Phoenix, Arizona is where I live.  when you travel outside of the city, you get desert.  I have taken so many pictures of catai im tired of it.  My backyard is boring....I have taken shots of everything I can think of.  As I look at the gallery, I see all kinds of neat shots.  However many are taken in places that actually have color, instead of this boring desert.  

Is this what we would call Photographers block?  I would like to maybe do some macros...but of what?

I asked a similar question a few months ago.  Some said you take drives til you find something.  Short of a park, I am not sure where to go without trespassing.  Its all city.  

I guess I need to learn the art of just being able to take a great pic no matter where.  

Help! hehehhe

household objects...

get a "studio" set up, infinity curve with a bed sheet, grab some lamps and then place some random things in your house infront of the camera and play around...

Think of some sort of theme... flowers, death, circles, perspective, depth, colour etc, and just play around... although i recommend you do this on a rainy day... tho i suppose arizona doesnt have much of that...

you could go to chaco canyon - that is really cool, tho it is in new mexico (depends exactly where you are in Az.  I visited there ages ago and loved the whole experience of driving through it and taking alook at the various ruins and rock formations.

Aloha,
Sometimes we all get this sort of thing happening where we think we have shot everything possible. I find when I get into that mode, I try to shoot at different times of the day.....early morning, late evenings are the best time for me.  Different lighting situations bring on unexpected surprises with even the most boring of subjects.  

You mentioned macro shooting....I'm sure that under every rock or dead tree is a host of bugs and different species that would make lovely macro shots.  Cactus flowers make excellent macros also...You would be surprised at the results you get sometimes by just shooting boring subjects at different angles and POV.  Working on composition of images can produce some great results, even if there lack luster subjects.

When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.....

My couple of pennies....

Aloha,
Dave~

There are lots of ways to use your cam... registering what you see in front of you is just one of them. I read once that photography is about making a photograph, rather than about taking a picture... I had roughly the same problem as you are experiencing now... Then I started thinking in the direction of 'creating' images with all different techniques that the camera can offer..: long (handheld) exposures with or without camera panning or zooming... experimenting with all sorts of bokeh (out of focus) effects... using alternative lighting techniques... letting shapes, colors and lines do the talking, not subjects... I found that the subject in itself didn't really matter... whether it's beautiful or interesting or not, you can create images that are taking on an interesting photographic life of their own, totally independant of what they depict... And the most important thing: besides being an interesting experience and learning to use the cam to unknown potentials, it's a lot of fun...

Look up special events in your area to shoot - festivals, local customs, etc. These are ripe with good photo ops.

Try painting with light at night - a good Mag-Lite and a 30 second exposure (or BULB with a cable release) in the dead of night (with a fairly wide open shutter - around f4-f5.6) can bring some amazing results. Those boring rocks can take on a completely different life - especially if you combine multiple shots and put colored gels over the light source to have wild colors. Or use an off-camera flash - just walk around with it, blasting surfaces from different angles as your shutter is open exposing it all. You can use gels for THAT, too - go crazy with it.

Whenever I've been in AZ (oddly, most of the times I have been there were during monsoon season...this wasn't planned, just happened) I've come across wide open vistas where there are patches of clouds, and it looks like it's raining in the distance in a remote patch that seems to be only 20 feet in diameter - that'd make a wild shot. Granted, this was usually around Sierra Vista and Bisbee, but there must be something like these events in middle to upper AZ. Look for odd weather patterns that might bring dramatic skies - as well as in the mornings and evenings.

During sunrise and sunset, there's some amazing colors that will hit those boring rocks - find unusual rock formations and you'll have hit imagery-gold (see attached pic)!

Think outside the box of unusual sites around Phoenix - go nuts and you'll un-block your shooting slump.
Good luck-
-Lew ;-)

It's all a matter of perspective...

I would love to be able to shoot the desert...Instead I'm stuck where everything is frozen..

It was -10 F this morning..

argh...It's not even much fun to go wandering when it's this cold..

Some great advice offered here. :) On thing to consider, self portrature or portraits of others. It doesn't have to be 'conventional.' It can be of part of a face, body parts, etc...

I have received a lot of advice! Thank you! I filled up a 2 gig card in my Canon Rebel over the weekend.  I have posted 6 shots already, more to come.  I also bought a lightbox to do some macros, which I love.
 
I will take all of your advise and see if I can implement it sooon!!  Thank you all!

Don't forget a Zoo is a great place to shoot as well..