Time is limited, and when you have a full-time job, your photography passion may easily fall by the wayside. While spending time on photography may seem unattainable, there are tricks that you can use to free up space in your week.

It doesn’t take much effort to find time for photography when you’re busy – you just need to be mindful and organized. Here are 17 ways you can do it:

1. Write Down Your Goals

This may seem too simple to be effective. But, writing down your goals helps to solidify them in your mind, making you more likely to achieve them.

The scope of your goals can vary. They can be ambitious and long-term, such as owning a gallery someday. Or, they can be more immediate, like learning a new photography technique. 

However large or small they may be, brainstorm small daily tasks that you can complete to get you closer to your goal over time. You can incorporate these tasks into your routine so that you do them consistently. 

After, you can broaden your scope and consider specific things that you can do each month to work toward your goal. Select one or two short-term goals for the first month.

Remember to keep your goals focused and attainable. Be honest with yourself about how much you can realistically do in one month.

If those short-term goals are overly demanding, you’ll be setting yourself up for failure. It’s far more effective to work for goals that you know you can reach with a bit of extra hard work. 

Set manageable goals is key toward progress. This isn’t just true for photography; it goes for anything that you strive for in life.

2. Know Your “Why”

Knowing your “why” will provide you with the fuel you need towards achieving your goals.

Why do you have an aspiration to take photos in the first place? What inspired the decision to set your photography goals? 

On the road towards your goal, challenges are inevitable. In order to withstand the adversities that you’ll face, you’ll need a clear sense of purpose. 

When you have a powerful reason why you’re working hard for a goal, any roadblocks that come your way will be surmountable. 

Your “why” is the light at the end of the tunnel guiding you towards your end goal. No matter why tries to bring you down along the way, you can stay positive and determined so long as that “why” is in your mind’s eye. 

3. Create a Schedule

To make the most out of your time, you need clear priorities and an organized schedule. Using daily planners and scheduling apps can keep you on top of your weekly plans, including the time that you set aside for passion projects. 

There are many different approaches to keeping a schedule, and you can experiment to find the one that works best for you.

One of my favorite planning apps is google calendar. This tool but allows you to set reminders for any events and send those reminders to your devices such as your phone, desktop, laptop, and smartwatch. 

You can also try apps such as 24me and Zenday. These are much more versatile than google calendar. Both offer customized reminders, to-do list creation, and note-taking in addition to being a schedule planner. 

If you’re struggling to find any time to dedicate to your passions, rethink how you’re spending your time.

For the next three days, note down your activities every half hour. You may find yourself with large chunks of time spent unproductively. 

Surfing the web or watching TV can eat hours out of your day. With a bit of planning, you can dedicate that time to your hobbies. 

With that said, it is important to note that there are only a set number of hours in the day. You need to be realistic about your schedule.

While not being able to spend a lot of time taking photos may be your ideal scenario, overworking yourself can have consequences on both your health and creativity. So, take care of yourself and create a realistic schedule that works for you. 

4. Honor Self-Commitments

It’s just a fact of life: carrying out self-commitments is more difficult than carrying out commitments we made to others.

Let me put it this way: if you have to get to work by eight am at the instructions of your boss, odds are that you’ll make every effort to do so. But, if you’re just telling yourself to get to work at eight, with no one else to hold you accountable, it will be all too easy to let yourself off the hook (the snooze button is far too tempting).

But not honoring self-commitments takes a major toll on our confidence and our ability to stay motivated down the road. 

It’s proven that when you complete a goal that you’ve been striving for, dopamine is released in your brain. Dopamine gives you feelings of happiness, contentment, and satisfaction. It will provide a boost to your confidence and motivate you to work even harder. 

When you stick to your self-commitments and start reaching your short-term goals, your largest, most ambitious goals won’t seem so far off. 

So, honor self-commitments with determination and focus. When you set a goal for yourself, don’t let yourself get off course. 

Be consistent in your efforts and don’t let yourself quit before you’ve finished. 

5. Wake Up Early

You can benefit from waking up early in many ways.

One big one is that your brain is at its most productive and creative right when you wake up. That’s one of the reasons why you’ll see many high-achievers do their most important work in the morning. 

But, there’s another reason why mornings are excellent for photography: the sunrise. 

Mornings spent shooting the sunrise are precious and would be a shame to miss. As the colors in the sky shift, there’s endless potential for great compositions. 

Galen Rowell said it best: “You only get one sunrise and one sunset a day, and you only get so many days on the planet. A good photographer does the math and doesn’t waste either.”

Getting your mind going in the morning with an activity that you’re passionate about will make you more energized when you get to the office. It’s an energy kick that even coffee can’t compare to! 

6. Join a Photography Class

Signing up for a class will make you more likely to stick to your commitment, especially if you’ve spent money on it. 

Also, in a class, you’ll be surrounded by people who share the same passion. The other students in the class are likely to understand your goals and provide you with the motivation to pursue them.

They will keep you accountable, too, which can be effective for those days you don’t feel like sticking with your schedule.  

7. Find a Buddy

As mentioned, when you’re on your own, it’s trickier to hold yourself accountable to your new goals and habits. So, finding a friend or colleague with a shared interest can help keep your motivation up. You can encourage each other to stick to your goals and keep pushing toward your dreams. 

8. Designate a Space for Photography

If you can, create a space in your home that’s entirely dedicated to photography. This could be a small desk where you do your post-editing or a room where you do your entire workflow. 

You’ll find that when you have a space just for photography, you’ll work much more effectively than if your workspace doubles as your living room, dining room, bedroom, etc.

In your designated photography space, you can have everything that you need within arms reach. 

Also, you won’t have to worry about constantly clearing out space and then having to set it back up again. You can keep all of your supplies stored in the space and make a mess without worries if needed. 

