Anne from Slow Shutter Speed leads this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge with the theme of Photographic Groove.

I must admit that as easy and fun as I felt this theme was when I read it, it’s actually more difficult than I originally thought because like music, there are so many genres that’s encompassed in landscape photography. There are close-up/macros, basic landscapes, shots with wildlife, long exposure, etc.

I temporarily lost my photographic groove earlier this year. It happens each winter but this past winter had been particularly hard. My mom’s back began to hurt last autumn. No one knew how it happened. Even the doctors don’t seem to have a clue but it got to the point where she could barely walk.

With her not able to go anywhere, I was basically stuck at home as she didn’t allow me to go anywhere by myself except to run errands for her. I dreaded the weekends as the only places I could go involved grocery shopping for my mom. Meanwhile, all the things I wanted to buy would had to be placed on the backburner until I could make the stop on my way home from working in the office that one day each week.

Then, as we rang in 2022 and the Omicron variant descended on all of us, she was even more stricter about me going outside. There was a time when she didn’t want me heading into the office even though there were things I needed to do in the office, which I couldn’t at home.

Being stuck inside the house made me not want to do anything. Photography was off the table as there wasn’t much to photograph. There was barely any snow and each day felt more dreary than the last.

I think what made me recover was the picture on the left. I signed up for two photography courses at the local college in March and April, hoping to have some fun and learn something in the process. The photo was shot on campus. It was an exercise to practice our photo composition. This reminded me that despite being in the cold, photography is fun and is something beautiful.

I’ve only recently found my photographic groove again when I saw this scene as we headed to the Dinosaur National Monument in the middle of May. It was like my inspiration was jump-started by the sight of nature.

I recently got a 18-400 mm camera lens, which should eliminate the need to carry 2 lenses as well as the need to change lenses when I wish to photograph something faraway. The lens arrived over a week ago and since then, I’ve been dying to test its functionalities.

After my adventure last Thursday to test out the new lens, I feel my photographic funk is officially over and my photographic groove is back thanks to the new 18-400 mm lens and nature’s inspiration.