Photographing Less

Taking Stock in St Lucia

There are plenty of reasons for low photography output during a Canadian winter; the constant need to think about gear protection is good enough. Sometimes, life just gets too congested and photography has to give.

Shortened daylight hours, brutal winter storms and wall-to-wall work plus life admin does accelerate the first three months of the year, but geez does it limit time for much else.

I have found myself admiring the consistency of others, while enjoying the work of others. Books have been read, blogs and posts digested. Sometimes your own consumption prevents creation starvation.

Late March it became clear a break was needed. Despite being someone who might be regarded as fairly resilient - the lack of outlet and downtime was starting to compound. Typically I will push myself to consistently deliver; on occasions though you can’t just push through and do it all.

So, a week in St Lucia was just the ticket to unwind and pick up the camera again.

There is a very strong argument that beautiful locations and good light make photography an easier venture. But making great and beautiful images you can be pleased with takes patience, and the meter for patience is time.

Having the time to saunter around with a camera was a delight - no pressure, no deadlines, bliss. It was fruit’n awesome to be back.

Whilst the time and space suddenly switched ‘on’ from leaving Toronto to landing in St Lucia, this isn’t a sustainable solution. Working solid days - sometimes including 9 hours of straight Teams calls with the actual deliverables either side - followed by all the life admin needed so keep going is not the model we should accept. Is a side effect of AI the human desire for more human-to-human engagement? Maybe one for another day…

Spring is around the corner and for residents of Toronto this means patio season on Friday and hat, gloves and touching freezing on Saturday; the opportunity to live more of life outdoors is nearly here. Almost. Hold on folks.

On returning to the big smoke of the True North the great spring clothing changeover (maybe prematurely, but baseball is back) has happened and the camera gear is dusted off ready for some local photowalks and new adventures in Ontario.

Meanwhile it is very (incredibly) easy to beat yourself up for ‘under delivering’ in the creative department. As a hobbiest (nearly typed ‘hobbit’ - if only!) this is a mindset you need to drop. Life has its demands, finding balance is better than beating yourself up. 

One of my lax Sunday morning reads - the regular newsletter from Jeremy Bassetti - was a timely echo back to me. Sometimes we can be full and busy in the positive sense. Sometimes we can achieve more than it feels like, we just need to stop to recognise it. A little more photography in there would be better.

I’m looking forward to blasting through some aging and expired film stocks and getting some local noticing done.

All the images here are from St Lucia, notably around the south west of the island close to both pitons. A country full of love and charm, a history chequered and real. If you get the opportunity to explore it, I would strongly suggest you take it.

Anyway, off to see if I can get some film developed…thanks for stopping by! Hit the link above to subscribe and below to connect on social media.