but it can just as easily inspire a completely original business card design.”

PPA’s Loan and Showcase Books
“When I first started working on these books, I was blown away by every image I saw . . . for one reason or another,” Brian says. “What really surprised me was that I expected to be attracted to the more abstract, strange, or edgy images, and I was. But for some reason, I would find myself staring for minutes at a time at landscapes and other images that drew me in. For sheer image quality and variety, these images are the gold standard for photographic inspiration.” Learn more