January was a funny month. It had bleak moments and it had happy times. It was slow. It was a month in which I thought I’d be super productive with my long, off-season to-do list. This being my first true slow season, I suppose I didn’t know what to expect, or how to schedule my time, though coming into it, I craved what I thought it would be. But I suppose I didn’t know how to be okay with doing nothing but read a book for an afternoon! It slipped by all so suddenly and I admit, I was happy to feel a change coming on. I saw my calendar filling up, the sun stay in the sky a little longer in the day, and we’re on the brink of wedding season!
I stumbled upon the blog of photographer Gail Werner and what she said completely resonated and reassured me that I wasn’t the only one…
“But like a lot of you, I struggle with this season, too. For every day of gratitude at the rest it affords comes an hour of surrendering to its doldrums. To that place where I crave the very activities that preceded it. And this, as so many of you creatives know, is the hard balance of this season. Where we have to find the beauty in the break without losing that creative spark that ignites the other 10 months of our year.”
As for next slow season, I plan to write myself a letter. Hey, it’s okay to feel this certain way or indulge in this but make sure you do this, and set realistic goals…kind of thing.
And then there’s the annual Wedding & Portrait Photographers International – WPPI – in Vegas! It falls over the next week and Shane and I will be there from Sunday-Wednesday and I’m actually so grateful for it. I know it will be busy (hey – it’s Vegas), though I think it will be the perfect motivator to fully make the break from this slower time to wedding season. I’m looking forward to learning from platform speakers, gaining new inspiration from and growing friendships with other photographers. If you’re going too and our paths happen to cross, please be sure to say hello!
Gail says
Oh Mikaela, so glad to hear I’m not the only one who feels this way about the off-season :)
Hope you have a wonderful time at WPPI! Bummed I’m missing it this year but I’m celebrating a birthday at home with loved ones so I can’t complain!
Whitney Lane Arnett says
Have so much fun at WPPI wish i was going this year!
Susana Cristina says
Have a great time @ WPPI and taking in all that great inspirational atmosphere!