5 Photography Lessons I Didn’t See Coming
Just like that, 2025 is almost over and the other day I was pondering over my biggest takeaways from this year. It’s not been the best year for me in terms of the quality of my work, and if anything it’s been a little messy, with me trying to navigate the ever changing world of photography, social media, and the world as a whole. While I don’t have all the answers, I do have 5 lessons that I’ve learned this year that I will take into 2026. Hopefully some of these resonate with you.
Treat photography as a second priority to having a nice day
Unless you’re getting paid, photography should always take second place to having a nice day. The moment you’re stressing over getting the shot, you’ve already lost. I always find that if I prioritise having a good day out, my mood is better, which in turn usually results in better photos. If you’re walking around the city grumpy, annoyed, or irritated that you didn’t get any good shots, that will translate into any future attempts you might have that day.
I can’t tell you what you need to do in order to have a nice day, as that’s too individual. What I can say is find what constitutes a nice day and make sure it happens, then bring the camera along for the ride. For me, it’s an early start, good coffee, good food, nipping into a museum, browsing a couple of stores, and generally being a tourist for the day. Whether I’m alone, with family, or with friends, having a good day out always takes priority.
Good shots come in bursts
This one took a few years to fully realise and accept. There will be periods of time where you get great shots one after another, and there will be dry spells where you feel like you’ve lost your ability to see. If I look at any given year, I will often find good shots clustered together with long periods where I don’t seem to get anything. I can easily see it by filtering my Lightroom catalogue using star ratings. Of course, this can be attributed to luck and coincidence, however I also feel that many other factors come into play, such as location, mood, who you’re with, frame of mind, gear, and novelty.
None of us are machines, and we can’t keep cranking out our best work all the time. So while dry spells are annoying, demotivating, and discouraging, they are a part of photography. The only way to get through them is to keep going. Think of your favourite musicians or film directors. Is everything they make good? I don’t think so. They also have dry spells where they produce work that doesn’t live up to their best self.
Your mood and state of mind reflect your work
This was my biggest lesson this year. I don’t care about politics, and for the sake of my own sanity I avoid the news as much as I can. With that said, over the last couple of years it’s been hard to stay optimistic about the state of the world. This has resulted in my mood and state of mind being less positive, less energetic, and even a little pessimistic. I’m probably the worst actor and liar in existence, because I can’t hide or mask how I feel. While some people can put on a happy face, for me it’s not easy to pretend. This is why I noticed how the level of my work, both photography and YouTube, has become a little stale, repetitive, and lacking in some aspects.
You can have the perfect location, ideal weather, incredible light, and the best camera in the world. However, if you’re mentally not present because you’re down over what you’ve seen in the news, you will walk away empty handed. I can recall so many times this year where I spent an entire day out shooting, yet I might as well have stayed in bed.
Your state of mind has a monumental impact on your work, and being aware of that is the first step to controlling it. How you deal with it will be very individual, and I’m not qualified to talk about these topics. Just be aware of this fact and nip it in the bud before it becomes all consuming.
You need to be a romantic
Many of you reading this will be familiar with two travel shows. Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown and the Long Way series where Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman ride their motorbikes through various parts of the world. The funny thing is that I am not a foodie. Matter of fact, I wouldn’t eat 70% of what Anthony tried on his travels. Equally, I don’t like motorbikes and you couldn’t pay me any amount of money to get on anything that has two wheels and an engine. So why is it that these two programmes have me hooked each time? Not only hooked, but they give me this amazing feeling of going on a big adventure and making the most of my own life.
I’ve been pondering this, and while there are many objective explanations around how those programmes are put together, the fundamental reason they speak to me is because the hosts have a romantic view of the world and how they live. They choose to focus on the positive, uplifting, and exciting aspects of whatever it is they are doing. They look at food and riding bikes through rose tinted glasses of curiosity, nostalgia, adventure, and romance. They look at the world almost like a kid does and want to portray it in that way. If it works for food and motorcycles, it can work for photography as well.
Doing nothing is doing something
In the current world of hustle culture, 24/7 winning, and drop shipping the entire high street before your 10th birthday, we might be forgiven for thinking that rest isn’t important. Well, I’m here to tell you that you can have too much of a good thing. Photography is a visual exercise that requires you to use your creativity, imagination, attention, problem solving, and situational awareness skills. These are not unlimited resources, and if abused, they will not work at their best. This year I went too hard, with too many trips and not enough rest, and this resulted in mental burnout on at least two occasions. This isn’t a complaint. I am fully aware of how privileged I am to be doing this, and that there are people working 1000 times harder making a real impact on the world. Despite that, too much photography can actually do you more harm than good. Learn when to take a break, find a totally different activity, ideally something physical, and let the photography part of your brain rest and reset.
