My co-workers are curious and that leads them to asking questions the irk me. I know they mean well and just want to hear how I am doing with a medium they themselves do not practice but sometimes returning to work after a weekend to be asked what I took photos of drives me crazy.
Perhaps it is because this year I am slowing things up to heal from burnout or maybe because it is a misconception to be a successful photographer you have to be taking photos for others 98% of the time. When the true reality is I shoot and a lot of photographers I know shoot way, way less frequently.
In fact most of a photographers time is spent in marketing, office work, doing contracts, and invoicing. The computer work of running a successful business.
Last year I took on a handful of shoots, I am talking can count them on two hands handful. I was successful, my business was in profit, and this year I will probably do far less because mental I am burnt out. Last years drama took a piece of me, writing a book and releasing it took a huge creative chunk out of me and now I need to recover.
So I have to decide what to tell these newer co-workers, whom I just started working with this year, not the co-workers of the last five years who know me and the struggle, who know where I am and encourage me to take a break before I burn everything I have worked for to the ground. I want to be nice but I so badly just want these new co-workers to stop asking what photoshoots I got up too.
Sigh… If you have advice I’d love to hear it in the comments.
