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Establishing sustainable habits

One of the many things that I like about being retired is the ability to schedule my time as it suits me and the flexibility to make changes at the drop of a hat if I want.  It has taken me a while to really understand that I can do this - that I am the one in charge of how I spend my time and what enjoyment I get from the way I spend it.

One of my favourite books, Atomic Habits by James Clear talks about building positive habits by visualizing what type of person has the habit you want to build and then taking steps to make the type of choices that person would make.  He uses the example of someone who wants to eat well and live a healthy lifestyle.  He suggests that you should visualize what types of choices that person would make and follow that path, so instead of eating fast food make the choice of a lighter and healthier meal.  Over time you will become someone with the habits of a healthier person.

“Many people begin the process of changing their habits by focusing on what they want to achieve. This leads to outcome-based habits. The alternative is to build identity based habits. With this approach, we start by focusing on who we wish to become.” James Clear, Atomic Habits.

I really like this approach and I’ve tried to employ it with retirement.  I want to develop my creative skills as a photographer and this has required me to spend some time thinking about what that really means to me. 

When I think of a creative person I envision someone who is curious and continually open to learning new things, trying different techniques and generally playing and having fun. 

This is not the way I naturally see myself, so I’ve had to spend time relearning how to play and dive down rabbit holes learning about new things.  Playful photography assignments like making water splashes helps to learn about shutter speed, but is also a whole lot of fun!. 

How I’m practicing becoming a more curious and spontaneous person.

Winter has come to Alberta with a vengeance!  We’ve had a very mild November/December and now we’re paying for it with -35 C temperatures and windchills getting down close to -50C.  This is bone chilling cold - cover your fingers, toes, ears and nose cold - and even don’t lick anything metal cold  (yes I did do that once when I was young and the result wasn’t fun)!

This is the kind of weather where you make the decision to stay indoors if you don’t have to go out and being retired makes that a pretty easy choice - well it should make it an easy choice unless you’re sitting in front of your computer doing some photo editing and you keep seeing something out of the corner of your eye - a nagging distraction that when you finally look up resolves itself into a flock of Bohemian waxwings flying back and forth from a roost tree to a Mountain Ash (or Rowan) Tree ladened with berries.  This time of year they come by the hundreds for a few short days to strip all berry ladened trees of their fruit.  They are a sight to behold and something I look forward to photographing each year.

Not sure if I’ve mentioned that I am a bird nerd.   I haven’t always been one, but as I started to photograph them, I found myself fascinated by their behaviour, markings and beautiful colourings.  I research all sorts of birds and I’m an avid user and contributor to Merlin Bird ID app (I highly recommend for anyone interested in identifying birds).

Back to the Bohemian waxwings. 

The day was overcast with pretty flat light, little detail in the clouds and the temperatures were anything but inviting, however these birds kept swarming and as they landed on the tree branches I could see that they were puffing out their feathers as a way to stay warm and looking like plump overstuffed birds.

They were definitely calling to me to come and photograph them.

A dialogue ensued in my head which went something like:

“Why did they have to come now?”

“Who knows, but now’s the time to get out there and photograph them”

“It’s too cold!”

“You’ll be sorry if you don’t get out there!”

“This sucks!”

“Yeah but missing the opportunity sucks more”

You guessed it!  I got my camera ready, grabbed some extra batteries and then got bundled up.

How to photograph in the cold weather.

What does photography look like when it’s south of -25C? 

It’s not fashionable that’s for sure - layering is the key and I wear long johns and down pants with windbreaker pants on top, thick socks and snowshoe boots with insulated liners. 

On top is a base layer of merino wool with a fleece layer and then a down jacket topped off with a wind breaker layer.  I wear a buff around my neck and pulled up over my ears with a warm hat on top. 

My hands are the trickiest because I need to stay warm, but I also need dexterity to use the camera controls. 

I start with merino wool glove liners and then down filled mitts with a couple of hot pockets (charcoal activated heating pouches) inside to keep my fingers warm.  I take the mitts off to shoot a burst of images and then my hands go back in to warm up.

I can last about 45 minutes to an hour like this and then I start to get chilled from not moving around much.

Bohemian waxwing creative photography opportunity.

I headed out and found a good spot to view the birds which were still active (picture me stalking around my neighbour’s front yard to get a good vantage point of the tree).  The berry ladened tree was a maze of branches and snow covered berry clumps - getting a pleasing composition and isolating the birds was going to be a challenge as was the light.  After taking a few test shots and moving my position a bit I found a sheltered spot out of the wind (ok I was tucked up against their garage door - thank goodness they know me and my photography obsession).  The birds were just above my head height and about 20 feet away.

I stood there and photographed quite happily for about 45 mins - occasionally changing position and trying to capture different kinds of images.  The light was beginning to fade and I was getting chilled hands, so it was time to pack up and make my way back home - one benefit of this photo shoot location is the short commute.

I downloaded the some 1500 images in great anticipation and found that there were about 300 worth hanging onto and looking for good images to edit.  There were a lot with camera shake or birds that had partially or fully exited the frame.  In the cold I find that sometimes the autofocus tries to lock onto snow if it’s falling or twigs and berries if there’s any movement, so soft focus made a number of the images unusable.

I started sorting through the images and I highlighted a dozen or so that looked interesting and proceeded to edit them.  As I made my way through the set I got more excited by the interactions that I had captured.  One of my main goals in 2023 was to move away from shooting documentary types of images and work on capturing behaviour, interactions and more emotionally engaging images.

This requires me to be more intentional about composing the image and to have a vision of what I want to capture before I start to shoot.  I felt that I had done that with this session as I captured birds plucking berries, tossing them in the air and then swallowing them down.  I even captured images of birds shaking the snow off of berry clumps as they went in for the plump fruit.

The waxwings were certainly putting on a show and as I shifted my position I came up with much more pleasing backgrounds and a better angle for capturing the action - and they delivered!

I was so glad that I listened to that voice prompting me to get outside and shoot these birds because that 45 mins of shooting in challenging conditions has resulted in some of my favourite images in a long time. 

The complimentary colours and the soft muted lighting is perfect for these birds.

When a group of them takes off it is like an acrobatic ballet of motion and they are so single minded in their search for berries that they tend to be quite comfortable with my presence.

How making time for creativity means building a positive habit.

This is one of those moments where I am grateful that I made the decision to retire and that I chose to pursue my creative passion rather than trying to continue to work in some fashion.  It’s interludes like this where taking the opportunity to be spontaneous and follow a hunch fosters that curious playfulness that allows creativity to grow.  It’s a habit that I’m building and as a result I believe I am a much more creative photographer than I was a year ago.

Have you incorporated some new habits that have improved your creativity or playfulness?

I hope you’ll come back soon, share a cuppa, relax and enjoy more of my musings.