Looking back over my career, the photographs that have shaped me the most were never commissioned by a client.
There was no brief to follow, no deadline to meet and no expectation of what the final images should look like. There wasn’t anyone waiting for a gallery, no pressure to create something that would sell and nobody to please but myself. It was simply me, my camera and the freedom to explore. Looking back over my career, I genuinely believe those moments have shaped me more than many of the paid jobs I’ve photographed.
Whenever I think about my own creative journey, my mind always goes back to Iceland. I’ve been fortunate enough to visit several times and every trip has left a lasting mark on my work. At the time, I never travelled with the intention of creating my next collection or discovering a new style. I simply went because I wanted to experience the landscape, immerse myself in the wildlife and allow myself the freedom to photograph whatever caught my eye.
There is something incredibly liberating about creating with absolutely no agenda. You stop worrying about whether an image is commercially viable or whether it will perform well on social media. Instead, you begin noticing the small things again. The way the light falls across a mountain. The texture in volcanic rock. The movement of a horse’s mane in the wind. The colours of the landscape. The silence. The atmosphere. You become present, and when you’re present, creativity has room to grow.
The funny thing is that, at the time, you rarely realise how important those moments are. You’re simply taking photographs because they interest you. You don’t know that years later you’ll look back and see that a particular trip completely changed your eye or influenced the direction of your work. Yet that’s exactly what has happened to me. I can now look back through my photographs and almost pinpoint different stages of my creative journey. I can see where Iceland influenced my love of simplicity, where certain landscapes changed my use of colour and texture and where ideas that seemed insignificant at the time quietly became part of my artwork years later.
Creativity has a wonderful way of working beneath the surface. It doesn’t always reveal itself immediately. Sometimes an experience needs time to settle before you understand how much it has changed you. That’s why I believe giving yourself space to explore is one of the greatest investments you can make in your creative career. Not because every photograph will be extraordinary, but because every experience adds another layer to the way you see the world.
Of course, exploring doesn’t have to mean booking an expensive flight halfway across the world. If Iceland, Mongolia, India or the Scottish Highlands are on your bucket list, then absolutely go if you have the opportunity. Travel has an incredible way of expanding your perspective. But equally, some of the most valuable creative adventures can happen just a few miles from home.
Walk through your local village with fresh eyes. Visit a woodland you’ve never explored before. Photograph your local coastline at sunrise. Spend an afternoon wandering around a country estate or nature reserve. Even the forgotten corners of your town can become places of inspiration if you allow yourself to slow down and really look.
The location itself isn’t really the point.
What matters is giving yourself permission to play.
As photographers, especially once we begin charging for our work, it’s very easy to lose that sense of curiosity. Every shoot has an objective. Every gallery has to satisfy a client. Every image has to achieve something. While that’s an important part of running a successful business, it’s equally important to protect a part of your creativity that belongs only to you.
The photographs you create for yourself are often the ones that quietly teach you the most. They’re where you experiment without fear of getting it wrong. They’re where new ideas appear. They’re where your confidence grows. Most importantly, they’re where your own creative voice begins to develop.
Ironically, those personal projects almost always find their way back into your paid work. Your compositions become stronger because you’ve spent time experimenting. Your storytelling becomes richer because you’ve allowed yourself to observe rather than simply deliver. Your clients often won’t know why your work feels different, but they’ll feel it nonetheless.
That’s why I honestly believe that giving yourself time to create without expectation is more valuable than almost any paid job you’ll ever photograph. Not because it pays the bills but because it feeds the part of you that made you pick up a camera in the first place. It reminds you why you love creating.
So I’d like to leave you with a challenge.
Over the next few weeks, take yourself somewhere with no agenda. Leave the client work behind for a day. Don’t worry about what you’ll post on Instagram or whether the photographs will ever be seen by anyone else. Simply take your camera and explore. Notice the details. Follow your curiosity. Photograph what makes you stop, not what you think you should photograph.
One day, you may look back, just as I have with my trips to Iceland, and realise that those photographs you took purely for yourself quietly shaped everything that came afterwards.
Sometimes the most important step you can take in your creative journey isn’t chasing the next paid job.
Sometimes it’s simply giving yourself permission to play.
Making the decision to leave a secure career and start something completely different can feel incredibly daunting. For many people, it isn’t simply about changing jobs; it’s about walking away from something you’ve spent years building. You’ve worked hard to establish yourself, earned the promotions, built financial security and become known for what you do. From the outside, your life probably looks exactly as you once imagined it would. But perhaps, quietly in the background, another thought has started to creep in. A thought that wonders whether there might be another way to spend the next chapter of your life.
Maybe you’ve found yourself scrolling through beautiful photographs of horses running across open fields or families laughing together in the evening sunshine and thought, I wish I could create something like that. Maybe you’ve realised that what excites you most isn’t another meeting, another report or another Monday morning commute, but the idea of building something that’s entirely your own. A business that gives you flexibility, creativity and the chance to spend more time doing work that genuinely fills your bucket.