Use this space to brainstorm ideas, plan future shoots, and edit photos. This space will help you escape from daily stressors and worries and focus on your passion. 

9. Keep Your Camera With You

Take advantage of unexpected pockets of spare time by always having your camera with you. 

For instance, on the way to and from work, pay attention to what’s happening around you. If you commute right around the time that the sun rises or sets, you can get some incredible shots while you’re in transit. 

At the beginning of the week, take a look at what you have scheduled and consider which events or obligations you could work photography into.

If you’re headed out on a camping trip, it can double as a nature photography workshop. Or if you’re flying to a new city on business, take your camera with you to explore the urban scene.

When you’re headed off to parties and family gatherings, bring the camera along, too. Having a camera in social settings doesn’t mean that you have to be constantly snapping photos. But a valuable photo opportunity may present itself at these functions, so it’s best to be prepared.

Having a camera with you also makes you more observant and is a great way to keep your creativity engaged. So, even if you don’t get exceptional shots, you still get the opportunity to hone your photographic skills.

If you can’t bring your camera with you, be sure to have your smartphone handy. These days, smartphone cameras are viable options for capturing excellent quality shots. Also, they make it incredibly easy to have an unexpected photo shoot when the opportunity arises. 

10. Learn to Say “No” to Others

Busyness doesn’t equate to productivity. Meaning, not every commitment you have is worthwhile. 

Your time is valuable, so you should spend it wisely. You may be tempted to get off track, but you always have the power to say no. 

Know that multitasking is impossible. Studies have proven that multitasking severely hinders our efficiency and IQ when performing a task.

The human brain isn’t capable of focusing on two things at once. Instead, it quickly changes focus from one thing to the next, never becoming fully engaged in either task. We’re not designed to multitask, and doing so leads to mediocre work. 

Being overenthusiastic about what you can accomplish can have negative consequences. There is a limit to what we’re able to accomplish in a single day, and it’s okay to say no to tasks of lesser importance.

11. Learn to Say “No” to Yourself. 

It’s important to say no when others ask for your time, but you need to limit your own wants, too. 

Having several hobbies will diminish your ability to improve at any one of them. Consider your list of hobbies and choose one or two to be your main priorities. 

If you choose to have two hobbies, pencil them into your calendar and designate a specific time for them. Stick to that schedule and try not to stray from it. 

12. Take Up Journaling

As mentioned earlier, writing down your goals has a powerful effect on how likely you are to achieve them. Journaling is one great way to make sure that you regularly note down your goals and thoughts about them. 

With the space to flesh out each goal, your aspirations will be clearly defined. This makes the steps needed to reach them more focused, too. 

When you journal, you write down the significant events from day to day and reflect upon them. This makes learning from experiences far more efficient than if you were not journaling. You can build upon ideas that you have and figure out how they may benefit your craft. 

13. Ask for Help

Asking for help isn’t always easy, especially when the people around you are just as busy as you are. 

But, the support of your friends and family can make a big difference in your progress towards your goals. So, don’t be shy about asking for help – in most cases, they’re happy to offer any assistance that they can. 

For instance, they may be able to help you out by offering a few hours of babysitting during the week so that you can have time for yourself. 

Or, maybe your spouse could take over a few extra chores to give you more time for your passion. Your loved ones will understand more than anyone the need for you to pursue what you love. So, lean on them for support – when the opportunity arises, you’ll do exactly the same for them. 

14. Change Your Evening Routine

Evenings are often when you have the most freedom to choose what you want to do with your time. Consider spending a part of it doing photography.

For example, evenings are an excellent time to sift through and edit your images. You can use them to brainstorm and write down ideas for your next shoot. 

When well spent, your evening time can drastically improve your overall well being. Spending time on what’s truly meaningful to you helps ease the stresses of the day to help you return to work feeling refreshed. In a sense, this time that you take for yourself is protection against burnout. 

15. Save Time Spent on Shopping and Cooking

Shopping and cooking are to major chores that can take up a lot of time. But, you can make more time in your day by grocery shopping for the entire week at once. 

Write out one large list so you don’t forget anything. While you’ll spend more time in the store on that trip than you usually would, you’ll save a great deal of time by only having to travel to the store once. 

Also, consider meal prepping. If you can make a large batch of one or two meals on Sundays, you’ll save time by not having to cook every single day. 

16. Don’t Spend the Weekend on Chores

The weekend is the ideal time to work on your hobbies, but it can often get eaten up by chores. 

Chores like laundry and cleaning can take up your precious full weekends. 

So, split your list of chores up and do a few throughout the week. This is easier on the body and will leave your weekend free to do whatever you want. 

Here’s a weekday chore schedule for you to view as an example:

Monday: Grocery shopping and Meal prep

Tuesday: Clean the house.

Wednesday: Do the laundry.

Thursday: Iron your clothes.

Friday: Spend time with friends and family.

Saturday and Sunday: Take Photos!

17. Make Use of Available Resources and Hacks

Look for resources available that can help make the time you spent doing photography more productive. 

For example, you can set up a workflow for your editing tasks so that everything gets done in an efficient, organized fashion. 

Look into updating to a faster computer or backup drives to free up extra time throughout the day.

You can also save time by finding ways to learn efficiently. For example, you can enroll in online courses to efficiently learn skills like composition or post-processing. 

Another hack you may want to try out is using a bullet journal to help you stay productive and organized. A bullet journal is a list to distribute your tasks throughout the month.

Conclusion

Finding time for photography is attainable for everyone, even those with demanding full-time jobs. You can implement the above tips into your lifestyle to boost efficiency and free up time for yourself. Even the most subtle shifts can make a noticeable impact on your quality of life.