As a self employed photographer it is easy to work 12 plus hours, 7 days a week. Photography is fun work, especially when it is as varied as what Mark and I get to do on a daily basis; theatre, dance, publicity, portraits, studio fun. But after enough hours that fun can turn into a chore without a break from “the studio/office” which is our house. And when I say break, I mean a break from all technology(except cameras), email, phones, computers. So we pack up our car and go camping or disappear to a small B&B. In California there are an abundance of places where one can escape to and since we normally head to the coast we recently decided to go North and check out Lake Shasta before hanging around Crater Lake for 4 freezing nights.
It was glorious! Fresh air, silence, birds, swaying trees, water, all blissfully glorious. As we get busier with photography I no longer have the spare time to spend creating meals that are well thought out and balanced. But when we camp, I have all day to think about cooking and we typically eat much more lavishly on plastic plates next to a roaring fire than we do at home. We also do what we like to call “fishing”. We find a beautiful vista and then photograph nature with a tri-pod, this is our version of meditation, taking in the surroundings while shooting just to satisfy our own curiosity.
Camping may not be for everyone but breaks are necessary to recharge the creative batteries and whether it is indulging in a book, unplugging from our phones, going to Disneyland, or hitting the beach, we each need to take the time necessary to refuel so that we can continue to explore ideas and produce art/photography/theatre.
How do you recharge?
Here you can see 9 images including the one above, of Crater Lake in a much larger format to get a better idea of what a magical place it is.
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