Why You Feel Guilty Spending Time on Photography (And 5 Reasons That Needs to Stop)

If you're reading this late on a Saturday morning, coffee gone cold, wondering why you can't just sign up for that photography workshop without the pit in your stomach, you're not alone. You've been conditioned.

Here's the truth: Creative time isn't selfish. The guilt you're carrying isn't yours, it's the result of decades spent putting everyone else first while the world steamrolled your creative needs.

Photography isn't extra. It's not indulgent. It's the pathway back to the creative identity you set aside, and it's time to reclaim it as non-negotiable.

Why Do Women Feel Guilty About Creative Time?

You didn't wake up one day deciding your photography passion didn't matter. You were taught—systematically, relentlessly—that your creative needs come last.

Here's how it happened:

• Caregiving culture treated your time as everyone else's resource

• Hustle culture glorified productivity over presence

• Every role you played (parent, partner, professional) demanded you show up for others first

• Society sold you the lie that creative passion is a luxury, not a necessity

Twenty-five years of soccer tournaments, aging parents, career demands, and putting out everyone else's fires. Your camera gathered dust in the closet while you told yourself "someday."

But here's what no one told you: You didn't abandon photography. Life steamrolled your creative time. There's a difference.

5 Reasons You Need to Stop Feeling Guilty About Your Photography Time

1. Creative Time Isn't Selfish, It's Essential Self-Priority

Photography isn't a hobby you're squeezing in. It's a wellbeing practice disguised as art.

Here's what happens when you pick up your camera:

• Manual mode forces presence. You can't think about tomorrow's meeting when you're calculating aperture and light.

• Nature demands you slow down. Awe-inspiring landscapes aren't rushed, they require you to stop, breathe, see.

• Your camera becomes your dopamine detox. Trade the scroll for the shutter. Trade anxiety for attention.

This isn't indulgent. This is much-needed. Essential. The creative time that keeps you whole.

2. You've Already Spent Decades Putting Everyone Else First

The kids are grown. The career is stable. Your time is finally, actually yours.

So why does it still feel wrong to claim it?

Because for 25+ years, everyone else's needs came first. Your creative identity became the thing you'd get back to "later," after the science project, after the promotion, after everyone else was settled.

Later became never. And now you're standing at the threshold asking: Who am I without all the doing?

Here's your answer: You're the photographer you've always been. You just need to become her again, boldly, confidently, on your terms.

3. What You Don't Use, You Lose—And You're Losing Your Creative Identity

Every year you wait, the gap widens. The camera settings feel more foreign. The confidence erodes a little more. The voice that whispers "I used to love photography" gets dull.

This is the cost of perpetual delay:

• Lost skills that once felt like second nature

• Eroded confidence in your creative vision

• A growing sense that you've forgotten who you are outside of what you do for others

Photography isn't just about beautiful images. It's about reclaiming the part of yourself that sees the world differently. The part that wants to stop the car for that fleeting, perfect light. The part that knows creative time isn't extra—it's oxygen.

From "I used to photograph" to "I am a photographer"—it starts the moment you decide you're done waiting.

4. Your Camera Is the Cure to Hustle Culture Burning You Out

The world says hustle. Optimize. Produce. Do more, faster, better. Art and photography becomes content for the machine.

We call BS!

In a world that glorifies productivity and steamrolls women's creative needs, picking up your camera is an act of resistance.

Photography forces a different rhythm:

• Presence over productivity

• Attention over accomplishment

• Seeing over doing

When you're standing in front of a jaw-dropping landscape with your camera, the to-do list can't reach you. The emails can't find you. You're fully, completely here.

That's not a luxury. That's survival.

5. You're Teaching Others How to Treat You—And Right Now, You're Teaching Them Your Time Doesn't Matter

Here's the hard truth: If you won't prioritize your creative time, why would anyone else?

Every time you say "maybe next year" to the workshop, you reinforce the message that your creative passion is negotiable. Every time you skip the photo walk because someone else needs something, you teach the people around you that your time is theirs to claim.

Making creative time non-negotiable isn't selfish. It's boundary-setting.

And here's the beautiful part: You don't have to do this alone. Join women who understand that stopping for the shot isn't slowing anyone down. Find your people, the community that becomes your backbone for reclaiming photography on your terms.

How to Actually Make Creative Time Non-Negotiable (Without the Guilt)

Ready to stop waiting? Here's how:

Start small, but start:

• Schedule one morning walk per week with your camera, treat it like a doctor's appointment

• Charge that battery. Dust off the manual. Reacquaint yourself with your gear.

• Stop apologizing for needing creative time. It's essential, not extra.

Communicate boundaries:

• Tell your partner: "I need this. It's not negotiable."

• Explain why photography matters: It's your presence practice, your creative lifeline, your pathway back to yourself.

Find your community:

• Solo photography adventures require skills and confidence, both are learnable

• Women-led instruction for women building independent creative practices

• Small groups (6-10 max) where rusty photographers are welcomed, not judged

Reframe the narrative in your own mind:
This isn't time stolen from responsibilities. This is time invested in becoming whole again.

This Is Your Turn

You're done waiting for permission that will never come unless you give it to yourself.

The world will always have another demand. Another reason to put your creative passion on hold. Another voice saying "not yet."

But here's what we know: Your camera isn't too old. You're not too rusty. You haven't waited too long.

You're ready.

This is your turn to reclaim the creative identity you set aside. Not squeezed between everyone else's schedules. Not "someday." Now. As your priority.

Photography is your resistance against a world that steamrolls women's creative needs. Manual mode is your presence practice. Nature is your reset. And your camera? It's your pathway to the photographer you’ve always wanted to become.

Ready to reclaim your creative voice with women who make photography non-negotiable? Join us for a workshop where your skills, your confidence, and your creative independence become unshakeable, on your terms.