Hi Everyone,

I don't quite know what I am asking about here, but one thing I know - I've lost my mojo. I feel pretty down and uninspired about my photography at the moment. I know part of it, a big part, is my life. I don't mean to complain, I am blessed to have the life that I have, and I know it's only temporary, but I find this so very frustrating. I am a mother and I am making sacrifices for the good of my daughter. My husband and I both work full time and we have made the conscious decision to keep her out of childcare for now, I am fortunate with my job that I can work my hours around the hours of my husband so we can enable this for her. This means I work afternoons and nights, five days a week, including Sundays, it means I may be lucky to get two days off in a row, maybe a grand total of 10 times in a year, if I'm lucky, it means that when I am not working during the day, I have my daughter solely with me.... a child who is nearly two, loves to run in all directions, doesn't have a fear of anything and never stops. I'm serious about that - She do NOT stop, EVER! I am also a musician, which means I spend one of my days off every week with my musical commitments and then there is my practice every day. On top of this there is the socialisation commitments for my daughter - play dates, playgroup and somehow keeping the house running too. On my other day off, this is usually the day I catch up with my family commitments, "social life" and occasional extra days of work.

For my photography - this means that I am practically never able to catch a sunset as I am always working at that time. I am never able to catch a sunrise as I am always sleeping at that time. I find it very difficult to leave the house for photography, because I am the only one who can watch my daughter at that time and I don't know how to watch her properly, keep her safe from danger and concentrate on my photography at the same time. My house is extremely uninspiring, it's a rental, its daggy and the closest thing to a plant I can photograph are the dandelions that grow in the front yard. I usually photograph my daughter or my cats or my family when I see them, but this can wear a little thin for my viewers, I think. So please help. I know there are mothers out there who some how manage to do all these things and somehow manage to consistently produce fabulous works of art, so how do I do this?

I read all the time, photography magazines, books on photography and of course, this website (I can't reply or comment from work. The internet browser there is one of the incompatible ones which doesn't allow posts). I generally read at times when I can't have my camera in my hand (like when I am on hold at work, or when I am in bed, trying to get to sleep) and when I am able to, I have my camera in my hands, snapping away. I am known as "The Tourist" amongst some of my family members, mainly the ones who have forgotten what my face looks like without a camera stuck to it. Any suggestions...? Anyone? I am thinking about doing the 52 week challenge next year, to force me to do at least one photograph every week (I'd love to do the 365... wait 366 day challenge next year, but I think that would extend myself just that little bit too much...), which I have been doing this year on a social media site, but the feedback is usually "Oooh! Ahhh! Pretty!" rather than "You need to be careful with your focus here and watch your exposure there", which I think would help improve my work. Any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance!!

Erin.