Another tip from top photographer Ken Griffiths is: "Surprise yourself. Take pictures with your eyes closed. Hold the camera away from your body and don't look at what you're taking..."
As writers we sometimes get too obsessed with framing the perfect shot (or scene, or opening, or whatever), so maybe Griffiths' approach can prompt us to find something fresher.
For example, at the moment, I'm writing a TV movie and the opening scene is a father waking up his son in the morning by telling him it's time to get up--kind of a banal situation. Using Griffith's idea, I brainstormed some ways to surprise myself with this scene:
* start with the boy's dream
* have the father wake up the boy with a water pistol-- in turn, this gave me the idea that maybe the boy is already awake and hiding his water pistol under the covers, and this is a long-running thing between the two of them
* having the father send in the family dog to jump onto the bed to wake up the boy
--and a bunch more, but you get the idea.
The next time you're in a similar situation, it could be worth trying Griffiths' 'surprise yourself' approach.
