Let’s be honest for a second.
If someone asks you, “So, why did you start taking photos?” your answer will always be the same: “Because I love it.” Because of passion.
And then life happens.
Between one portrait session, a wedding you still have to deliver yesterday, and that new brand that urgently wants a full visual campaign… you kinda forget why you started in the first place.
Let me tell you one thing – actually two:
- It’s normal. Completely normal.
- There is a way to reconnect with that feeling you had shooting with your very first camera: personal, creative projects.
And it’s not just me saying this, by the way.
Lara Jade, in her education courses, keeps repeating how important this is. Even though she’s churning out one client job after another, she’s constantly reminding people that creativity can more than make up for not having the latest gear or a fancy studio. In a creative playground where you set all the rules, you are at the center of the process. And that feeling is pretty magical.
This is not a post to trash client work. Every single client can help you grow. With each assignment, you sharpen your technique, you learn to solve problems faster, and you build a network that keeps your business alive.
But it’s in your personal projects that you really get your hands dirty with what you feel.
No expectations, no brief, no “could you move that hand two centimetres to the left?”
When you keep a project of your own alive, you have a vision. You experiment, you mess up, you try again. And, most importantly, you develop the one thing no one else has: a voice that’s truly yours, not just “technically correct”.
And that time is anything but wasted: it shows up in your paid work too. You have more ideas, more courage, more identity.
You notice you say “this doesn’t feel like me” a bit more often, and “whatever, as long as the client’s happy” a bit less.
You remember you’re not just a service provider – you’re a person with a specific way of seeing the world.
It doesn’t have to be huge: it can be a series shot on your phone, a theme you can’t stop thinking about, one portrait a week.
What matters is having a space where you shoot for you, not for a client.
Alice Bush also reminds us that the projects that really work are the ones driven by strong intention. Soon I’ll tell you more about how I dedicated my first solo exhibition in Berlin to my family and to the world that raised me. For today, I’ll just say this: your vision is the essence of who you are – and every frame you make in this context will show it, clearly. And if time is tight, start tiny: half an hour a month dedicated to nothing but your own idea, zero pressure.
Give it a little consistency and, before you know it, that half hour will feel like a standing date with your oldest friend – the one who reminds you why you fell in love with photography in the first place.