Things to do while not taking photos for clients

Now that lots of us are stuck at home with possibly no income, it’s going to be rough. We can try and use these times to do things we normally wouldn’t do or might not have time for. If allowed we can to take pictures in nature if we aren’t sheltered in place. Where I live we’re still allowed to go out of the house, but other countries like Italy, it’s essential business only.

I’m in front of my computer for my photography. However, now lots of people are kind of forced to do some work from behind a desk. So, I’ll give you some ideas for you while we’re all at home!

1. FIX THE WEBSITE. (DUH!) Most of us are busy and don’t have the time to update websites. Now we can, if you want! We can take care of basic stuff like updating your most recent work, maybe start blogging. Sprucing up things to make your website look good for potential future clients. It can also be a time to work on the SEO of your website to make it more loved by search engines.
2. DO THE SOCIAL MEDIAS. (EW!) I have a love/hate relationship with social media (Some people LOVE it!). In my opinion it’s not important to be EVERYWHERE. You should be where your clients are and the places you love, so two maybe three main places. Example of social media to pick from : Instagram, Facebook (I just autopost here from Instagram I am loathe to hang out there.), Twitter (my political side hangs out there)., Flickr (please get better.), 500px, Behance (Adobe portfolio), Reddit (great for discussions), etc. Always make sure you’re website is listed wherever you are! Maintaining social media can be a day job for lots of people. But now we’re all a home we can add social media management to our resumes, why not work on them!
3. PEEP ON YOUR FAVORITE FOLLOWS! I like to check out people’s work on Instagram. I can easily get stuck watching stories so I have to be careful. It’s great for inspiration. Now is a good time to start all those conversations with the people you love to follow.
4. REDO ALL THE PHOTOS YOU LOVE and HATE. Especially for photographers who have a HUGE pile of images that are still laying around. I could spend forever processing photos from my laziness backlog. Don’t forget to look at your really old images! Processing styles and skills change over time. Take a hard look at the photos you love and try a new skill on them. Don’t forget to try the same thing on photos you thought you hated.
5. CHANGE UP YOUR FILE ORGANIZATION AND CLEAN YO STORAGE. I have thousands of RAW files on my storage drive. Most of them I will probably never use. I finally have a good year/month/day structure but many people don’t. Now is a good time for making a good directory structure, sorting your photos and deleting a bunch of them. Make several passes with different criteria, focus, composition etc.
6. LEVEL UP. The double U double U double U is an endless resource we can use to increase skills. A beginner will have the cheapest go at it since most free education for photography is beginner level. The biggest resource is going to be YouTube. Being stuck at home can be great time to work on your processing skills. If you have the means, paid education can be had by buying a tutorial or book or joining a paid education forum or group. If you’re a photographer with the skills, try offering (paid) teaching online via Zoom or other channels.
7. GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER. Right now I am working on making my ideas actually happen. Looking for inspiration, journaling ideas and making lists, bullet journals are great for this. This extra time at home can be a good opportunity to prepare a bunch of projects so that I can start them when all of this is over.
8. CULL THE GEAR. Some All of us has gear from doing years of buying the newest junk we just had to have. Some Most of it we never use. Stuff like old lenses, bodies, tripods, gadgets, etc. Sort everything and see what you can give away or sell.
9. LEARN TO PROPERLY PRINT. You probably already do this, but spend the time to make some good prints of your work. Learning how to get great prints of your work is just another level to your skills. It’s an entirely different experience to hold a 20×30 print and hang it in your house. Printing is a skill that is hard to master. At first, the print rarely comes out how you want. Things like paper, mountings, print profiles, calibration, sharpening, PPI and size can affect the final print. There’s a ton to learn about, it’s something you can easily spend $$$ and time on to get it right.
10. TRY DIFFERENT ART. It’s always beneficial to try out different artistic pursuits. It doesn’t even have to do anything with photography, things like watercolor, drawing, writing or even coding and give our minds a new outlet and make us more well rounded.
11. GET ON YOUR KNEES. Macro can be a therapeutic outlet in these trying times. I’ve brought home a bunch of flowers and just used a bit of window light to get through a phase of burn out. Or trying to get the perfect photo of your pets whiskers can take up a whole afternoon. You don’t need to have a macro lens for this to work, grab an old body and try out freelensing with with your 50mm.
12. FILM. If you’ve always been digital or used to do film photography. Now is the perfect time to start. I’m always seeing film and home developing supplies and camera on my local Craigslist. If your local photography friends have a camera laying around and order up some film and have a go.

OR you can do none of this. All of this sucks and there no rules that say you have to be productive right now. Stay safe.