If you are a regular reader of this blog and an avid viewer of my YouTube channel, you’ll have been wondering where I have been and why haven’t been posting. In this post explain my reasons for the break and my absence from all things social.
A much-needed break from social media.
I have a love-hate relationship with social media, there are days when I love the interaction and the enjoyment of talking to people I have never met or would never meet in real life, that feeling of chatting to somebody on the other side of the world like they are in the same room is always exciting.
There are also days when social media destroys my soul. Yes, those petty arguments over how an image should be processed or if that image meets certain criteria. The constant need to shout, hey look at me. It’s draining.
I had two weeks’ leave from work in August, and I decided to take a break from social media and being behind a computer. It was a nice break as I had been working solidly for 6 months due to being a key worker and being stuck in the same 10×8 foot room, day in, day out was starting to take its toll. There is only so much time you can spend behind the computer. The break was welcome.
A loss of inspiration
I’m not sure if it’s due to the situation that’s happening around the world or just my mind at the time, but I’d lost the love of taking photos. I’m very reliant on public transport to get to photography locations and as you may know, this has been quite restricted over the last 6 months, so a journey that was quite complicated had become quite a challenge. It quite often took away that already dwindling enthusiasm to get out of bed in the morning.
I also was suffering from social media photography fatigue. On social media, you’ll see that most photographers will only post their best images. This can really kill the confidence, especially when you struggle to get to those dramatic places. What we have to remember is that for the one fantastic shot on social media, there are probably hundreds even thousands that didn’t make the cut.
How to find that spark again?
As I said earlier I decided for my own health that a break was welcome, but I didn’t think it would be two months! Do I regret doing so? No! It’s good to take a break, recharge those batteries and gather inspiration. I also decided to take a trip to Keswick in the Lakes, a place I hadn’t been to before. That’s a post for another day. I made one conscious decision when embarking on this trip, no social media, no vlogging, even if it would have made great content. Just 3 days of pure photography. The plan worked as I now have the spark again.
I have one last trip planned which may be my last as the area I live in, is due to go into lockdown and no trips in or out. Luckily my trip to Ambleside which I had planned since June, has come just before the lockdown came into force.
I have made a commitment to myself, that if I can’t travel out of my local area and public transport I am going to explore my local area and find those places I have never been to or haven’t been to for years, it could be fun. I’ll miss you Liverpool and Manchester. I’m sure we’ll meet again soon.
So what am I going to take from this?
If there is one thing I can take from this break, is that rest is always good and that the pressures of social media shouldn’t be allowed to influence you or you’re health. Here’s to the future. I can see that 2021 is going to be a good un!