Why So Many Photographers Burn Out (but you won’t)
Photography burnout is something that happens often but is rarely talked about.
This is because burnout is more commonly seen as a productivity or work related thing, but it can actually apply to hobbies and art as well.
And if the word “burnout” is too intense, you can think of it as a “loss of interest” as well.
A depletion or lack of energy, motivation, and enthusiasm for photography - the thing you once loved.
Today I’m going to share with you why I think many photographers burn out and a few tips I’ve learned over the years so you won’t.
Let’s begin.
The Loss of Enthusiasm
When we first get into photography, we’re unstoppable.
As newbies, we are excited by any and everything.
We watch all the camera gear reviews, we read all the blogs and forums, we look at anything photography related.
Photography is fun and interesting.
And our motivation is often carried by this “Beginner’s Enthusiasm”.
It doesn’t take much to excite us, and little pictures that might not even be that good make us happy.
More experienced photographers might scoff or laugh: “Look at this guy getting excited or impressed by every little thing”.
But deep down, many of us miss that kind of energy.
The feeling of photography being fun, interesting, and exciting.
And not worrying or caring about how “good” our photos are or aren’t.
If you’re in this phase, enjoy it.
Because after a certain point, that enthusiasm goes away.
When you’ve gone on hundreds of photo sessions, a colorful sunset just feels like another day.
When you’ve used and owned dozens of cameras, the next camera just feels like another box.
When you’ve taken plenty of good photos, the bar raises, and it takes more than just a decent photo to excite you.
Furthermore, once you’ve gotten used to all the online videos, articles, and blogs - you’ll see the patterns and everything feels like the same thing over and over again.
What you were once so enthusiastic about, you care less about now.
You may have also reached a level in photography where you understand the skill gap between where you are and where you want to go.
To bridge that gap takes a lot of work - and you don’t know if it’s worth doing.
You don’t know if you care about photography that much to get that good.
But at the same time, you’re not quite satisfied with your current photos.
So stuck in the middle, your solution becomes to slowly take less and less photos, and move onto something else new and exciting.
You’ll see this in other areas as well.
After a great few months at the gym, it’s not as easy, fun, or new anymore.
After the first few months playing pickleball you’re kind of whatever about it now.
We play a new game, and it’s fun, but after a while we get tired of it.
The human brain has a constant desire for new and different or else it gets bored.
And unless we figure out how to stay committed, we’ll continue to bounce between hobby and hobby, never really getting good at that one thing, but being an inch or two deep in twenty things.
All in all, this “loss of enthusiasm” is a dangerous trap for many photographers, creatives, and artists alike.
And even if you don’t consider it “burnout”, it’s a leading signal.
Because forcing ourselves to keep going through rigid discipline or willpower will only result in a full burnout later.
So these are, in my opinion, indicators that we need to change our approach, mindset, or processes about the craft, so we don’t jump ship and move to another new hobby, or force ourselves to keep going and ruin photography for ourselves.
So what are we supposed to do?
First, ask yourself whether you’re actually “burned out” or you’ve just run into a photography wall.
Because a lot of times, creatives aren’t actually burned out - they’ve just reached a wall they can’t overcome.
In these cases, learning to overcome obstacles is the next move.
Let’s talk about that.
The Wall in Front of Us
Most photographers aren’t actually “burned out” - they’ve simply ran into a large wall, and they don’t know how to get past it.
Think of it like this.
In photography we have different stages: beginner, intermediate, advanced, and expert.
Each stage is separated by different characteristics, experiences, and mindsets.
The beginner stage we covered earlier: filled with enthusiasm, excitement, and a lot of learning in a short span of time.
In contrast, the intermediate stage has a lot more pessimism and cynicism.
It’s here you’ll see a lot of fall out with photography.
People quitting and moving to different hobbies, a loss of enthusiasm with photography, and a bit of scorn or contempt for other photographers.
If you’ve been around for a while, you’ll know what I’m talking about.
These photographers have long passed the beginner stages, so the enthusiasm has worn off.
But they’re not quite at the breaking point for the next level and have been in the mud for a while, which leads to a lot of misery.
