I recently fielded an email from a colleague about getting burned out. Burned out of photography, and the constant hustle of being a small business owner. As I struggled to make sure that I was responding correctly to this fellow photographer, I started to think… and what I thought wasn’t all that pretty.
Sometimes, I get really sick of it all. The constant onslaught of wedding blogs that feature the best of the best, pinterest, photography forums… all of it. Sometimes I hit a wall where I feel like I’m creating the same thing over and over again. My brain feels like it is constantly on hyperdrive. No matter if it is Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or any other form of social media… I basically look at photographs all day. And then add that on top of the magazines, books, and other forms of inspiration I devour… it gets to be a lot. Have I ever been burned out? No, not yet. I don’t think. But I can definitely see how it happens.
So my response to my friend, was to shoot more. But to shoot for herself. To shoot what she loves, with no pressure of ever doing anything with the images. Even though she mentioned that she was sick of photography… I didn’t actually believe that to be true. We photographers are kind of like addicts. We’re never sick of the photography, but more so, the business behind the photography.
So, last week, on a whim… I threw my little brood into the car for a 12-hour drive to New Mexico to visit my family. Somehow I convinced my sister and her family to meet me there, and it turned out to be a wonderful weekend. I shot a lot of what I loved while I was there, and it ended up looking a whole lot like this…
