Mike Oldfield – Hibernaculum
Do you remember those first moments, when you had just discovered the world of photography and with that, your new passion? Everything was so new and exciting. I wonder what lens I’m going to buy next? Gosh, I didn’t even know these things existed! I wish I had more money to buy this and that!
Just like with love, passion will start fading. But even though passion fades, it doesn’t have to disappear. Love changes its shape from time to time and there will be days when you don’t even feel like picking up your camera to take your own photos, those photos that are as valuable as the photos you take for clients. I’ve always thought that gear doesn’t make you a photographer but with right gear you’re able to find your passion again after routines come and take over. Although we need routines, routines can come quite boring if you don’t spice it up sometimes.
Jouni has always been the one who is always searching the internet, finding all kinds of lenses. I’m the one who’s always looking at all those things and thinking that oh well, maybe that will be kind of fun to use. Until I manage to pick something up, testing it myself and falling madly in love. Yes, I’ve been watching photos Jouni takes with his Nikkor 55/1.2 (and sometimes feeling myself oh so small as an artist when seeing what kind of magic he creates with it), but as a person with glasses I’ve never felt quite comfortable with something that has the label manual focus on it. But last Saturday I grabbed that little lens, was like WOAH and when I came back home I said I wanted one for myself. ❤
Going full time with photography includes a risk that people rarely talk about. When your hobby turns into a job, you risk losing the passion you had for photography. But, I think it’s important to mention that it can only happen if you let it – if you’re not taking care of yourself by working too much after pricing yourself too low, or if there’s not anything in your life except for photography and being a business owner. We all need something besides photography to take our minds away from work. Where new gear and things to play with help you with feeding motivation and creativity, we still need something completely different to help us.
Luckily, I found that from actually playing. Gaming world came to my rescue.
Growing up with 3 older brothers, games were always a part of my childhood. I remember games like Bubble Bobble and the good old days of Atari. At some point I was playing DOOM (not sure my Mom liked that development much!), F1, Transport Tycoon and RolleCcoaster Tycoon. For a while I didn’t play much until mobile games came with mobile phones and I found Angry Birds and Candy Crush Saga (I also managed to get Jouni hooked in to playing the latter and after I stopped playing it, he has continued playing it!).
In December 2015 Star Wars entered my life in full force. Somehow I managed to escape it all until I was 31 years old, having seen all the movies but never quite gotten the magic. Enter Rey and The Force awakens and I was hooked. After that I found Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes while I was browsing through App Store on my iPhone searching for something Star Wars related. At some point of last year, maybe in December, I found Star Wars Commander and the rest is history. SW Commander got a hold of me, maybe because it was easier to play it even when I was on my computer, editing photos. For an impatient person like myself it’s been so great to play a strategy game where you are forced to wait for things to finish upgrading. When I’m playing, I’m completely in that world and it has awesome. I have found awesome people in both games and became friends with some – they are my gaming family. It’s been the perfect way to leave behind my worries and hardships and learn that there’s life outside of running a business. Because… now life is also about running my own SW Commander squad! :D It started as a small dream on the back of my head and grew until it was too big to just leave hanging. Luckily my gaming family was supportive of my decision (and frankly a big part of me taking this small huge step!) and followed me into the unknown. And so Hibernaculum was born. My little Rebel baby in the gaming world. So, whenever I’m not editing photos, running a business, photographing a wedding or meeting clients, you can find me with my headphones on, listening to good music and organizing and leading my team to be victorious in squad wars ;) If you happen to playing the game and feel like changing teams, we’re always on the lookout for active players. I think now is the perfect time to mention that Disney is not paying me anything to advertise their games.
You will not always find creativity and energy from the places you thought you’d find them. It took me a long time to come to terms with the fact that it’s OK to enjoy things outside photography and to actually take time for myself to cope with the stressful nature of running my own business. So I encourage you; jump into the unknown and try things out. Hobbies will feed your work motivation and vice versa, and no matter what your escape route is, finding that will help you. When you’re feeling refreshed, it will give you energy to push onward. ❤
// Johanna
Wow, all your photos was really great, but this is so awesome!