Hey Reader,
We’re somehow heading into the last week of November.
The weather is changing, the sun is setting sooner, and I’m being forced to put on a long-sleeved shirt and jacket.
It got me thinking about the shifts that happen naturally and I want to talk about why I think it’s key to accept the seasons of our photography and our creativity in general.
Let’s dive in.
Why Seasons Matter in Photography
I never used to accept this reality.
I shot almost only in summer… I’d literally travel to escape winter whenever I could.
It worked for a few years, but I started realising I was missing big parts of the year where it mattered, and my work was suffering.
It meant overexposed summer images 12 months a year, and a portfolio that felt a bit flat.
If you shoot through the year, you already know how much the seasons reshape your work.
The angle of the sun changes.
Colours shift.
And places you loved in summer feel completely different now.
Different seasons pull out different images.
Winter light pushes you out earlier.
Autumn colours make you appreciate the orange HSL sliders.
Summer gives you that warm golden glow.
And spring is one long fight with allergies.
So if the seasons are this different, why do we expect our photography to look the same every month?
Seasons Appear in Many Ways
Beyond how our work looks, it’s also important to recognise that seasons show up in our creative process too.
And these seasons don’t always follow the weather or the calendar.
Take a wedding photographer, for example. Their whole year is shaped by the actual seasons.
A commercial photographer might see a bump in autumn in the lead-up to Christmas.
And anyone working in Southern Europe knows the inbox goes quiet when August arrives.
It’s important to notice these shifts and, more importantly, not panic.
In my case, commercial projects might be slower than this time last year, but I’m busy with brands and partnerships.
It’s not a full change, it’s a different season.
So how do you recognise the season you’re in?
For me, it’s looking at my North Star and checking whether my actions still move me toward it.
A different path doesn’t mean the wrong path.
As long as the destination is the same, I’m fine with the creative detours along the way.
When You Fight the Seasons
This is something you need to try to weed out of your process where possible.
And it’s something I tried to do earlier this year with YouTube.
I was committed to weekly YouTube videos.
It was all I focused on.
It was a sprint, but one that led straight into burnout and poor quality.
It wasn’t the right season.
Not because it was literally 35 degrees every day, but because I had too many things going on.
Failing to accept the season I was in and trying to push this work wasn’t helpful to anyone.
I did experience a slight bump in views and subscribers, but at what cost?
Fast forward to now, and I’m in a slightly different season, right in the middle of my short-form series: '7 Lessons That Changed My Photography.'
A format, concept and idea I’d had for a while, and only recently did I dive into it.
And the result of accepting this season?
A big bump in audience, new connections, partnership conversations, and a reason to get out and photograph more intentionally.
Win, win.
But only because I accepted the season.
Right now, you might be fighting the seasons without even realising it.
You might be DMing as many event organisers as possible, asking for a media pass, when in reality, a few nights going to gigs you enjoy with your camera might be the step you need.
The hardest part is accepting whichever season we’re in, especially if it doesn’t relate to growth.
Not everything is meant to bloom at the same time.
That’s why the Cherry Blossoms in Japan don’t appear for tourists all year round. It’s two weeks where their season shines.
Embrace Seasons of Slow Productivity
I touched on this before, and in a previous newsletter, but some seasons simply need to happen.
These are the periods when you might binge-watch YouTube to learn a new lighting technique, rebuild your editing style, update your portfolio, or take a course to improve your skills.
For there to be growth, there needs to be building, and embracing the slower periods when they arrive is essential.
I’m sure you’ve heard the exhausted analogy about bamboo, but it genuinely fits here.
Bamboo spends months building its root system underground, and when the season is right, some species grow more than a metre a day and reach over 15 metres tall in just a few weeks.
The months and weeks we don’t see underground still count as productivity; they are a different kind.
It doesn’t need to be winter for you to slow down, only a bit of acceptance.
For me, it means taking a YouTube course on how to make better videos, so I guess you could say I’m underground right now.
Closing Thought
Your photography will not look the same every month, and it isn’t supposed to.
Creatives operate on a different wavelength from business coaches pushing products.
Sure, we need to make money, and we’re choosing to do it through our craft, but unlike businesses, a lot of our work can’t be automated.
So accepting the seasons that show up throughout the year becomes important.
These seasons can be natural, business, or creative, but each one has a different purpose, and each one matters in its own way.
Catch you next week,
Matty 📷 🚀