![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/MjvzXem8UgZrbVBdqJZ98c.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThere\u2019s an old saying that distance makes the heart grow fonder \u2013 and it turns out, it applies just as well to photography as it does to love. My journey behind the lens has been an incredibly fortunate one.<\/p>\n
What started as a hobby quickly became a job, then a full-blown career that took me to the places I once dreamt of. And somehow, I\u2019ve found myself full circle \u2013 once again photographing simply for the joy of it, all while remaining immersed in the world of photography as a journalist. It\u2019s rare. It\u2019s lucky. And it\u2019s taught me a lot.<\/p>\n
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The waiting man by Sebastian Oakley (Image credit: Future \/ Sebastian Oakley)<\/p>\n
Perhaps the biggest lesson I\u2019ve learned along the way isn\u2019t something you\u2019ll find in a manual or a YouTube<\/a> tutorial. It\u2019s this: the best thing you can sometimes do for your photography is to stop. To take a break. Put the camera down. Step back.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It sounds counterintuitive, but the moment you allow yourself that distance, you create space to breathe, to think, to reflect. That space becomes fertile ground for your creativity to grow again \u2013 on your terms, not the algorithm\u2019s.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve always believed in documenting the beauty of the mundane. The ordinary moments. The quiet scenes no one else notices. But there was a point where I felt disconnected from my own work \u2013 not because I didn\u2019t care, but because I had never given myself the chance to pause and ask why I was making the images I was.<\/p>\n The answer didn\u2019t come immediately, but over time, with the camera safely packed away, it began to form.<\/p>\n Flying high by Sebastian Oakley (Image credit: Sebastian Oakley \/ Future)<\/p>\n I recently wrote about the power of taking pictures just for yourself,<\/a> and how that mindset can radically shift the way you see the world. But I owe that shift, in part, to the break I took before it. Without it, I wouldn\u2019t have rediscovered that part of me that sees value in imperfection, charm in the everyday, and beauty in the unplanned.<\/p>\n When I eventually picked up the camera again, I saw differently. More clearly. More honestly. My vision hadn\u2019t just returned \u2013 it had refined itself.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a quiet kind of humility that comes from stepping away. You lose the noise, the pressure, the obsession with output. You\u2019re no longer chasing the next great frame or worrying whether it\u2019ll land well on social media. You begin to realise the joy of simply seeing again \u2013 with your eyes, not just your lens.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the kind of perspective you can\u2019t force. You have to live a little. Miss it a little. And then come back to it when it feels right.<\/p>\n freedom of flight by Sebastian Oakley (Image credit: Sebastian Oakley \/ Digital Camera World)<\/p>\n So if you\u2019re feeling lost, uninspired, or unsure of what direction to take, don\u2019t be afraid to pause. Let yourself put the camera down without guilt. Live your life.<\/p>\n And when you\u2019re ready \u2013 really ready \u2013 to pick it back up again, you might just find that your photography has moved forward in ways you never expected.<\/p>\n You might also like… <\/p>\n Is your equipment giving you enough inspiration? Find the right tool for you \u2013\u00a0take a look at the best mirrorless cameras<\/a>, the best rangefinder cameras<\/a> and the best film cameras<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s an old saying that distance makes the heart grow fonder \u2013 and it turns out, it applies…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3939],"tags":[4021,4020,4022,77,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-335253","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-design","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115009172705701355","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Street](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/wQhSBNKUpTensGNW27XiaK.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Leica](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/4mt4ehks2JafdgS2wxnaCe.jpg\")
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