I have been asked many times if I get creative burnout, and if I do, how do I circumvent it and is there any good solutions I have tried? Well, the answer isn't very straightforward, depending on several factors like - who is asking, the burnout happening on which front, whether it is the photographer side of me shooting images, or the writing and content creating side? There is no one answer that fits all. I personally admit that I have not experienced any severe burnout yet, in my years of running this blog, or dabbling in the universe of photography, but I do have a lot to say in this topic.
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| Image taken by Jojo (IG @jojoelisan), used with permission. |
Let's talk about professional burnout first, because I am a working photographer, and I have been taking paid shooting jobs which brought in the biggest chunk of my income since 2017, when I quit my day job (from Olympus Malaysia). It has only been less than 8 years of me being a full time photographer and in those 8 years, the time was cut even shorter when the Covid-19 pandemic happened. Effectively in 2020-2021 I had almost zero jobs which translated to non-existent income from being a working photographer, and even after 2021, the business took some time to recover. I guess what I am trying to say is, I am not one of those over-booked photographers who would even sleep in his photography studio because he is being overwhelmed by jobs and had no time for anything else in life. Even now, as the photography business side of things has resumed to almost normal, I am not booked every single day.
Burnout happens to a lot of my professional photographer friends who have been doing similar jobs over and over again for years, in a tightly packed schedule. Take wedding photography for example, there is only so much room for creative freedom you can execute during an actual day wedding. You have to take the walk down the aisle shot, then the exchange of vows, then the rings, the kiss, the family and friends portraits, a lot of repeated, manufactured, stereotypical images replicated a million times over from job to job. When that happens, I guess it is possible to get burnt out.
I am not the most popular, or most booked photographer in town, that is no secret. Hence that afforded me time to run a YouTube channel, which we will talk about in the later part of this entry. Not having back to back shoots, or intensive full day jobs that span the entire week, I had plenty of time to rest and recover. My jobs consist of mainly event coverage, many events taking place not more than half a day, usually would end within 2-3 hours. There are several cases my shooting hours was not more than one. I can edit and deliver my shots to my clients on the same day most of the time. I also shoot stage events, mini concerts, portraits, lifestyle shots, mostly they do not require super intensive physical labor. The most challenging job I did was in 2023, Yayasan Sime Darby Arts Festival in KLPAC which was the largest arts festival in Malaysia, even so it was a one time thing that lasted about 3 full days of work. I have not reached a point of oversaturation that I cannot go on any more.
I admit I could be a little more aggressive when it comes to pursuing the business growth of my photography side of things. However, I also realized during the zero jobs, zero income gap due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, it was YouTube that kept me alive. I survived the lockdown because YouTube has become a reliable source of income. Now it is already post-pandemic era, almost everything in the world has recovered, if not on its way to recovery, but I do not want to put everything in one basket. On one hand, I can push further and double down on my photography business, taking in bigger and more challenging jobs that will bring in multiple fold revenue. On the other, I can continue shooting paid jobs, but allocated some time to also grow the YouTube platform, that has become a thing on its own.
So professionally, no, I have not experienced any burnout yet.
Now, how about personal photography? One important thing I believe in being a full time photographer is to not only shoot 100% for clients, but also spend time doing your own creative times. When you are not shooting for other people, you should do something to feed your creative soul. If you do not satisfy your own itch, that will slowly but surely affect your performance and wellbeing as a photographer, even in professional environment. Therefore I made sure I had plenty of shutter therapy sessions, where I went out with my camera and just to have fun above anything else. It has become a way for me to destress and relax, and just be myself, connecting to my inner creative self, every time I went out to do shutter therapy.
If you truly are passionate about something, you won't get burnout easily. I love photography, I love playing with cameras, I love the process of making images. I love seeing things around me and document them as beautifully as I can. I enjoy the craft, and I am lucky I am able to monetize this, both being a working photographer and a content creator, whether writing blogs here or making YouTube videos. I am thankful for the platform that I have to enable me to speak to an audience. Because photography is a passion, there is always that lust, that inner craving to want to shoot more. If I don't spend enough time with the camera, if I don't click the shutter button enough, I won't rest easy. It is almost like an addiction, there is a fine line between passion and obsession.
Then comes the next question - don't you get bored doing the same thing repeatedly? You go to the same streets in Kuala Lumpur, isn't that redundant? The streets may be the same but the subjects, lighting, moments, drama and emotion in the photographs may not. It is like asking a tennis player - don't you get bored playing on the same court again and again? Or a swimmer swimming in the same pool for practice for a competition. The location is not the problem. The location does not matter. The photographer, tennis player and swimmer will make a difference when it comes to overall performance, or personal fun.
The only burnout that I truly come close to experiencing, but not quite yet, is making YouTube videos. I acknowledge the privilege of having a large audience who actually spend their precious time watching my videos I put out week after week, for that I am eternally grateful. I do have to admit, the amount of work put into planning, writing a good video script, shooting and editing a video is quite immense. Furthermore, a lot of time also goes into post-video making - designing a suitable thumbnail, writing descriptions, adding time marks and tags, sharing on other social media platforms simultaneously, it can be quite exhausting. One video may take a minimum of one day work to more than a week's production timeline.
Having produced so many videos since 2019, 2 videos per week initially and now cutting down to just 1 video per week, I am amazed that I have not totally burned out. I admit, whatever that I have or want to say, I probably have said it already in one video or another, there really isn't anything new to add, or create any more at this point. The long process of making a video does get to me some time, and I do wonder if time is better spent elsewhere. I know the videos do generate income, and that can be seen as work, and I am not entirely being unproductive when I do anything on YouTube. Also, if done correctly, in due time, the channel can grow to a point where it can be a sole sustainable income. I must admit that possibility is still far from reach, and I can only dream of that happening.
What do I do when I feel like a burnout is about to happen when making videos on YouTube? I take a break. I take a hard break from any YouTube or video related activities. I don't watch YouTube videos, I don't think about YouTube, I don't engage with my audience, I don't plan and I don't shoot new videos. It is a total unplug from the world of YouTube. This can be for a few days to a few weeks. I take my time, I won't rush the needed break. After sufficient time has passed, the creative itch returns, and I will want to make videos again. This has been true for the past more than 5 years of me being on YouTube.
I guess, this solution works for me, but your mileage may vary. We are all built different after all, a simple detox may not be effective for some, you may need more drastic measures.
For me, the pause allows me time to truly reflect on what really matters. While I was on a break from making or consuming YouTube videos, I did not stop shooting photographs. Shutter therapy goes on. I was almost on a burnout from making videos, and this has nothing to do with my passion on photography. I still and always will love photography. Instead of making YouTube videos one after another, I focus more on personal photography projects. I go out and shoot on the streets more. The shutter therapy allows me to heal and at the same time, refresh my mind and be ready for whatever bigger things that will come next.
Another important point to note is about consistency. I have talked about this before, and I value consistency when it comes to my photography and content creating. You can read more about why consistency is important in my previous blog article here (click).
Perhaps, I am not the best person to ask for advice when it comes to creative burnout. But hey, I have been doing this for a long time, and I must have done something right along the way too.
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