Have you ever hit a creative brick wall? You find yourself so bored by your repetitious interest that you would rather yawn than engage? We moved to Philadelphia (yay!) and I thought a new city would spark some inspiration. I would pull out my camera and find the most unexpected subject that would deepen my love of photography.

It did not happen.

Here is the core issue: I loooooooove photographing people. I love faces, expressions, watching candid moments when the walls come down. My self-inflected barrier is an essay I wrote almost two decades ago about candid street photos I took. I wrote my way into awareness about my love of candids of people: it was unethical and ignorant.

As I was not (and am not) a professional photographer, so there were no signed releases. There was one-sided awareness of a portrait being taken. Additionally, my fleeting moments of one-sided interaction did not leave any room for conversation, context, or meaning. I simply snapped my moment and faded away. In some cultures, I stole a part of the soul and took off running in the other direction. My youthful brain concluded that I was a monster and I would never do it again. And I haven’t. But where does that leave my sad creative brain?

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I have tried landscapes. It’s not my jam.

I have taken a million photos of Nikky. I love them all, but you gotta give your subject a break.

I have tried selfies and hated the way they make me feel. (I am a behind-the-lens person, without a single shred of doubt.)

I am surrounded by fascinating, beautiful, captivating people daily — on SEPTA rides, in my grocery store, an unexpected face peeking through a book shelf — and I cannot take their photo. My rational brain forbids it.

My creative brain is atrophying and the only solution I have come to is to learn a different medium. But am I missing something? Is there some solution about challenging your inspiration? If anyone has hot takes, I am an eager audience.