Christmas is just around the corner now that we have survived the apocalypse. Photographers everywhere will get all sorts of goodies on Christmas morning, or Christmas Eve, depending on the traditions in play. But most will not get what they really need for Christmas.
What photographers really need for Christmas is time. Yes, time. Not more camera gear or software or filters or camera bags or whatever. Time.
To be a creative person requires space to thing, time to ponder and consider, and time to really examine the work we have already shot. We need time to browse through books and/or the Internet for inspiration. We need time in our own heads.
All creative bursts come out of a time of stillness. That might be stillness in our photography because we’ve been stuck for some time producing the same type of work. It could be stillness of meditation, or just time alone, wandering in nature. But in busy lives we need to make stillness.
So if you have a photographer that you want to give something to, offer to drive the kids to school so they can spend some time thinking. Or do the dishes, wash the house, send them out for the day with you handling all that they leave behind. Or whatever, but give them the gift they really need, time. And this is true of all other creatives too.
Merry Christmas to all our readers.