I’ve been having some time out….

(and NOT because I have wanted to!)

This isn’t an “I’m stuck in a creative rut” or “woe is me post”, more of an “when other things get in the way” post!

Since the New Year, I haven’t really posted anything on social media, nor have I written much for this blog or done anything new on the website! I haven’t been out to shoot for a few weeks either but have done some stuff in the studio (and a freebie for work doing some headshots).

Why? Because sometimes other things get in the way… namely work and having to go out and earn money doing something other than selling my prints on here (it’s not very lucrative and I know that selling landscape photos is a saturated market with a whole lot of talented photographers out there!) means that sometimes photography has to be in the passenger seat, although I would prefer not to be. Ultimately, I am still a stage in the game where (what I call my) real job finances anything that I want to do or achieve photographically.

I am trying to see positives in this, but what I am realising is that this has been a good thing for my photography and using this lack of time to go and shoot as a way to make me think about developing aspects of my work that don’t often get a look-in as well as trying out some new things.

I have used some of the time I’ve had to make plans, scout locations and to upskill my editing, which is something I have been wanting to spend time on for a while. It’s been quite fun (and a real challenge) finding raw photos online and then editing them. I’ve done a couple of editing “challenges” where you have to edit other people’s images and I find this a real hard task to complete – not least because I find that the raw image files behave so differently to each other, and the ones I get out of my own drone are no exception!

I’ve also worked on a couple of studio-based shoots, but nothing that I am ready to share yet – one of the things my time out learning new editing tricks has taught me is that my still life game needs to be upped and I like the idea of that challenge.

If you find yourself in a similar position, then here’s what I have found has helped me to maintain my interest, develop parts of my skillset and think of new ideas;

·      Learn from other photographers; find ones you like and study them – watch them on YouTube, read their books and look at their work. I have found some of the most insprigin stuff I have seen has been in photobooks; what is there in your niche and what can you differently!?

·      Develop your editing skills – I knew my photos were missing something and I have been working building the Orton effect into my workflow and identifying images where it will work.

·      Visit somewhere new; I have been pinning locations I want to visit onto a Google MyMap and this is something that I will try and tick things off during the Easter break and the summer holidays (Yes, I’m a teacher!).

·      Explore something new in photography. I worked on studio projects, you might want to try something else! You don’t need to spend money – maybe you could work on your portraits, or if you live alone work on some pet portaits or even explore the idea of self portraiture. The latter is probably one of the most difficult projects to embark on and not just because you have to take photos of yourself, but you have to take photos of you… I’ll leave you to unpick that!

Don’t let “real life stifle your passion for creativity if you can’t get out to shoot what you want to. Find new ways to be creative, you never know, you might like it!