How to deal with the pressure to take the perfect picture – Vivid Sydney 2015

Over the last 8 months I had a lot of first times: First time Christmas in Sydney and first time NYE, first time Australian summer, first time Mardi Gras Parade, first time getting paid for a photography job and many more.

“Vivid” in Sydney was one of these first times.

It is an annual light and colour festival in Sydney where pictures or even short films and moving patterns are projected on walls, there are colourful fountains, bright sculptures and plenty more things to discover.

Naturally it is also one of these events that attract massive amounts of other photographers. Last Thursday I found myself standing amongst the hoard, taking pictures from the same angle, from the same subject, with the same settings and maybe even with the same camera and lens.

Eventually this made me become less and less motivated to keep photographing. It just didn’t really feel like a creative thing to do any more because everyone did the exact same thing. When I finally found a good spot from where I could take pictures of the opera house undisturbed, it took literally ten seconds until I was surrounded by another swarm of photographers.

This left me with only two options.

I could have scouted the best spot and then patiently wait until I had enough space to get the shot I wanted and then tried to do it better and in a more interesting way than everyone else. (I totally admire photographers who are able to do that!)

Or, secondly, I could have just walked along, and enjoyed the festival with my husband and treated it like a relaxed and fun date night without feeling pressured to walk home with the perfect photograph. Since I am lacking patience in every way I chose the latter.

Sure, the results are no artworks and certainly not the most original, but they are memories of a relaxed and fun date night with my favourite person – and that counts more than anything else.