Back when I first started blogging I would consume my blogroll religiously every day.  Then something happened with the birth of Instagram and Pinterest I slowly stopped going to my favourite blogs.  The last few months I’ve fallen back in love with visiting some of my old favourites as well as discovering a bunch of new ones.  Of course I have some favourite photography blogs but majority of the blogs I get most inspiration from are ones outside of my industry.  I encourage you all to look outside your own industry for inspiration, I find inspiration from food bloggers, business bloggers, fashion bloggers etc.  You never know what you may see that you can apply to your own industry in a  unique way!

Fun Exercise

We all have our favourite blogs that we continuously feel gravitated to.  A fun exercise to do when you’re feeling creatively depleted or overwhelmed and confused about the direction of your own blog/business is to list out your favourite 5 blogs/bloggers (you can also do this with your favourite brands as well).  Next is the fun part, list out why these blogs or brands inspire you, what is it about them that keeps you going back?  Take your time with this and get really honest, the answers will often give you so much insight to what you want your own brand or blog to reflect.  Perhaps its one element of their blog for example a layout and easily digestible content or perhaps its the feeling you get when you visit their site (happy, inspired or motivated).  Take note and take cue! The final step is to figure out how to infuse those elements into your own blog and brand chances are they are changes you’ve been wanting to make for a while be it conscious or subconsciously.

I recently came across my list I had written well over a year ago and it was so fun to re-read where I was drawing my inspiration from at that time and why those individuals were influencing me (these people still inspire me daily).  For example few years ago I would rarely jump infront of the camera I would hide behind the camera where I felt perfectly content and comfortable however I found myself constantly drawn to other photographers who would get themselves photographed or get candid images of themselves in their element – it wasn’t until I made that list and asked myself ‘what is it about these people that I love so much’ that it dawned on me – I love that they were photographers but they also got infront of the camera now and again! I made a little note to self to get better at this (and I’ve stuck with it!)