So it’s not a fun place to be and a lot of people quit or say stuff like:
“Photography’s not as fun as it used to be.”
Which is kind of like blaming the craft or the community for something it’s not responsible for.
We’ll cover these photography stages more deeply in another article, but this is the point I’m getting at:
The problem is not photography.
The problem is not other photographers or even camera companies.
And the problem is for sure not other people who simply “don’t understand” or “don’t appreciate your work”.
The problem is you.
Because right now you’re faced with a big big wall in front of you.
This wall is what’s preventing you from reaching the next level.
And instead of climbing it, for the past few years you’ve been avoiding or ignoring it, hoping it’ll go away.
Because deep down you know how much work and effort it’s going to take and you’re going to fail many times along the way.
And that’s painful so no one wants to go through it.
So instead of working on this wall, you blame other things, switch to other hobbies, etc.
Everything but taking responsibility to close this gap between where you are and where you want to go.
But newsflash.
The wall is still here - and it’s not going anywhere.
And if you want to get to the other side, (happy photography land where things are green and sunny again), you’ve gotta cross this barrier.
People often say: the first wall is the hardest.
That’s because when it’s your first time facing something like this, it seems big, scary, and unknown.
But as you get more experienced you start to understand the patterns and you’ll learn to see new walls as just another wall.
The good news is: you’ve found this article.
Because I’m going to share with you some things that have helped me overcome my own photography walls.
4 Tips to Overcome A Photography Wall
Tip#1. Learn to Accept It For What It Is
A wall is a wall and there’s no changing that.
Meaning if you’ve hit this bump in the road or something you can’t get past, don’t deny it’s existence.
Treat it and accept it for what it is, that way you can start taking steps to working through it, around it, or overcoming it.
It’s often the denial of hardship that makes hardship harder.
Acknowledge that obstacle or barrier, and keep walking.
Tip#2. Chip Away Little By Little
Big barriers don’t have to be crossed by big leaps.
If you have the capacity to jump or climb that high, sure.
But if you’re feeling some massive burnout or have some big obstacle in your way, don’t try to cross it in one go.
Many times, it’s easier to chip away at it little by little.
Just get 1% done, every single day and eventually you’ll get through it.
That’s how I get through big projects or videos I don’t want to do.
I just get a little bit done every single day, and let time do it’s thing.
If I do just 1% a day, the utmost maximum amount of time it’ll take is 100 days, and eventually I’ll be done and off to the next project.
And more often than not, just starting gets the gears going, and I finish much faster than I initially anticipated.
Tip#3. Focus on the Task At Hand
The reason why we lose interest, switch gears, and never improve is because we are easily distracted.
We see something difficult in front of us, so we get scared, and run away to do some other easy thing over there.
That doesn’t work.
It simply creates a cycle of running away.
If something in front of you scares you, don’t turn away.
Look at it straight in the face and start working on it.
We do this by focusing on photography itself - the photos that need to be taken, the photos that need to be edited, the books that need to be made, etc.
Right now there’s some task or project you’re avoiding.
And if you work on it and not other stuff, you’ll make progress in the right area.
And who knows? It may be easier than you initially thought.
Tip#4. Don’t Track Your Progress
I know the point of this is to “reach the next stage” or “get to the next level” or “feel good about photography again”, but you can’t think about that.
Because every time you do, that becomes the focus, and it takes away from the focus of what we talked about earlier: photography.
So don’t track your progress.
Just trust in the process of the work you’re doing, and understand that if you take enough photos, edit enough photos, make enough books, over a long enough time period, you will get better.
And one day you’ll look up and find yourself in that better place.
Make sense?
If you can apply these things and overcome your creative walls, it’ll not only make photography fun again, but you’ll also get better.
People outside looking in will think you’ve improved your skill - but I think that’s just the byproduct of reinvigorating your passion or interest for the craft.
Now, what if you’re not simply dealing with a wall, but actually dealing with burnout like we talked about earlier?
Well, let’s talk about that.
Renewing Photography
Some photographers reach a point in the craft where they’ve done it all.
They’ve learned all the beginner, the intermediate, and the advanced stuff.
They’ve taken down and overcome many barriers in front of them.
And they’ve done a lot of things with photography.
