Like some of you reading this blog, my passion for photography has grown in fits and spurts over the years. As a kid I really wasn’t the slightest bit interested. In high school however I was fairly active; I remember taking most of the photos for my school yearbook in Queensland. I spent all of my early adulthood playing the drums in several bands around Brisbane - photography was the furthest thing from my mind... About 4 years ago however, I took the plunge and bought a second hand D-SLR camera body and a few lenses on eBay in reasonably quick succession to buying a mid-range point-and-shoot. I was hooked again. I would take my camera everywhere in much the same way as I do now – the difference being I was constantly taking images too. Trees, flowers, bugs, my darling wife (who hates being photographed but became my #1 model) and basically anything else I could point my lens at. It wasn’t unusual for me to take at least a few dozen images every single day and twice on Sundays! Why? Because I could. Because it was fun. Because no matter how many images I took I still wanted to take more. I had passion! My new “best ever shot” was only one shutter actuation away.
But then we decided to take my passion and try to make a bit of money out of it. Not a lot of money, but I was doing something I loved so it’s all good right? Well, yes – and no.
You see, I had (and still do have) a full time day job. It’s great – a nice security blanket thank you very much. But it also meant that any photography jobs I did get had to be held during weeknight evenings or on the weekends. Initially this wasn’t a problem – but in the last year things have gotten a little bit out of control. It’s totally awesome that people hire me because they like my work and would like to have me take their treasured images. It still makes me genuinely happy when I secure a new client. Not because of the money; although it is a bonus, but because those people have faith in my abilities and I will strive to give the best possible images back to them as a result.
But there is another cost, other than the monetary relief that my photography provides. Long gone are the days where I would regularly take a whole bunch of images of nothing just for the heck of it – for the pure enjoyment of the art, the ability to create a cool image out of nothing. In their place I instead have an enforced passion for post production. Instead of going for a 4 hour drive on a Sunday to Hicksville just south of nowhere just to grab a bunch of shots – now I spend hour upon hour cataloguing, editing, cloning, masking, duplicating, exporting and archiving about 10,000 images in a busy month. Is there any passion in this – no, not a great deal. As I said, the actual image capture part still gives me a buzz but that’s only about a quarter of the effort that goes into a shoot from welcoming the clients to “here’s your proofs”.
For the keen readers out there, you will know that this is part of the reason that I really enjoy going on photo walks with some mates from time to time. But if I had the opportunity I would jump in my car, by myself, start driving and stop driving somewhere like Prevelley Beach, Margaret River – or [insert desirable location here] only to get the shots I want and head home the same day… all “because I could”.
So, now that I have made a short story as long as possible I have decided wherever possible to take some time to keep my passion for photography alive, to ensure that it really does not become a second “job” that I loathe. I have come close the last few weeks; but it doesn’t have to be like that. Remember that the most important thing in your photography is you – not your clients, your peers or your critics. If you loose the drive that got you to where you are in the first place you might as well use your spare time more productively and strap a Domino’s Pizza delivery sign to the roof of your car.
Make time for you. Make time for photography that you want to do. No one will probably ever see the images from this down time, but who cares. It’s not about them – it really is all about you and keeping your creative passion. The end.
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