How to Overcome Winter Burnout

If you find yourself struggling during the colder, darker seasons, you're far from alone. In this video, Aidin Robbins goes through how he combats winter burnout and how you can, too.

I have suffered from burnout many times over the years — I believe it's part and parcel of both being a creative and running a business. When you're running your own creative business, it feels twice as likely! My periods of jadedness don't typically correlate with the seasons, but I can certainly understand how that happens. If you're a landscape photographer or you have to create content outside, the winter can be brutal; shorter daylight hours, tough shooting conditions, and the need for more equipment can all mean you struggle with the motivation to get going.

This video doesn't particularly apply to me, though the message can certainly be applied in areas. Nevertheless, it will apply to many photographers and more interesting still is the video itself. Aidin Robbins is one of my favorite YouTubers because I find that his work would inspire me even if he was speaking in a language I can't understand — truly artistic cinematography with startling consistency.

What do you do when you're suffering with burnout? Share your tips in the comments below.

Rob Baggs's picture

Robert K Baggs is a professional portrait and commercial photographer, educator, and consultant from England. Robert has a First-Class degree in Philosophy and a Master's by Research. In 2015 Robert's work on plagiarism in photography was published as part of several universities' photography degree syllabuses.

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4 Comments

The problem I have is that where I live we just have a lot of dull grey skies which doesn't make for very nice photographs as the light is very flat.

Combination of creative burnout and life things rearing its head, I haven't been shooting much landscapes or people. After covid going deeper into the city with things are interesting is just a tougher proposition. Then some of us just change internally and you're trying to get back that same energy that created the work that you love in your archives.

Also had issues with my m62 and finally got super fed up trying to do landscapes with a 5D3 with no flippy screen. Both of those issues solved, it's time to get back into the mix right? Easier said than done.

On a better note, I sent out a gallery to an editor last night. I also have vast archives of travel photography that I'm trying to force myself to take advantage of instead of just shooting more and more.

Trying to smash into my head that shipping something is better than shipping nothing.

Boreout instead of burnout!

Shitty days are perfect for going back through old photos and re-editing them. You might have taken a banger of a shot 8 years ago which you didn't know how to edit properly, or just didn't see the potential of.

Go back through old photos and have another look at them - you might be surprised at the little nuggets you might have missed.