Then, almost as quickly as that excitement arrives, the doubts begin.
“Am I actually good enough?”
“Could I really make money from photography?”
“What if I leave a successful career only to fail?”
“What if everyone thinks I’ve made a terrible mistake?”
If you’ve ever asked yourself any of those questions, you’re in very good company. Almost every successful creative business owner has had those same thoughts. The difference isn’t that they were fearless. It’s that they didn’t allow fear to make the decision for them.
The good news is that changing careers doesn’t have to be one enormous leap. In fact, we would argue that it shouldn’t be. One of the biggest misconceptions is that you either stay exactly where you are forever, or you hand in your notice tomorrow and hope everything somehow works itself out. The reality is that there is a much smarter way to do it.
Dip your toe in first.
Give yourself permission to explore the possibilities before making any life-changing decisions. Keep the security of your current career while you begin building the foundations of the next one. Spend weekends learning your camera. Attend workshops. Meet people already working in the industry. Build relationships. Photograph friends, family. Discover what type of photography genuinely excites you. Learn what running a creative business really involves before you ever rely on it to pay your mortgage.
There is something incredibly powerful about building your dream while your current career provides the safety net beneath you. It removes so much of the pressure. You don’t have to say yes to every client because you desperately need the income. You don’t have to panic if a month is quieter than expected. Instead, you have the freedom to learn, experiment, make mistakes and grow with confidence.
This is often where people begin to realise that the dream isn’t quite as impossible as they once thought.
A few clients become a few more. Confidence slowly replaces self-doubt. Your skills improve. You begin charging properly for your work. You start to understand what makes a successful photography business and, before you know it, you’ve created something that no longer feels like a hobby. It begins to feel like a genuine business.
The key to all of this is having a plan.
One of the biggest advantages people coming from a corporate background have is that they’re used to working towards goals, managing projects and thinking strategically. Those skills are incredibly valuable when building a photography business. The difference is that now, instead of working towards somebody else’s goals, you’re working towards your own.
We always encourage people to reverse engineer the life they want. Instead of asking, “How do I become a photographer?” start by asking, “What do I actually want my life to look like?” How many days would you like to work? How much would you like to earn? What kind of clients do you dream of working with? Do you imagine yourself photographing horses, families, dogs, country brands or commercial businesses? Once you know where you want to end up, it becomes far easier to map out the steps needed to get there.
That’s exactly what we help people do at The Training Barn.
We don’t believe in encouraging people to jump before they’re ready. We believe in building strong foundations first. Together, we’ll help you develop your photography, understand the business side of becoming self-employed and create a personalised roadmap that fits around your current life. There is no pressure to leave your career next month or even next year. The goal is to help you build enough confidence, experience and financial stability that, when the time does come to make the leap, it feels like a natural next step rather than a terrifying gamble.
The people who join us are often incredibly capable. They’re hardworking, organised and used to giving their all. They don’t need someone to tell them to work harder. What they need is clarity. A plan. A mentor. A community. People who have already walked the path they’re considering and can help them avoid the mistakes that so many creatives make when trying to build a business alone.
Will it be easy? Probably not. Building any successful business takes commitment, resilience and patience. There will be moments where you question yourself. Moments where things don’t go to plan. But there will also be moments that remind you exactly why you started. Your first enquiry. Your first paying client. The first time someone tells you how much they love your work. The first Monday morning where you wake up genuinely excited about the week ahead.
Perhaps you’re not ready to leave your career today.
But maybe you’re ready to start exploring.
Maybe you’re ready to find out what chapter two could look like.
If that’s where you are right now, we’d love to help. Not by telling you to hand in your notice tomorrow, but by helping you create a personalised plan that allows you to build your dream steadily, confidently and with purpose.
Because sometimes the bravest thing you can do isn’t jumping.
It’s simply dipping your toe in.
If you’re ready to explore what’s possible, book a call with us. We’d love to hear your story and help you plan the next chapter of yours.
Message info@trainingbarn.co.uk to book your call. Can’t wait to hear from you!
A few weeks ago Hannah and I packed our cameras, video kit and far more equipment than we could comfortably carry, and headed off to Spain to photograph someone I have known for over 25 years, international dressage trainer and judge, Nicky Barrett.
The brief sounded relatively straightforward. Nicky wanted a fresh library of images and video content that would help her promote her online coaching business and attract new clients from around the world. Although she already teaches riders across Europe, the UK, Dubai, Australia and beyond, many people simply don’t realise that training remotely with someone of Nicky’s calibre is even an option.
What we didn’t realise was quite how early our first day would begin.
After arriving in Spain, we enjoyed a lovely evening catching up over dinner. Like so often happens when horsey people get together, conversation flowed easily. We talked horses, business, clients, the equestrian industry and everything in between. Before we knew it, it was 1am.
