Hey guys it's me! ME ROBERT, remember me? Maybe not ... because this crazy thing happened where I haven't posted a new image in about three months. (I know eww WTF!) Well anyway, I'm here to tell you that I still exist (yay) and I'm still going to be churning out art and blogging about the process! (Extra yay!)
Sometimes you are just not going to have the time to do the things you really want to do, and that's ok. You have to buckle down and get shit done (whatever that shit might be) so you can dive back into your passion projects after the dust clears. Well, let me just tell you that the last couple of months have been really dusty. Like, really really really dusty. I feel as though I've been waiting for freakin EVER for that dang dust to get the heck out of my way so I could work on my art again!
Thanks to Shelby Robinson for the behind the scenes shot ;)
For those of you that don't know, I do have a day job. However, it's basically the same thing I do in my free time anyway. I work full time at Simone Associates (a photography studio in Lebanon PA), so I get to take pictures, assist other photographers, and edit images all day long ... which is the greatest job ever. Period. The end. Except that at work, I can't spend hours upon hours (upon hours) editing an image I shot just for fun off in the woods somewhere. So after work, I use my free time to edit personal work.
Well over the last couple months, two of our biggest clients overlapped (which happens every year, but it was a particularly hectic schedule this time around), so I was in crazy-overtime-mode for like a thousand and a half years. Meaning I was spending SO much time editing at my desk. Aka I had basically zero free time. Also, any time that I could spend editing my own work would make me feel guilty. Like, "Well self, you're currently at your desk editing, you should really be getting a few more files done for work, there is so much left to do..." (#DeadlinesLikeWhoa) For months my days were basically: get up - go to work at least an hour early - edit all day long - go for a quick run - eat dinner - go back to my desk and edit until bedtime - rinse and repeat ....
Essentially what I'm saying is that I decided to consciously take an involuntary break from my blog/portfolio. As much as I did not want to lose momentum on my personal work and wanted to keep pumping out new beautiful imagery, I knew that my blog would be waiting for me when I was ready to pick it back up again. Also, taking a break can give your brain some much needed time to recharge and get excited about new pieces.
I'm not saying you have to wait until you're forced into a break, though. If you're working hard all the time to put out new pieces and feeling like you never have time to do anything else - or maybe you just feel like you only seem to be hitting one note and need some new ideas, it's okay to step back and take some time away. Everyone will miss you, but that just means they will welcome you back with eager-internet-arms with which to internet-hug you. It's a thing.
I was so looking forward to the day I'd be able to get back to work (my own work, not work work) ... then I realized that the dust had already settled. I was out of the proverbial woods and strolling across the open field, but still not taking the time for my artwork. I think because it had already been such a long break that it made it easier to keep going, "Well it's already been this long since I posted, might as well do this other thing rather than get to work on my next image." Taking a break can definitely be beneficial, but if you wait too long the break will start to take you. It gets harder and harder to get started again.
After this break (this really really long one..), I've finally been able to snap out of it and start prioritizing more of my time to doing what I love. I'm so energized and excited about my new work, and have SO MANY images at my fingertips just waiting to be edited. I can't even begin to tell you how stoked I am to have the time again to work on all of them. I still probably won't be able to post quite as frequently as I was earlier in the year - summertime leads to many weekend trips, weddings to attend, cookouts to be eaten and vacations to be soaked up, but that is all fun stuff and I'll get back to my normal schedule come fall. (Hey Fall, if you're reading this, please take your sweet-ass time. I'm not nearly done with summer yet. K thanks byeee!)
Well I must say it feels good to be back. I was SO excited to go to bed knowing I actually had a finished blog post to put up this morning. FINALLY! The image in this post (that I have neglected to mention thus far) is of my delightful friend Aleah at a meet-up she hosted this past May. She continues to be one of my favorite photographers and never ceases to impress me with every image she puts out ... which is every day because she is currently nearing the end of her 365 project! It was such a crazy fun meet-up and I shot a LOT of different concepts. I'll talk more about that in a future post. So stay tuned my friends HE'S BACK!
