Have you ever felt fed up with photography? Disillusioned? Frustrated? Uninspired? Burnt out? If so, you are not alone in your feelings. Take it from me: Most of us feel that way at some point or another, often on multiple occasions. Fortunately, there is a lot of sound advice for when you feel that way.
(For instance, you might try new techniques for a different perspective and a fresh outlook, or you might spend time looking at photobooks in search of inspiration…)
In this article, I discuss one particularly common piece of advice for photographers; even if you haven’t received it directly, you will have probably heard it (or read it) being given to someone else at some point.
Here’s the advice: When you feel burnt out (or fed up, or uninspired, or down), take a break from photography.
On the surface, this can seem like a great idea and a great piece of advice. However, once you dig a bit deeper and dissect the possible outcomes, you should see that a break from photography has significant consequences.
I’m not saying that a break can’t do you good. However, it’s important to recognize both the benefits and drawbacks, and how they’ll affect you (and, if you have one, your business) before you make the decision to step away.
I took a break, and the consequences were real
This topic is quite personal. I followed this advice several years ago after struggling with severe burnout. Because of this, the topics discussed in this article are based on some of the things I experienced after taking a break.
That said, even though this is quite personal, I try to keep that aspect out of this article as much as possible. My goal is to keep things analytical and leave the anecdotes to a minimum.
And I want to emphasize that your situation and experiences won’t be the same as mine. I may have experienced negative consequences when taking a break from photography, but that doesn’t mean you will. If you’re on the fence about it, I encourage you to have a good, hard think about whether any of this applies to you.
Photographic breaks come with benefits
As mentioned, the advice photographers often get is to take a break from photography. This does have some benefits (and I did experience those).
By taking a step back, you can gain both space and time to give things an honest appraisal and discover exactly what is causing the feelings of frustration that led you to the point of wanting to take a break in the first place. This a huge advantage, and if used well, you can take that insight and fix, or cut out, whatever was causing your frustrations.
Some of the things that are easier to evaluate from a safe distance include: what you like and don’t like, the direction your photography is heading in, your working habits, and your personal values and how they apply to your photography.
That time can also give you the opportunity to let some information sink in. If there’s a concept or a technique that you just can’t wrap your head around, stepping away from actively pursuing it gives your brain the opportunity to work on the problem in the background.
Why taking a break can be a problem
While the benefits of taking a break are clear, some of the potential negative consequences are less obvious. Here are points to keep in mind as you make your decision:
1. Your habits may degrade
If you’ve been involved with photography for any amount of time, you have gradually built a series of habits and systems that you go through every time you take photos. This could be your post-processing workflow, it could be the way you research locations, or it could be the way you conduct yourself on social media.
The thing is, these habits and processes were built step by step. You didn’t just wake up one day and have a complete post-processing workflow in place.
When you decide to take a break, you’re taking a break from your habits and routines. If these were developed over years of practice and daily ritual, what happens when your break is over? Chances are, when you come back, you may very well struggle to jump back into those complex habits. Instead of building things up gradually, you are trying to get back into a routine all at once. This can be extremely difficult at the best of times.
If you think about this just in the context of social media, posting content every day (or at least regularly) can be a significant job with plenty of work going into each post. Stopping that routine and then trying to come back to it months later could be overwhelming, and it might take significant effort to overcome a challenge like that.
There’s also the possibility that once you step away from social media, you may very well recognize just how toxic it can be. This makes it even more difficult to willingly step back into that arena – even though it’s often a necessary part of building a photographic business or brand.
2. Tools and techniques can change
Depending on how long your break lasts, things that you take for granted can change dramatically. My break lasted a couple of years. During that time, Photoshop transformed into something only slightly recognizable. Lightroom became the go-to image manager and editor for photographers, and Instagram went from iOS users only to taking over the world.
You can probably see the disadvantages here. In this technological world, everything changes at a ridiculous pace. By taking time out, you are removing yourself from a position where you can adjust to these changes as they happen. When you decide to come back, you now have an enormous workload of stuff that you have to learn or relearn just to put yourself at the same level you were before.
3. People can change
If you’re a portrait photographer or any sort of client-based photographer, this is probably the most applicable point to you.
Much as the tools of the trade change over time, so will your network. Once you’re on a break, any previous contacts or clients will move on and find another photographer. Models, make-up artists, and other collaborators may move on or change focus themselves.
This applies equally to social media and real-life networking.
If you weren’t on a break, this isn’t avoidable – but your network would still be growing naturally. However, if you’re not there to grow that network, the holes that these people leave will be empty once your break is over. If your break lasts a couple of years, you may come back to find that the network that you put a significant amount of time and effort into building is decimated.
4. Piecing it back together can be hard
All of these things on their own may not seem insurmountable, but once you add them all together, they can become an enormous challenge that will set you back in both time and effort.
Having to refocus on these things also means that once you’ve decided that you’re ready to come back to photography, you have to put a great deal of time into the things that aren’t photography.
For a lot of people who are frustrated and disillusioned with their shooting, it is often these ancillary administrative tasks that cause feelings of frustration and disillusionment in the first place.
Weigh your choices!
If you are in a position where you are considering taking a break, I understand and I empathize. A lot of photographers have been there before.
But before you make a decision, please, please take the time to consider all of the possible consequences.
Again, my circumstances will be different from yours and your consequences may not look remotely like mine – but there will likely be consequences that you aren’t yet able to see. Please dig deep, think about your scenario, and try to take them into account.
Have you taken a break from photography before? Are you considering taking a break now? Feel free to share your experiences in the comments below!
