What do you do? Put your gadgets in a closet for a while?
Force yourself, thinking the next model will open a new gate?
Move on to , landscape, macro, street photography or what ever...
Or move to a total different hobby and be done?...THI IS NOT A RANT
AND WISH TO SHARE WITH OTHER PHOTOGRAPHERS FEELINGS IN THE SAME
SITUATION

May be try a more specific project? I have a friend who shoots numbers a lot as an example but you could do anything. windows or doors, brickwork, shop displays, food, water, textures or whatever. :-)

Just an idea.... if it helps. :-) On a side note I've had photographer block for a while now.... so may be not the best guy lol

Pick a different location.  If you mostly shoot in-studio, shoot outdoors or an actual location.  If you mostly shoot outdoors, shoot indoors.  If you mostly shoot in the fields, shoot at the beach or the desert, etc.

Also, one of the projects I've been trying to do is have a story line.  Almost like a short film, but, it'd be a series of stills.

If the Model You are working with is uninspiring shoot someone new.

Perhaps you should found a new motivation and/or inspiration.
I think on creative art, especially if gain money isn't the major issue, may represent one of the main problems in these situations.

expand your horizons, both literally and figuratively.

Whatever you most like to do, try doing the opposite.  If you like retro, painterly themes, shoot grunge or even outright porn for a while.  If you're shooting porn, shoot fruit bowls.  If you normally shoot fashion, shoot art nudes,  If you normally shoot women, shoot men,  if you normally pay experienced models shoot newbies for trade and viceversa.  Then apply what you've learned to your preferred genres and styles.  If you'e learned nothing, do it again and this time pay attention.

If you've still learned nothing, take up knitting.

All IMHO as always, of course.

just take a break.

go cruising ports for ideas, visit galleries to get inspired again.

do some scouting for new locations.

everyone hits that wall sooner or later.

I've done all those to some degree.   Maybe 5 years ago, I got extremely frustrated with models canceling and flaking, so I took to close to a year off shooting models while I was focusing on a book project.    Since returning to the shooting models I've made the following changes:

1. First, I keep in mind that of rate most part, shooting models is a hobby, not my profession, so I'm not going to spend a ton of money on it for which I see no financial return and I'm also not going to get upset if shoots don't pan out, since my livelihood doesn't depend on them.

2.  Related, model shoots happen when they happen.  There are other subjects to shoot and there are many other things I can do with my free time.  I think on a site dedicated to shooting models, it can be easy to forget there are many, many other subjects photographers can shoot besides models.  During my first 25 years of photography, I never once shot a model.  If I go a year without shooting a model and then have several shoots within a few months, so be it. 

3.  Practice changes:  Confirmations have eliminated actual flaking for me.  Other practices reduce the amount of time I waste on models who likely won't follow through.  I also never spend money specific to a single shoot I will lose should a model cancel last minute.  Similarly, I never give up anything important for a model shoot.   When I book a shoot, I view it as something that may or may not occur.  If a model cancels,  I simply do something else with my time.   I've also accepted MM is not going to be my best source for finding models. 

4.  I am currently downsizing and organizing my shooting gear.  I bought a portable studio equipment carrier that I'm keeping all my studio equipment in.  I'm getting rid of my heavy duty light stands and soft boxes in favor of light weight stands and umbrellas.  My gear is now organized and discreetly stored out of the way when I go long periods without using it, but it's quick and easy to roll out and access when needed.

start looking at pix - stat

go to shows, the library to see them on paper


look thru magazines..

flick thru flickr


etc

Force yourself to do something you hate, artistically.

I don't like colour. Until recently, it had been about a year since I made a colour image I was pleased with, and almost four since I made one I liked enough to be proud about. Everything has been bw film.

So I went out and shot colour digital, and told myself that (a) I couldn't make it bw, and (b) I would make photos where colour was important.

It got me working again. I got a few shots I liked, and one I liked enough to stake out the area trying to reshoot it with bw film.

As far as artistic development goes, I think the best thing you can possibly do is whatever it is that you don't like doing. It forces you to think more, to examine the method to figure out how you can make it more like what you DO like - which is a fantastic exercise in itself - and at the end of the day there's nothing at stake:  you go into it knowing you won't be happy, so who cares if the pictures suck?

That philosophy also led to me spending an entire weekend trying to figure out how to apply The Zone System to pinhole photography. I never quite got it sorted, but I did force myself to work from sunup to sundown two days in a row when I had 'nothing' to work on.

12 years in - my real life breaks the year up and I have to put the camera up for long blocks of time.  So, by the time I can get at it again, I've had weeks or months to daydream new projects - and new challenges.  It feels fresh after being away for a while.

Or, another thing I do is to find some new technique or technical problem - and see if I can do it.  I have little budget - so it's usually "how can I MacGyver this effect?"  I've recently set down to shoot whole series with nothing but candlelight - it's new to me - so it's been a grand learning experience.

"Writers block" a lack of creativity or what ever you want to call it is something that I deal with a great deal.  I can shoot and I do but I get so tired of shooting the same old garbage day in and day out.  It feels like a rut.

I love to attend local events.  Particularly those where people dress up in outlandish costumes or there is a lot of action.  Things like renascence faire, fairie festivals, a pow wow, motocross races etc.  (only when I can get right on the track and shoot.  It's a rush!)  These things are always fun and break up the monotony of things.  Well, for me they do.

You can also do some brain storming and think of a pitch.  I once pitched an idea to a trade publication and when they bought it I just had to find willing subjects.  The pitch was to Fire Chief Magazine and it was a "Day In The Life" story about line officers in the fire service. Once I had the blessing of the rag I set up and rode along with various fire departments up and down the east coast. (I spent most of y time with the local fire department about 3 blocks from my home.)  I slept with them, ate with them and basically lived with them for months. They allowed me me amazing access that average journalist doesn't have.   I could go anywhere except in side a burning structure.  So close that the images below were all shot with  my go to lens. A 28mm prime. Even the shot of the fire.









None of it is great art but it was certainly thrilling and most defiantly different.  After a while I developed a great relation ship with and the trust of the local firefighters and police.  Because of that even now, 6 years later, I can go to any local scene and just walk in past the police tape or road block and I'm welcomed with open arms. 

Even a hobbies can make a pitch.  I've gotten no response enough that it's no big deal of it's not accepted.  It is what it is.  There will be another pitch another day where the target will bite.  Try it.  You have nothing to loose and it will give you a whole new prospective on photography and perhaps even life.

When you suffer "writers block" again then try something else new.  Perhaps another pitch or just attend a local event.

Thank you so much for your help and advices!...Living in NY I have no excuse! for lack of subject matters!