I’d never heard of a busman’s holiday before? Nor had I thought I’d ever been on one!
noun: busman’s holiday
- a holiday or form of recreation that involves doing the same thing that one does at work.
“a fire crew’s Christmas outing turned into a busman’s holiday when their coach caught fire”
While Shelly is away, I thought it would be a good opportunity to take some time off from shooting to take the wheel of the good ship Toy Photographers. I’d been running low on motivation and inspiration and thought this would be the perfect chance to recharge and reenergise. And while I thought I’d relish the break, I found myself doing what I usually do, a busman’s holiday.
Shelly and I share the load of the social media management. We take turns pushing posts out to IG and Facebook. We take the reins of the newsletter on alternate months, editing and sending out the weekly recap.
Just leave the subway a station
You’re on holiday, not vacation
Frenzal Rhomb – Holiday Not Vacation
Admittedly, it was my month to send out the newsletters, and with Shelly away, I only have an extra 3 or 4 social media shares to take care of each week. And, thanks to our wonderful regular contributors here, the posts take care of themselves. But the chance to step back from my creative slump and focus on the admin seemed just the thing I needed to recharge my creativeness. Or so I thought?
a busman’s holiday
With my self-imposed break from shooting, I found myself doing what I usually do. I was planning shots, scouting locations and even documenting the sun at different times in our backyard. And whilst I never pressed the shutter button once, I’m pretty sure I took more photos in my mind that I would’ve if I was shooting.
Not picking up the camera made me think more about ideas. So many concepts rattled around in my head. Planning shots that I had no immediate intention of shooting took more elaborate twists. Tales grew from simple ideas.
So, maybe a busman’s holiday was just the ticket I needed to get things back on route again?
– Brett
Have you ever taken some time off? Did you manage to actually take a break? Or did you find yourself doing what you usually do regardless?
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We have a saying in Turkish, it loosely translates as “Every day is a holiday for the crazy.” I haven’t been actively working for some time now, and I feel the opposite may be true for me. I get more ideas when I do something, preferably work, but never have the time to take pictures. When I’m just sitting at home, complaining about the weather or life in general, the inspiration eludes me. As soon as I start working on something – anything, really – it comes flowing back. The mind is a strange thing, give it some rest and it gets bored. Keep it busy and it starts working all sorts of ways. Maybe that was the case with you too 🙂
Wouldn’t it be great if we could shoot when inspiration hits?!
What usually happens with me is that once I’ve decided to “take a break”, all the pressure is removed and then I take photos anyway. When I feel like “I have to take photos today because I’m going to be too busy with work next week”, then nothing creative happens 🙂 It’s all in my head 🙂 So I should give myself permission to take a break more often!
Great post Brett!
Lynn
I highly recommend taking breaks. I used to dost at least daily. That just kind of happened, but then I felt the need to do so. That pressure to perform nearly killed off all my creativity. The day I decided to only post when I had something worth posting, and relish the times when I didn’t, was the revelation!