Sometimes it is too easy to talk yourself into thinking things are not working out! At a recent event I was thinking “this is just not happening”! I’m not on the ball. I’m not seeing any photo opportunities. There was light rain, people walking through or even stopping right in front of me while I'm framing up. The light would come and go or the backgrounds were ugly. You start to mentally disconnect and it becomes deflating.
I guess it can be the danger of pre-visualising too much of what to look for in an uncontrollable shooting location or in a public space. So how to stick with it? I stopped talking myself into failure. I slowed down and took time to look for possibilities. I stopped working from the expectation of what I should be doing, and moved forward to change that into looking at what there could be and for potential. Sort of think that applies to a lot of things in life.