Image by Katherine Martins
Photographer Albert Dros likes to keep busy. Whether you’re traveling to Antarctica or exploring Kyrgyzstan, Dros is in constant motion. However, as has happened to many, their routine changed dramatically due to the coronavirus pandemic. While many feel the stress of having to stay at home, this is particularly difficult for creatives like Dros, who make a living traveling and living with other people.
So what can photographers do if their normal workflow suddenly pauses? As Dros reminds us, staying at home doesn’t mean doing nothing. “We can use these moments to our ‘favor’ and do things we wouldn’t normally do or for which we don’t have time,” he writes.
Thanks to today’s technology, there are still many things to do with the free time that perhaps you now have on your hands. Whether you implement strategies to increase your following, learn how to teach an online class, or learn a new skill, there are many different ways to occupy your time.
Let’s take a look at 10 things you can invest your time in while waiting for the end of quarantine, as Dros suggests. Once you start reading, you’re sure to find something that will give your career a boost.
WORK ON YOUR WEBSITE
Some extra time in front of your computer means more time to make improvements to your professional website. This may include updating it with your most recent projects, improving the user interface, or making sure your contact information is up to date.
WORK ON YOUR SOCIAL NETWORKS
With so much time at home, this is a good opportunity to connect with your followers. You can always post unpublished images, livestream one of your editing sessions, or make a dynamic Q & A with your followers.
Get inspired
The quarantine period has forced us all to pause, giving you more time to see what your fellow photographers are doing. Dros recommends Behance, a great platform to explore portfolios and get inspired by other creatives from multiple disciplines.
PROCESS UNUSED PHOTOS
Most photographers have images they have never been able to process or photos they would like to refine. Without the time constraints imposed by projects and due dates, this is a great time to review your file and work with pre-existing images. This is also an ideal way to generate more content for your social media profiles.
ORGANIZE YOUR FILE
“I have literally hundreds of thousands of RAW files on my hard drive. I will probably never use 80% of them,” Dros writes. We’re sure it’s not the only one, so this is a great opportunity to accommodate your files and define a good organization system if you don’t have one yet. As Dros points out, this not only concerns your photo file, but also your laptop or desktop computer. We all have heavy unused files that only take up space, so it’s a good time to clean up and optimize.
ACQUIRE A NEW SKILL
Have you ever wanted to learn video editing or expand your Photoshop knowledge, but don’t have time? Take this as an opportunity to develop or refine a skill. In addition to being intellectually stimulating, it will also help you promote yourself and make more money when things get back to normal.
RESEARCH FUTURE PROJECTS
Putting together projects can take weeks, if not months, from finding locations to raising funds. Use this moment and move forward on projects you were saving for when you “had time”. Now is when. Dros writes: “I simply look at the map by reviewing which places I still need to visit, I research the costs, I think about how I’m going to pay for it, and I see if I can find any way to work with companies that make these projects happen in the commercial sphere.”
DO A DEEP CLEANING
Organizing yourself can go beyond your computer and reach your photographic equipment. Dros suggests checking your old lenses, tripods and cases to put things in order and see if there is anything you no longer need that you can give away or sell.
PRINT YOUR WORK
In the digital age, it’s easy to forget to print our photographs. ” Great impressions of your work give another level to your photography, ” writes Dros. “It’s one thing to see your photo on a screen, and it’s quite another to hold a one-or two-meter print and hang it in your house.” For many, this is also a new skill they can learn. Expand your knowledge of paper, color profiles and printing technology to apply it to your work from now on.
START WRITING
Explore other means of expression such as writing, whether you write about photography or simply keep a personal diary. Professionally, Dros keeps busy writing articles for his industry websites. Photographers can also start a blog or increase the frequency of their posts during this time. Don’t know what to write about? Guides, tutorials, team reviews or behind-the-scenes stories about your favorite projects are some good ideas to pass the time.
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