Monday morning, Oslo. 10:00 a.m. My feet move, my brain refuses to follow. A week of no sleep, client calls before sunrise, edits past midnight. Dry mouth, heavy eyes. I shuffle along Aker Brygge, waterfront glittering with glass and steel, hoping the city might slap me awake.
Photography has always been my reset button. My way of shaking the cobwebs loose. But I’ve learned there are two kinds: active and passive.
Active was last week 6 straight days in Lofoten. Brands expecting specific content, talent to direct, weather that didn’t care about schedules, a hundred technical details threatening to collapse if I blinked. Rewarding, sure. But draining. That’s the work version.
Passive is this: walking Oslo with a point-and-shoot, no plan, no client to impress. Letting inspiration slip in uninvited, like some blurry pigeon or crooked building that wouldn’t make anyone’s mood board. Shots that don’t matter to anyone but me. A way to wash the stress out of my system and remember why I ever picked up a camera in the first place.
As a freelancer, “professional creative,” if I want to get fancy it’s crucial to know the difference. The deadlines, the stress, the missed shots…they build discipline. The wander, the fuck-off photos, the zero-pressure play…they build soul. One without the other and the whole thing collapses.
Today in Oslo, it didn’t take much. A street, a camera, and the space to breathe. Both kinds of photography matter. But this is the one that keeps me sane.
Clients pay for the first kind. I pay for the second.
Keep Moving,
Matthew James Price
paradisevalleymedia.com
@mjpmontana
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