Michael Pino: Photography & Design

Taking a Break from the Everyday

So for the past week—as well as today—I have taken a break from my other project for the year: Project 365. While neither of these projects have been very demanding, they have proven themselves to be draining at time. This can be seen more so in my photographs from my photo a day project.

If you look through that gallery, you will see a lot of the same. Now that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It means that I have found an aspect of photography and spent a lot of time working on it. For most of the photos that have the strobist tag applied to them a good deal of planning would go into the photo. Such planning included:

1. Lighting
2. Positioning of Camera/Lights
3. Exposure hunting
4. Experimentation

While all of these things are good, I didn’t see me pushing myself to create any photos that looked different from each other. Which is why I took a break. This hiatus on Project 365 has allowed me to determine where I would like to go in the future with it and what my focus should be.

I’d also like to push for the readers of this article to take their own breaks when they feel like doing so. While it sounds like a ridiculous proposal, this break will give you the chance to focus on other things around you. During my break, I learned how to cook beef bourguignon. And while I wanted to photograph that delicious creation, I held back and decided not to. I have also taken the time to learn more about Dreamweaver and CSS. I even read and re-read my camera’s manual.

You can use your breaks for anything: a total removal from your everyday routine or the chance to learn something new. Mine was limited to capturing any photographs, but I did allow myself to read about new design and photo techniques. In the end, I guess what I’m trying to say is to stop doing something for a week, and see what you can do to improve that one thing that you stopped.