Alright, excuse my hair
it's wet, it's not greasy
I just came back from a quick run and walk around here, and just took a shower
and I actually wanted to talk about this today
I've been talking a lot lately about cars
and how important they are in photography, and indeed, they play a very important role in photography
but today I want to talk about the more active side of photography
more specifically, about how getting in shape and losing weight can make you a better photographer
and I know a little bit about this because I used to be a bit bigger, and that wasn't too long ago
you see, last year after a 2-month long road trip across the US
I wasn't in the best shape, I find it very hard to exercise while traveling
and then we got here to Indiana where we spent 4 months in the middle of the winter
if you didn't know about this, let me tell you
winters here in Indiana are very, very cold
when we got here it was 13F, the first day, we got even colder days than that
that in C is -15C, -20C, I don't know, it's very cold
and you can't be outside for too long, so that limits a lot the outdoor activities that you can do
and then we moved to Spain where for the first month I pretty much ate and drank everything I could get my hands on
after those 7 crazy months, I hit a new low. When I say low I mean a new high
because I hit 214lbs, or 97kg, for the first time in my life
I hadn't been heavier than that, ever
To be clear, it wasn't anything crazy, I wasn't obese or anything like that, but it clearly took a toll on me, on my energy levels and on my photography
I started realizing about this on my trip to South Dakota last year, where I didn't have any energy
or motivation, I didn't know why
this kept going on Spain, when I hiked to the mountains of Asturias, I went on this very short hike
I mean, it isn't an easy hike, but it's not a hard hike at all, I had done much worse things, and I was very tired
I couldn't focus, I didn't have energy to make images and that showed in the images that I made there
that weren't very good, and I couldn't get as far as I wanted to
that's when I realized about what was going on, that's when I made the decision of changing things
after neglecting myself for those few months, I decided to change this, I went on a very strict diet
I quit alcohol altogether, I didn't drink alcohol for 4 months. I also ate much, much less
than I used to before. I also started exercising, I started walking everyday, I started running
by the end of that summer, I had lost 30lbs (13.5kg) and I had run my first 5k
I mean, I never ran in my whole life, I'm not an athlete or anything like that, I don't like exercising
it was a very proud moment for me, to run that 5k, because I never thought I'd be able to
this affected my photography almost immediately, I was able to go on long hikes, I was able to climb a couple mountains
one of them, the Pico Urriellu in Asturias
I was carrying a lot of weight on my back, I think around 30lbs, the same amount of pounds that I had lost
I like to think that I was carrying that backpack for free, because my body was used to carry that much weight
I don't know if this is how it works but I like to think about it this way
I want to make clear that this is not about running 5ks or climbing mountains for me
it's more about building habits
about eating better, and less
and exercising a little bit more
I don't run as often as I did last summer, but I go on walks every single day
that also opens up a lot of opportunities out there, I'm out more often and I can photograph more things
but you get the point, for me it was all about building good habits
because if I don't do that, if I let myself become lazy again,
I know where that leads to, I know that it's all downhill from there because I've been there
I believe that thanks to these new habits last year was the best year of my life, in many aspects but also photography wise
right now my eyes are sharper than they used to be, I can focus better, I can make better images because
I can go further, I can stay out there for longer periods of time, it's all benefits
I just wanted to share my experience, just in case you were trying to do the same, to lose some weight, to get in better shape
it is doable, it takes a little bit of effort but it's doable, and it's completely worth it
as I said, this is not only about photography, everything gets better, from your relationships, to your job
everything gets better when you have more energy and when you are less tired
I used to be tired all the time, and now I am not
as usual, I'd love to hear from you, your opinion and thoughts on this, your experiences, if you went through something similar
if you went through something more dramatic and more extreme than me
I'd love to hear about it
but that's all for today, I hope you all have an amazing weekend
thank you so much for watching, and see you in the next one
now, it became much easier to carry this camera with me