Curious about Photo Time

cab.in.boston

This is mainly for non-pros... how much time do you spend on your photography, including shooting/editing/taking classes or photo groups/etc? I see so many wonderful photos here and I just wish I had the time to do more.

My personal situation is that I work full time (and then some), I'm going to grad school two nights a week - which means homework on other nights - and I have a 3 year-old daughter and a pregnant wife. Other than that, I have loads of free time. :rofl The upside for me is that I will finish school in May, but then the new baby comes in June, so while I'll have another new subject to shoot at home, I can't see much in the way of dedicated time to go out and shoot other things I'm interested in, like land/cityscapes. I'm hopeful that as the kids get older, I'll have a little more time to squeeze in some shooting, and I'll get to shoot them doing sports and school plays/music/etc.

But I know I'm not the only person with a job, family, and/or school commitments. So how do you do it? Did you just wait until the kids got a little older (at least out of diapers )? Do you actually schedule time for photography, or do you just do it whenever you get a chance?

I guess this is just a rant because I get a little jealous and wish I could take a few hours here and there and go tromp around the wilderness and come home with stuff like I see here regularly. Any thoughts or reassurances that it might get better from any of you who have gone through this before? :dunno

eoren1

Hey Cab
I'm only one year ahead of you in the kid department but I have managed to find some time for shooting on my own.
At this point, at least 70% of my shots are of the two kids. After they go to sleep (around 8pm), I usually process shots.
Most landscape stuff occurs when opportunity arises. I have a monthly meeting in Boston that takes place on a day when I finish up at noon. I'll usually head in early to shoot and sometimes will stay after as well.
My wife is good about letting me go off and shoot on occasion - but that means I have to reciprocate by taking care of the kids when she wants time to herself.
For now, i'm happy to concentrate on shooting the kids and getting out on occasion (I did get to do the dgrin shootout and also got to take a couple of drives into NH and VT on my own last October). I figure many more opportunities will come as they got older and more self sufficient.
Hope that helps
E

cab.in.boston

Thanks for the words of encouragement. Re-reading that post, I remember I was a bit frazzled and slightly discouraged at the time. Since I posted that, a few things have changed for me (all for the better).

First, my son is born, which means that while life is (a lot) crazier around the home front, at least my wife is mobile again. He's only a few weeks old now, but we're gradually settling into our new routine, and in a few months time I think that sleep will be more regular and I might be able to spend some evening time doing a little more processing (and learning about processing - I'm still quite new to the whole post-processing deal and scared of Photoshop).

Second, I am finished with grad school, so that frees up time and is a major load off of my mind. I found that even on days I didn't have school, or the weeks in between terms, I felt this heavy weight on my shoulders. It is such a huge relief to have that done.

Third, I have "my own" camera now which I can have with me at all times. We got the D90 mostly to photograph our kids, so it always stays home. I found myself wanting another body to have as my own so I could stop the car and do some shooting when the muse struck. My wife was in favor of this because I was constantly messing around with the D90 settings, and she'd pick it up only to have no clue why it "wasn't working." So when the chance came to pick up a used D300, I jumped on that as my graduation gift to myself. So now I have my camera and tripod in the car at all times, and as Brian mentioned in his blog, I'm learning to force myself to stop the car and get out for some pictures when I see the opportunity.

Then came the WWPW last week, and I hope I can make events like that more regularly, or at least meet up occasionally with some other local photogs on a less organized basis. It was inspiring to see how other people work, and I want to continue to learn and push myself.

So it is already looking up for me, but I'm very glad to hear how it works for you. I've seen enough of your work to know you do great stuff, and it seems as if your "situation" is somewhat similar to mine, so I'm glad that it isn't impossible.