Sunrise at The Gap, originally uploaded by Adriana Glackin.
There would be no excuses about no time, or being too busy, or couldn’t think of what to shoot, or being too tired, or no props, or there’s nothing exciting to shoot. Nosirree, no excuses – I would be surrounded by fresh scenery – beaches, bush, pastureland, dairy farms, and quaint country towns – gosh, I was even planning the shots in my head as we drove to our holiday destination. That is, until I got there. The minute I stepped out the car, I immediately went into holiday mode. All I wanted to do was go to the beach and have fun with my family and friends; all day and every day. There were days that I really struggled to even take the camera out of its bag as it would mean time away from my family and friends. Stealing myself away from them made me resent the project and resent the commitment I’d made to myself about completing it.
I then got to thinking – how do the really serious photographers go while on holidays? Do they even have holidays? Do they struggle to have a good time? Do they switch off from all things photographic? Or do they have their cameras around their necks no matter what? Is every moment a photographic moment? What is a holiday to a serious photographer? And is that the difference between a wannabe and a serious photographer – that there’s no such thing as a holiday as every opportunity is a photo opportunity? I would love to hear your thoughts on this. How do you juggle the fun times with photographic times while you’re on holiday? Needless to say there are many photos I didn’t take, which really is just as well as we’ll be returning again next year.
