Beating burnout: photographers on maintaining mental wellbeing

 

 

Two professional photographers reveal their experiences of stress and burnout from the industry and offer their tips for staying balanced. Take

n on a Canon EOS-1D X (now succeeded by the Canon EOS-1D X Mark III) with a Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L USM lens (now succeeded by the Canon EF

35mm f/1.4L II USM) at 1/320 sec, f/5 and ISO800. © Anastasia Taylor-Lind

 

 

Photography can be stressful and even anxiety-inducing. Whether you're shooting photojournalism or advertising, weddings or sports, you're under pressure to deliver standout images on deadline. Long days or months spent travelling, often alone, perhaps covering harrowing stories, can be draining. Add to this the financially precarious nature of freelance work – something many felt acutely in the wake of Covid 19 – and it's clear why many freelance photographers burn out.

 

"If I don't take care of my mental health, I can't do my job effectively," says Anastasia Taylor-Lind, a London-based photojournalist and TED Fellow who has covered conflicts around the world for international media outlets and NGOs. "Without self-awareness and some level of emotional and mental stability, we're not able to process and retell other people's stories."

 

To tie in with World Mental Health Day, Canon's Shutter Stories podcast featured a discussion about stress and anxiety with host Lucy Hedges and photographers Anastasia and Tasneem Alsultan, a Saudi-based documentary photographer focusing on human rights and social issues for The New York Times and National Geographic. Here, they swap experiences and discuss coping mechanisms for dealing with burnout, and reveal their hopes – heading for a more compassionate, caring image industry.

 

 

"Without self-awareness and some level of emotional and mental stability, we're not able to process and retell other people's stories," says

photojournalist Anastasia Taylor-Lind. Taken on a Canon EOS-1D X Mark III with a Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L II USM lens at 1/640 sec, f/2.2 and ISO400. ©

Anastasia Taylor-Lind

 

 

Our industry can be tough at the best of times, but the Covid pandemic has brought extra challenges, financially and emotionally. How have you found the past few months?

 

"I didn't really deal with this well," says Tasneem, "especially initially, when we didn't have enough information. I felt physically drained and exhausted to the point where I was worried I'd caught Covid. I got tested and I'm fine. But I think our bodies are closely tied to our emotional state.

 

"We were going through a lockdown in Saudi, so every city was locked away from the neighbouring town. And I'm on the border of Saudi on the Eastern province, which is where the US Army was based during the Gulf War. It was in our neighbourhood, so it really kind of triggered me emotionally to go back to that phase of my childhood [when movement was similarly restricted]. So I found a way to leave my town and went to Riyadh, the capital city, with only one of my daughters, thinking [that there might be more work in the capital]. That didn't work out. And I was in lockdown in another city that I'm not really from, and had never lived in, with one daughter.

 

"The way I dealt with it was to start just preoccupying my mind away from photography," Tasneem continues. "I've attached myself so much to the camera that if I'm not holding it, then I feel lacking. So I started reading about meditation, learning how to calm down and be more aware of my own surroundings and connected with my own family. And I started doing an Instagram Live interview daily for the first three months. That helped me feel like I had something to wake up to and organise."

 

 

To help maintain her wellbeing, Anastasia believes exercise is the answer. Taken on a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV at 1/60 sec, f/4.5 and ISO400.

© Anastasia Taylor-Lind

 

 

Anastasia's experience was similar. "When the pandemic started, all of the assignments that I had lined up for the following few months were either cancelled or put on hold," she says. "I had to ask myself the really difficult question, which is: if I'm not a photographer, who am I?

 

"And of course, being a photographer isn't just about going out and making pictures, there's so much other work to do. So in the beginning I was working on my tax returns, updating my website, doing admin to occupy myself and also trying to find small pleasures. I ride horses, I take care of my brother's puppy, I go for long walks, do yoga and just try to be present."