BY DOMINIQUE SHAW
Since I started my studio at the tender age of 21 I don’t think I’ve ever gone more than 6-8 weeks without shooting a wedding.
Oddly enough, before the world turned upside down and inside out (well, inside inside really I suppose), I had actually planned to do just that - after what was due to be a hectic March of travel, speaking engagements and weddings my diary had been cleared throughout April and early May to take some time to do something I haven’t done for a long time - spend some time at home and in the garden just trying to relax a little. That said, committed to that stay at home goal though I was, I really didn’t expect it to be legally enforced.
So, after taking my first legally required holiday from weddings how do I feel? Well it turns out I really love my job! My “break” from weddings has so far involved not only completing the edits of the last couple of weddings that took place just before lockdown but then (prompted by a little project set by Fujifilm having become an official X-Photographer back in January) I found myself actively going back through all of my past weddings and seeking out images that had been forgotten or undervalued at the time they were taken - something that’s actually been quite an enriching experience and that I would never normally find the time to do. I’ve shared a few of my favourites here.
I did take some time out yesterday though to watch a movie and prove to myself that I can totally do this no-work relaxing thing! I mean the movie was terrible.… like really, really terrible, but I persevered and watched it nonetheless! Seriously: unrelentingly awful - I’m pretty sure I was actively less creative by the end of it … it was one of those movies where you wish you were watching it on good old fashioned terrestrial TV so that you get to experience the sweet release of a commercial break advertising incredibly exotic, bucket-list locations like Morrisons or discussing the new world currency now being manufactured by Andrex … I digress …
So really what this lockdown has taught me so far is that if I’m ever going to truly switch off from everything and not think about my work at all I may need to get myself incarcerated for a major crime or something … come to think of it hunting down whoever produced last night’s movie might be a good starting point if only I could leave the house …
I might as well face it,
I’m Dominique and I’m a workaholic.
