The Slow Season starts
Hello everyone,
We’re almost in November which, looking at my schedule, is going to be a slow season.
I have no book fairs, no events and nothing public facing. The last workshop I’ll teach for the year is this weekend, and then we’re basically in quiet time.
Quiet time is still busy - busy with print production, with planning, with business upgrades, with getting ready for the baby, with new products, with trying to organise a lot. But it’s also slow because sales will drop away, my engagement with my peers will slow down, and there’ll be a sort of hunger I have to be putting things out that will be unmet.
I need to tally my year to date sales, I think I’m around 750 books sold for the year, which means I’m unlikely to get to 1000. But that’s ok - a goal is a helpful metric but getting across the line is, to some extent, arbitrary. As long as I can keep going I’m achieving what I want most of all. The numbers are just ways of thinking ahead and projecting a bit.
Usually in November I go to Europe, but this year it isn’t happening. I went in July and I can’t really afford a second trip. I’m sitting here watching everyone gear up and get ready and, to be honest, I’m so relaxed and happy I don’t feel like I’m missing out or worried about not being present. The nice thing about having a baby on the way is it gives me a convenient excuse when folks ask if I’ll be there. Even though the baby is not the main reason I’m skipping those fairs this year.
So in the slow season I start to think about what’s next.
I’ve been thinking a bit about what I want to work on now that I’m not photographing any more dingo things.
I have a bunch of ideas, but I' want to travel less than I have, so I’m trying to think about work that either takes longer (because I can’t travel as often), or work that is more local to me. I’ve been thinking about focusing on feral species (and feral plants), perhaps mining/gold mining, maybe a particular bird that’s prolific near me, photographing my in-laws’ baker, going feral cat hunting, or maybe looking at rare earth minerals (as Australia just signed a massive rare earth mining agreement). I’m not sure where I’ll go yet.
I thought about setting up a few camera traps on the creek behind my house, but I feel the best camera trap work has been done and done well. I’m not sure what I could add. When I think of those types of cameras I can’t think of what I’d try and do. But maybe something will come to me. The Slow Season is a good time to go for a few walks and see what I think.
I thought about going looking for Sawfish - an incredibly elusive species and Australia is one of the only reliable places they can be viewed and studied. I tried to get on a research trip a few years ago and was unsuccessful. Maybe next year’s the year. That could be amazing.
But I don’t know yet - there’s always something to be working on, and I like making photos. I can’t deny the role travel has played in my work the last 4-5 years, but that has to change. The idea of going to remote Northern Territory and hunting cats with Traditional Owners sounds really amazing, but the reality of having a young family means I really don’t want to be incognito for 1-2 weeks. Traveling to small gold prospects would be interesting photographically, but can I really justify driving all over the state any longer?
It’s a good question and one I’ll keep mulling over. The Slow Season is here, and I think it means I’m doing reflection and planning 1-2 months earlier than usual. I like that time to mull it all over.
Matt