Make Time For Your Photography

Since posting "How Dedicated To Photography Are You?" I've had a lot of people tell me they're trying to make time for their photography but...

How do you 'Make Time' for your photography? Is it even possible to make time?

The real problem is this. We cannot make time. It's impossible! Time is time and that's all there is whether it's for photography or anything else in life.

We all have the same amount of it, every hour, every day and every week. That's me, you - everyone in the whole world has the same amount of time. It's our choice as to how and what we choose to spend it on.

Ever notice how some people always have money? I don't mean a lot of money, I just mean they always have 'some' money and don't run out. It's because they manage it and and that's what we have to do with our time if we want to improve as photographers.

Now, I know we all have commitments which burn time, like working for money, cleaning the house, looking after our loved ones etc and I'm not suggesting for a moment we let life go to ruin so we can learn to take better photos. But what would happen if you chose to regularly spend an amount of time on your photography?

Photography cannot be learnt by reading books, magazines or watching photography videos. You have to practice a lot before it becomes what's called unconscious competent, the place where you can do it without having to think about it much. To achieve that you have to go out and DO things.

What would be the impact of re-allocating some of the time spent just watching, reading and talking about photography and spent it on doing photography instead? What would happen to your creative skills if you spent an hour practising depth of field or exposure techniques in the front room, instead of complaining about what's on TV? You don't have to travel to far flung exotic locations to learn depth of field or how to use ISO speed to get the shutter speed up. You don't even need to leave the armchair to do that.

What would be the impact of having mastered appropriate light and focal lengths in your front room when you DO find yourself in a great location? Or in beautiful light? Or with any amazing photo opportunity right there in front of you?

Instead of fumbling about trying to remember how to control exposure, depth of field, composition alignment etc, then getting all frustrated and shoving the camera on auto because you can't remember, you'd know what needed to be done to capture the image at it's absolute best. You'd look at it and think "I did that" and feel great about it.

So whilst none of us can 'make' time, we can choose what to spend it on.