The “work” of photography and life.
As I’m sitting down in the early afternoon to write this, I realized I wasn’t sure what to say. You see, my mind has been all over the place today. I have so much work to do that I have been putting off for months. For me, there are two parts to photography, the fun and the work. The fun is going out into the field and actually making photographs. Finding the wildlife, watching and observing their behaviors, finding a setup that works and actually pressing the shutter, that is the fun part. I find tremendous joy in this part of my job. Scouting new locations, coming up with ideas and executing them. It feeds my soul. Then there is the “work” part of photography. I’m a one woman show as I have been my entire adult life. I mange my website and social media. I process all my photos on my own. Cataloging, sorting, culling and editing sometimes seems like it could be my full time job especially when I get behind on these activities. Add on top of that the logistics of travel planning for this life on the road. It can sometimes be overwhelming. My mind starts to race with mental lists of all the things I need to do and time frames of when these things should be completed. I suffer true “paralysis by analysis” moments. I don’t even know where to start and I therefor don’t start at all. It has been that kind of day. I’m not saying I haven’t accomplished anything today but I haven’t finished anything either. I’ve started researching the best way to set up a shop so I can sell prints. I finalized a new collection for the website but it hasn’t been uploaded. I’m halfway through a series of articles I have been reading for the last few days. I have countless more photos to edit so that I can decide which ones will make the 2027 calendar and which ones will be available for purchase. I’m in the process of planning the rest of this year and next years travel schedule. The list of things to do goes on and on. Then there are the everyday life things that need to be done. The boring cooking, cleaning, laundry, groceries and most importantly making sure Scout has his needs met. I get lost as to where to begin. Hence my feelings today.
It’s important to give ourselves grace when we feel overwhelmed and exhausted. Almost no problem needs to be solved in this second. I’m going to start by taking a little break and relaxing with Scout. Then I’m going to make a list of the things I need to get done. I’m not going to put a specific time frame on them but instead list them in the order of importance with the goal to tackle one each day. Wish me luck!
For more content from me check out my Substack at macturkphotos.substack.com, Instagram at instagram.com/macturkphotos or Facebook at facebook.com/wendy.macturk
Keep exploring,
Wendy
