There’s this thing a lot of people don’t realize about running a photography business and that’s that we never sleep. We rarely have days off. We don’t have a lot of time to go out with friends or to enjoy lazy Sundays. Granted, we’re living our dreams. We’re doing exactly what we want to do but that comes at an exhausting cost some days.

I just got back from 11 days in Ireland. At the point I’d boarded the plane, it’d been more than 40 days since I’d had a day off. One single day off. I guess the only person who can be blamed for that is my boss, me. Understand though, I’m not complaining, I’m explaining.

LUCEO’s David Walter Banks and I led a workshop at the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar last winter (gearing up for another one at a school in the fall, too) about how we at LUCEO do things and how both of our lives ran after being staff newspaper photographers. We explained to the mixed crowd of professionals and students all the ins and outs of marketing, showed them our work, talked about how fulfilling it is to be able to call the shots in our professional lives. We talked about passion and business savvy. We didn’t really talk about 14 hour days six or seven days a week.

Again, not complaining, explaining.

So I didn’t realize when I boarded a plane to Ireland that a day later I probably would have just broken down if I hadn’t crossed that ocean. The trip came at the most perfect time. The trip came around the time that I was just too overwhelmed to appreciate all the beauty and traveling I’d experienced the two months before. I’d been to Lebanon, Kansas to start a new project, Austin, Texas for a shoot, upstate New York for the first time but I hadn’t had a chance to edit down those photos, let alone truly let myself enjoy the moments. I was smiling, I was happy but I wasn’t fully present. I’m a huge worrier. I was worrying about what I had to do and where I had to be tomorrow and how I’d find time to pack.

It took me a few days to unwind in Ireland. I felt really guilty about having time for myself at first, too. The scenery was breath-taking and, even better, I was there with the man I love and my precious family, whom I rarely get to spend time with.

I hadn’t realized how important this trip would be. My eyes needed a chance to relax. My eyes needed a chance to savor the beauty and the laughs. To take deep breaths. My eyes needed the chance to pass by photos because there were no expectations and there was no cost for missing the shot. This is something that I think is so important for us to do, even if it’s briefly, even if it’s once a year. We have to slow down.

Our photos will be better for it.

Our passions will be better for it.

We stayed the first week in the countryside, in a rented 500-year-old castle, no less. No internet, no phone service. I didn’t even bring a computer. It took time to stop worrying about the emails or phone calls I was missing, but, for a few days, I finally did. I savored the precious time. I stayed up late (well, as late as I could with the time change) playing cards, listening to live music, watching people dance, laughing until I cried, all instead of staring at a computer.

The funny thing is, I’m telling you all this and acting like I didn’t work. I came back with thousands of images. Photography is my job. Photography is my passion. Photography is my life. All those lines often blur. This trip, though, I left the job at home.

This 11 days has brought me back with a fresh outlook (albeit I’m already back in the grind, already feeling stressed again). It’s brought me back rejuvenated. It’s brought me back with happier eyes. Eyes that were given a break from the pressures of deadlines and editor and client expectations.

All that’s to say, I’m back. with new eyes.

There's this thing a lot of people don't realize about running a photography business and that's that we never sleep. We rarely have days off. We don't have a lot of time to go out with friends or to enjoy lazy Sundays. Granted, we're living our dreams. We're doing exactly what we want to ...