So instead of photography being this big challenging thing in front of them, it’s become somewhat of a mellow, flat, gray thing.
You’re at a point where photography has become boring.
It’s not fun because it’s not new, you’ve done most of the things there are to do around photography, and challenges don’t really excite you because you’ve done them before.
You’ve gone on many of the trips you’ve always wanted to, taken the photos you’ve wanted to, and built the books you wanted to.
This is more end game photography and less common for most people, but some of you may relate.
In these instances, there are a few things I can recommend that help me renew my photography.
Let’s break each one down.
First, start by thinking of photography as secondary.
I’ve learned over the years that having photography as the main focus can really put a lot of pressure on myself.
I start to desire to get good photos all the time, I’m harder on myself when I don’t, and sometimes my self-worth gets wrapped up in that.
It might sound weird, but when you lower the importance of photography, your creative brain can actually take a back seat and relax a bit.
In life we have priorities:
We have our life itself, our health, people and relationships, art and photography, etc.
How you stack these different things will affect how you feel about them.
And at times art is high up on the priority ladder, other times it’s not.
For the most part I’ve learned that keeping art and photography lower on the ladder is actually better.
When it’s too high up, I start to forget about these other things in life.
And then my life falls apart - which isn’t a good thing.
But over the years I’ve learned that if I just have my shit together (my health, relationships, etc), my creativity actually gets easier and better.
So it’s weird, because you think prioritizing photography more will make you better.
But in actuality, I’ve learned: If I’m good, everything else will be good.
This also allows me to take myself less seriously.
Which in turn stops me from overthinking, being stiff or inflexible, more calm when I’m taking photos, and less hard on myself - which in turn leads to better photos.
Second, Find New Things To Get Excited About.
If photography is boring or you’re feeling burnt out, it might help to find new things to get excited about.
This one takes a bit of effort, but can go a long way.
It could mean taking a new trip to a new place.
Picking a different location for your photo session.
Changing genres or photographing a different subject.
And even buying new gear.
I don’t often encourage new gear because you don’t always need it, but if that’s the thing that stimulates or reinvigorates your photography, then so be it.
Personally, I like to bounce back and forth between everyday photography, documenting memories with the people around me, going on golden hour sunset walks, and more serious work like street and travel photography.
This spices things up, gives a variety to my photography, and keeps things fun.
It makes it so I’m never only doing just one type of photography, so it’s hard to get bored.
And often times a new scene or environment when traveling is enough to spark my interest to take photos again.
So you just need to pinpoint the little things that get you excited.
It doesn’t have to be big, fancy, or expensive.
Maybe try even photographing your cat or dog.
It’s often these little, low stakes, less serious things that are the most fun.
So even though you may have tried everything there is to do with photography, don’t be so quick to close doors.
Find new things to get excited about.
You might find yourself sucked into a new genre you couldn’t have imagined yourself doing 5 years ago.
Third, Coming Full Circle.
Another thing that’s kept me grounded over the years is “coming full circle”.
It’s funny how as time passes, we find ourselves in completely different places than we initially intended to go.
For example, I never thought I’d be so deep into photographing sunsets - enough to make a zine on it.
It’s a type of photography I enjoy but didn’t think I’d be doing when I first started.
And when we’re feeling burned out, it can be a good idea to take a break from the things that are burning us out and come full circle.
Think back to the photography you first started with and start doing some of it - loosely.
For me, my photography back then was just traveling around, going on road trips, and hanging out with friends.
Over the years it became more of this complex street or travel photography, trying to express something greater and “make art”.
But when things are tiring, boring, or I don’t feel compelled to take photos, I find energy in the same places I left them.
I’ll go out and do fun things, I’ll take my camera on simple hangouts and take a few crappy photos, I’ll revisit where I began and come full circle.
That I’ve found to be massively helpful to reset my photography and stave off burnout.
If you feel similarly, try going back to where you started, just for fun.
You might get a bit of nostalgia, and that can help renew your photography.
So that’s what I’ve learned over the years about photography burnout.
I hope it was useful to you - if it was, please share this with a friend who may also be struggling with burnout.
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Thanks for reading, good luck.