It was at that point Nicky casually mentioned that her first lesson started at 5am.
There was a brief moment where Hannah and I looked at each other and did the maths. Not only was that a 5am start in Spain, it was a 4am start on UK time! We still hadn’t prepared all of our equipment and knew we would need time to get everything organised before the lesson began. Our alarms were set for 4.30am and we crawled out of our beds knowing we had managed around two and a half hours of sleep.
The following morning, armed with coffee and determination, we started documenting what turned out to be one of the most interesting aspects of the entire trip.
Before arriving, I wasn’t entirely sure what Nicky’s online coaching looked like in practice. Like many people, I wondered how much a trainer could really see through a screen. The answer, it turns out, is quite a lot.
Clients connect with Nicky via WhatsApp or FaceTime. Both coach and rider wear headsets, allowing them to communicate continuously throughout the lesson while a groom, friend or family member films the session from the middle of the arena. The camera simply follows the horse and rider around while Nicky watches from Spain and coaches exactly as she would in person.
Watching this unfold completely changed my perception of online coaching. The communication was seamless, the video quality was excellent and Nicky could clearly see every detail she needed to help both horse and rider improve. It was fascinating to watch and easy to understand why riders from all over the world choose to train with her in this way.
Photographically, the challenge was creating enough variety to tell the whole story.
When you spend several days photographing one person, you have to work much harder than you would at a busy event or wedding. There are no constantly changing scenes or endless new subjects appearing in front of your camera. Instead, you need to consciously create variety.
Before travelling, Hannah and I had spent time discussing the types of images we might need. We didn’t have a rigid shot list, but we had thought carefully about the story we wanted to tell. We knew we needed details, portraits, working remotely, working in person, lifestyle images, environmental portraits and everything in between.
Over two morningswe photographed Nicky coaching remotely, working on her tablet, spending time with her dogs, coaching riders in person and interacting with horses. We photographed details and big-picture scenes. We photographed inside and outside. We photographed wide shots that established the environment and tighter images that captured personality and expression.
One of my favourite locations was the colourful outdoor seating area at Nicky’s home. The images perfectly summed up everything we were trying to communicate. Sunshine, relaxed Mediterranean living, professional coaching and the freedom that comes with running an international business from home. Sometimes a location simply helps tell the story for you, and this was one of those places.
Not every location worked so well. One area we had planned to use looked promising initially, but when we started shooting the light simply wasn’t right. Rather than forcing it, we took a few frames and moved on. Knowing when to abandon an idea is often just as important as knowing when to pursue one.
Throughout the shoot Hannah and I constantly swapped roles. One minute I would be photographing while Hannah captured video. The next minute we would switch. Working this way allowed us to build a complete content library without overwhelming Nicky and kept us both creatively engaged throughout the project.
By the end of the trip we delivered 188 finished images, alongside a collection of video content, and all of the editing was completed in around a day.
When Nicky received the gallery, her feedback was simple. She said the images were perfect and she couldn’t have wished for anything more. As photographers, that’s always lovely to hear, particularly when you’ve invested so much thought into creatingimages that genuinely serve a client’s business.
Of course, every trip comes with a few unexpected lessons.
One of my favourites involved a Michelin-starred restaurant. Nicky had very kindly booked lunch for us after one of the shoot days. The only issue was that Hannah was still dressed head-to-toe in her sportswear from the morning’s photography session. Surrounded by elegantly dressed guests enjoying a leisurely lunch, she was absolutely mortified. The lesson? Always pack one smart outfit, no matter what kind of shoot you think you’re travelling for.
Looking back, however, the biggest lesson from the trip wasn’t about photography at all.
I first met Nicky around 25 years ago after being introduced through a mutual friend. At the time, I approached her and asked whether she would be willing to help me build my portfolio. She agreed, loved the images and over time began recommending clients to me. We stayed connected, kept in touch and continued supporting each other’s businesses over the years.
Twenty-five years later, that relationship led to Hannah and I boarding a plane to Spain to create content for her international business.
It’s a reminder that the opportunities which shape our careers rarely appear overnight. They are often built slowly through trust, relationships and consistently doing a good job.
If there are three lessons I’d encourage you to take away from this trip, they would be these.
Firstly, preparation matters. Think through every type of image you might need before you arrive. The more prepared you are, the easier it becomes to create variety and tell a complete story.
Secondly, make sure your kit is in perfect working order before travelling. When you’re abroad, there are no second chances if you forget a charger or discover something isn’t working properly.
And finally, if you’re shooting at a location you’ve never seen before,ask for iPhone photos or videos in advance. Understanding the space and the light before you arrive can make an enormous difference to the success of the shoot.
Most importantly, never underestimate the value of relationships. Cameras change. Trends change. Technology changes. But trust and reputation continue to open doors long after the photographs themselves have been taken.
Sometimes those doors even lead to Spain.
