Channeling my inner photographer

Finding time is a new issue of mine when dealing with my primary hobby of photography. My job change a year ago has left me with less access to open resources to get myself interested- Flickr, training videos, general inspiration. The other big time change is my daughter. She is a wonderful, incredible, change in my life. I look back at photos from the first month and I can't believe it happened still. 

I do a lot of photographing her, and she is my main target of focus. My nature and other object photography has taken, a literal, backseat to her. I used to go out side to photograph frost on blades of grass, but now I spend that time playing with her. So the time I spent practicing photography is no longer as abundant as it used to be. 

I don't feel like I am in a rut with my photography, but I don't feel natural progression I had felt for the past couple of years. I have taken a grand total of one vacation day for travel in about a year now. (thankfully that was to Chicago for U2) I've been to a couple concerts, but photography was not a primary goal due to new time restrictions. I used to look forward to trips as adventures in photography. Ways of getting out and capturing the locations I was visiting. For instance, traveling to Peru two years ago. I was super excited about that prospect. I came back looking for ways I could have improved myself, or if I had other gear in those conditions. I always try to learn from those conditions.

But now, I am not traveling, limited free time to venture out for photography, and very little research time to get inspired and learn. While I am very happy with the resulting photos I take, I always want to get a better shot or expand what I am able to do. I am my own worst critic I suppose. So what can I do to grow?

The one area I think I need to work on, and can, is my planning. What the resulting image should look like in my head- then reverse design it to get my best possible shot. I am fairly comfortable with the limits of my gear, have some wide variety of ideas, and the execution can be tricky for me. Taking the time to sketch out a design, or making sure the setup is good well before the time comes to do the photograph. 

My second goal is to improve the execution of images. If I am dealing with people, give them directions, be more communicative. Talk with them, give/get a feeling for what I am trying to do with the image I am taking. Show them the results to see if they like what they see if possible.

If I am dealing with setups of stationary objects, really work at making sure the image is what I want it to be. Don't accept the idea that 'well, thats as good as it gets...' Try something different, maybe a different shade of light, or otherwise. In other words- be creative. Something that doesn't come naturally to me.

In summation, I need to work on areas that do not come naturally to me- people skills, communication, being creative, and thinking differently. I know I love to do the 'monkey-see, monkey-do' style of photography. These are times and chances to branch out a bit and see if I can't come up with something I hadn't previously thought of because I was able to spend the time, research, and inspiration to grow. Now I need to find if I can channel the inner photographer to come up with new stuff on my own with the limited time I have to do it... an daunting task I am willing to take!