It’s been about eight months now since I picked up a camera. I must confess that I 有 felt very little desire or need to go out to make photos over this time. I think it is because the last eight months 有 given me a chance to 有 a hiatus that I think my subconscious had been thinking about for quite some time.

I 有 often thought, and written on this 博客 , that as much as your passion or hobby is something that we may all live and breathe every moment of the day, the truth is: we all need to take time away from it. It is in these lulls or moments of doing something else that I think we get a chance to reflect and most importantly, return to our interest with a fresh perspective. It’s really valuable to take the foot off the accelerator every once in a while. And it’s extremely healthy to go and do something else for a while.

Over the past few months as I’ve tried to find a structure to my day, I 有 chosen to walk each morning from my home, across a local park to a coffee shop. I just go in, buy a take away coffee and go for a walk around the park. What I 有 found most enjoyable about this little routine is that each time I venture outside the door, I am filled with photographic memories triggered by the weather and atmospheric conditions.

For example, on a crisp frosty morning, I 有 found myself feeling as though I am right back in San Pedro de 阿塔卡马 in Chile. The mornings are often crisp and cold there at the time of year I like to go to 玻利维亚 . There is a ‘cold’ smell in the air of that little town which I 有 detected in the cold air of a Scottish morning as I head out.

就在今天，又是3d太湖字谜寒冷寒冷的早晨，阳光明媚，微风拂面。我回到了我花很多时间拍摄加德满都佛塔周围的藏人和印度教徒的早晨。当我穿过当地公园时，我不再在爱丁堡。取而代之的是，空气中的温度，光线和泥土的气味将我带回到了我在尼泊尔的时代。

These remembrances are not something new to me. I 有 found for many years that each place I return to, has its own ‘signature’ - a feeling if you will, or a smell, a taste to it. Each time I arrive in Punta Arenas in Chile for my 巴塔哥尼亚n trips, there is a sudden strong feeling of ‘knowing this place’ just from how the weather, the air, and the light feel. 日本 , 冰岛 , wherever, all 有 these residual memories built into me. I am sure I am not alone.

So over the past eight months that I 有 been resigned to staying in one place, I 有 found that all my favourite places 有 come to visit me in my mind. Brought on by the temperature, air and light quality of my own back yard. My little walk across my local park each day allows me to remember photography and the memories and feelings are often so strong that I feel as though I am there.

在 my mind, I am photographing. I am living in the landscape. All the special places I 有 come to know and love, I realise, are never very far away. There is great potential to reconnect, to remember your photography by recognising similarities to where you are right now, to where you 有 been.

在 many creative roles, artists often 有 a sounding-board, another person who is able to look at the work they are creating and help them make sense of it, or perhaps help them iron out the rough edges.

If I were a novelist, then I would 有 a book editor to tell me where the story was weak, or needed more focus. if I were a song writer, I would 有 a producer to tell me where the song needed more structure, or perhaps to go straight to the chorus at the beginning of the song.

我记得我曾听过尼罗河罗杰斯（Nile Rodgers）谈论与大卫·鲍伊（David Bowie）合作制作歌曲“让我们跳舞”的故事。他对鲍伊说（我释义）- “这首歌应该从直接进入合唱开始。没有诗歌，没有介绍-直接进入合唱团”。他当然是对的，但事实是-鲍伊需要别人告诉他。他太接近自己的工作了。

So as a photographer, who do you 有 as your sounding board? Who helps you make sense of what you create? or helps you iron out the difficult bits?

甚至更重要的是：可以帮助您消除不知道需要消除的部分吗？

I think being a sole photographer can be a difficult role. Because you 有 to be the judge of your own work. That, is something that is extremely difficult to do. It’s why musicians 有 producers, and it’s why authors 有 editors.

我经常在这个博客上写文章，我需要与自己的作品保持距离，以使其具有某种客观性。我执行此操作的一种方法是，将所有最近制作的图像保留几周，然后再查看和编辑。这是因为它可以减少拍摄时产生的依恋或情感纽带。我需要能够诚实地看待作品，而对它的依恋并不能给我那种看法。俗话说“爱是盲目的”。

但这甚至不是100％有效的。我开始做任何事情的那一刻，就会形成一种情感纽带。这是一位技术娴熟的艺术家，可以“脱离工作”，同时仍然保持对工作的热情和联系。

因此，您确实需要与其他人交谈才能获得评论。或者，您需要足够聪明，以聆听您对工作的许多看法，并确定什么是有效的输入，什么不是有效的输入。业余爱好者往往没有足够的经验来知道什么时候建议是好的，并且经常容易被他人的观点所左右。经验丰富的艺术家倾向于了解自己喜欢和想要的东西，因此倾向于更好地接受建议并知道其中哪些部分对他们产生“共鸣”。对我来说，好的建议的关键是：如果您觉得自己顿悟，那通常是好的建议的征兆。但这并不是很明确，要弄清楚您的起点和终点，以及别人的意见会影响您自己的判断，这需要经验。

但是，让我们再退一步。我们都需要3d太湖字谜制作人，3d太湖字谜能够指导您而又不试图对您施加自己的美学或价值观的人。

And of course mentors vary in ability, and you may also find that an amazing mentor might not suit you at all. This is quite common in the music recording world. I 有 read many accounts of a famous band hiring in some mega-producer, only to find out that the relationship was counter-productive. Some artists 有 had albums that 有 been delayed for years because they went through a raft of different producers until they found the right one.

Needless to say, being a photographic artist is one of the lonelier artistic endeavours. Book writers 有 editors, musicians often 有 producers. Actors 有 directors. We in some way, only 有 ourselves.

If you can find someone who you feel helps you grow at what you’re doing, then that’s great. But it can be a difficult and long road not just to find that person, but to also 有 the insight and maturity to look at your work with honesty.

我意识到，对于大多数人来说，没有足够的空闲时间去做我们想做的事情。通常，我们的工作和家庭承诺意味着我们对摄影的热情比我们希望的要少得多。

Right now, I'm doing the opposite. I am spending a lot of free doing things that are unrelated to photography. I 有n't made a single photograph, nor picked up my cameras for over two months now, and I'm very happy that this is the case.

我喜欢每年放下对摄影的热爱，然后我故意离开摄影，以便重新激发我对摄影的兴趣。也许您觉得这很奇怪-某人如何通过花一些时间来提高对某事物的兴趣？

俗话说：“缺席会使人变得更爱”，当涉及到我们所爱的事物时，这再正确不过了。同样，“太多的好事，不是好事”，这也是事实。

If I were to keep going, every single day, making photos, it would soon begin to feel like a chore, and I doubt that I would 有 the needed time to absorb what I had experienced, and to grow from it. Growth comes from rest and so by giving my photography a rest, I allow myself time to recharge.

I 有 found that by the end of my rest periods, I come back to photography with a fresh view. What may 有 started to feel old and tired now feels exciting and fresh. And I often find that the distance away has allowed me to collate my thoughts and approach photography with a slightly new way of seeing and doing things.

今年夏天，我花了“假期”去皮划艇学习，通过音乐创作，和朋友见面并从事与摄影无关的事情。一切都很好，正如我所看到的九月即将来临，不久之后，我便站在冰岛心脏地带的一片辽阔的黑色沙漠中，了解并爱护它的每一分钟。更重要的是，因为我选择花一些时间，所以我可以享受重新认识它的经历。

If you are finding you aren't enjoying photography so much of late, or that you are wondering if you should stop, then I would suggest you take a break. Go do something entirely differently for a few weeks, even a few months. Rarely 有 I seen anyone drop a passion when they do this, but I certainly 有 seen people drop a passion through burn out.