I'll tell you a secret about how I stay creative. Now that I have a little time I have dug out all my fundamental photography books and I am reading them again. I also have a little black book where I keep notes of all the important information I have ever learned about photography from books, other photographers, and experience, and I am reading it again. I now have time to go out and strengthen my foundational knowledge with freedom to focus on making great images "in camera". By Spring I will be energized and ready to be as creative as I can be without the stress of thinking about making "just" a great image.
The way I see it, if you ever stop learning then that is where you start to die as an artist. Evolution and change will keep you fresh and relevant no matter what kind of style you have. But it is not so much about "how creative" you can be but more like "how often". It's great to create an amazing image one week and ride the popularity of it's witness to your peers but it should be fundamentally important for you to be ready to do it again. Ideas and inspiration are integral to creativity but the desire to be creative is the river that flows beneath the surface of our daily lives and without it, we will just become a desert waste-land of stuff we did. Like an old building with peeling paint and collecting dust, a shell of an animal that lived it's life and was respectful enough to die and get the hell out the way.
I hope you think about this sometimes and when life gives you rest, get back to the basics. Renew your desire to stay creative, shed your old skin, and start winding the coil for that creative energy your going release through out the year...
...did I ever tell you how the Dinosaurs died out.......?
