Work-Life Balance as a Street Photographer

Photography Tips  •  Street Photography

Photography is a profession for some, and a hobby for many. In any case, the chances that all photographers will make a living by only shooting the genres that they like are very low. For instance, a landscape photographer may be stuck working day time as a fashion photographer. Even worse, a street photographer may be obliged to work a very busy day job. In such cases, photographers thus need to maintain a delicate balance between photography, work, and life. Otherwise, it’s usually photography that gets the axe. Photographer Sean Tucker talks with street photographer Mo Barzegar about how he keeps his spirit for street photography high amidst his busy day job:

When you get too busy with work, your creativity can suffer. It thus becomes very important that you invest any opportunity that you get in shooting what you like. Otherwise your busy-ness can evolve into an excuse, causing you to stop doing photography once and for all.

From what Barzegar said in the interview, it’s quite clear that you need to make the best use of any time you get. For instance, you can dedicate certain hours of your weekends to photography. And whatever hours you allot for photography, be sure to indulge religiously. No excuses whatsoever. As Barzegar shares, even a day of photography every week is enough for producing a good body of work.

And another important thing is to continue challenging yourself to keep the interest alive. Try shooting in different places to break the monotony. Similarly, shoot during different hours of the day. This presents you with varying lighting conditions to shoot in. And also try working with varying focal lengths. Different focal lengths render the subjects differently and present you with newer perspectives.

“It is important for us to continue to challenge ourselves. Never feel comfortable doing what we do. Always find a new way of shooting.”

If you’re feeling swamped with work, and finding it difficult to keep the interest in photography alive, take some inspiration from Barzegar. It’s really great to see how he’s been managing time for his photography despite leading a growing company in a city like London.