Photographer burn-out
At times - one should learn to ease off and know what is too much !!
Last weekend was a great for me as a Photographer - I got to cover two great events, and also made a nice profit from these events. On the other hand, working through the weekend with minimal sleep and with proper case of flu/fever - that made the 48 hours a little tougher than it should have been.
My first event to cover was the CEV Cup Final in Paris on Saturday evening, after covering a local game on Friday evening - I caught four hours of sleep before driving 120 miles from Birmingham to Manchester to catch a flight to Paris. Over in Paris - few hours of rest before heading to the Arena and cover the game and do the post game interviews on video for National media back 'home'. Covering Volleyball was great after few months away from it - as a sport it gives you so many angles to shoot from and the emotion players display after each point makes our job as photographers that little bit easier!
The viewpoint that I was covering the game from, was a certain player - so I didn't need to concern myself with all of the action. Unfortunately this players team lost the game, which reduced the amount of clients who would have wanted pictures by one or two. But it was nice to be back on the sidelines of a volleyball court.
Late finish meant I rushed to the last train of the night to get to the Hotel - after two hours of Parisienne traffic, I got to the Hotel at 1.45am. Still few videos and images to edit and finally to bed at 2.30am, unfortunately this was also the night that clocks went forward by an hour. So it was actually 3.30am. Wake-up call at 5.30am - off to the airport to catch the early bird flight to Manchester. Luckily flight was on time and after landing in Manchester - it was about 250 mile drive up to Glasgow to my next event.
Arriving at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow at 11.30am - just 30 minutes ahead of the tip-off for BBL Trophy basketball event. So straight to work - by now the weekend was catching up with me and I was feeling slightly tired. Next 6 hours was spent covering the games on the court and crowd off the the court. When I walked up the stairs to the Media section after the game... I felt more like a 96 year old man.. than the 40 year old that I am.
Unfortunately in my 'stupidity' I had also decided to drive back home during Sunday evening - so little over 5 hours of M74 and M6 awaited me.. fever running through my head and having had two hours of sleep. It was one of the longest five hours on the road in the last year!
When i finally pulled in front of my house at 11.30pm... I was drained, hungry, exhausted, sick, tired, aching.. BUT, I had had two brilliant days of doing what I love to do. But now.. 48 hours later, I am still paying the price of working myself to the point of collapse.
Now - I know there are photographers out there who shout at the screen. "You should get your clients to put you up in a hotel" "You don't charge enough if you don't stay in a hotel before/after a job" .. The thing is for both jobs I WAS offered a hotel by the client, before and after the event dates. So it was my own choice to turn it down.. although, next time I just might take up that offer ;-)
And to end with a lighter note.. it was good to see that some of my friends managed to take it 'easy' at work over the weekend ;-)
