Question: What to do with your time, if time were no object?

Question: If tomorrow you had a billion dollars transferred to your personal checking account… What would you do with your time?

Let’s start with a question.

If tomorrow you had a billion dollars transferred to your personal checking account, and no longer had to work for money, what would you do with your time?

Read that again; I’ll wait.

Time.

What would you do with your time?

Not, what would you do with the money? What would you do with your time?

Ask yourself that before reading the rest of this.

I am, in a loose sense, in that position for the moment. Thanks to Covid, I am not working – because I can’t – but I am being paid – because the Canadian government is good to us. My deepest sympathies for all of the Canadians, and people around the world, in varying degrees of devastating situations. I am lucky.

So, what am I doing with my time?

Full disclosure: not a whole lot. 

Like most people on social media, I have been overwhelmed with words of support for idleness and inactivity at the moment. Mental health is important. In times like this, it can be challenging to maintain, regardless of your situation. Therefore, I, too, support stillness for those that need it.

Deep down, though, I know that I am not among those that truly need it. As time went on, I would be asked by friends and family: ‘How are you doing?’ , ‘What are you up to?’ ‘How are you keeping busy?’ My answers are mildly shameful, in my eyes: ‘Not a whole lot.’ , ‘The usual.’ (read: nothing), ‘Just chillin’.’ Etcetera and so forth.

For some, this is the best that they can do, and there is no shame in that. This is my personal story, expressing my personal feelings. Nothing more. And honestly, I feel fine.

I don’t feel drained. I don’t feel excessively stressed. I don’t feel tense or anxious. I know I am capable of doing something more valuable with my time. Not “productive.” Valuable.

Valuable to me.

What a long-winded way to say, that’s what I’m going to do. I am going to spend my time on a passion project that adds value to my life.

Photography.

How original. Everyone and their grandmother have taken up photography on some level. Hello, Instagram.

The thing is, I have a severe know-it-all mentality that is, more often than not, a hindrance. This blog post started by asking what I would do with my time if time were no object. My answer is to apply my know-it-all mentality to photography. Because what better time to “waste” time than when you have more time than you know what to do with?

There are practical reasons though, in truth:

1. I have a camera; a good great one.
2. I have taken multiple photography classes before; I learned the same things in all of them, but I took them.
3. And I have studied and practiced editing in Lightroom; I’ve been paying for it for a while now.

I also have a shop with some of my photography prints already – shameless plug.

Pursuing photography is a natural avenue to cruise. 

Where does blogging fit in?

The short answer is that I don’t know yet.

I do know that I like to write. I know that I need to write what I learn for me to learn it. I know that I learn visually. I know that other creatives might learn in the same way. I know that documentation is a good thing when you’re trying new things. I know that I have the experience to draw from, in some ways. I know that I have a lot to learn in more ways. I know that challenges motivate me, and I know that I have an open mind.

I want to help others learn what I learn as I learn it.

To clarify, I would not expect this to be an all-inclusive resource or information hub on everything related to photography. At least not yet. On the other hand, I would expect this to be honest documentation of my experience, my knowledge, my learning, and my interpretation of photography. Huge difference.

I intend to research credible information, share my sources, and not be misleading. Seeing as this is an ever-evolving endeavour in which I will be growing and changing as I learn and experience, I expect that my interpretation will evolve. I will make mistakes and contradict myself and change my mind. Forgive me.

The collective goal is to become better photographers.

Let’s give it a shot.

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