Climbing Out of a Rut

By Dan Eley

Sometimes we all find that moment as we gradually slip into a rut with our aviation photography, whether it be due to life in general, health or just family and work commitments it happens to the best of us.

It’s how we react and pursue our photography during the ruts which differs between us all but the ruts can sometimes be a good thing. Sometimes the ruts bring out the best in us, allowing us time to re group , think out side the box and come back as a better version of ourselves or sometimes it forces the hand of “change” cards we’ve been hesitant to play.

For me around the end of November/start of December 2023 i myself found that iIwas slipping into the rut. A mixture bowl of family commitments, work, Christmas in general and just a lack of free time seemed to blur that creativity for me for just a minute. It was only a couple of months but it felt like it was going on forever, i could feel the creativeness and enthusiasm draining and the laziness kicking in.

I managed to persevere with a few trips including Lakenheath/Mildenhall and Duxford and I also continued with a daily edit for my social media just to tick along. My edits if anything improved with me not putting any real pressure on myself to making epic images, it just came naturally. During this time i didnt fall out of love with aviation or my photography as such it just dropped to the bottom of the barrel in terms of priority when normally its in the top 5. I also suffered with some gear fever as i haven’t really changed much with my set up at all for 3 years, i felt like i had pushed my trusty D7500 and sigma 150-600 to the limits and couldn’t progress any without upping my gear game and investing more in myself and my relentless pursuit . Setting myself new goals and striving to take my photography to the next level was something i yearned for, i felt a bit like an Olympic Javelin Thrower training with a stick in the park.

I had spent the last year telling myself that i would upgrade to mirrorless , that I would treat myself to a brand new desk and editing set up and also look into a modern day tool for static museum shots but this always kept getting pushed onto the back burner. I had finally hit the point of needing to turn plans and dreams into reality as it felt like the time was now…sometimes you just know when the switch needs to be flicked.

Is this excessive to get myself out of a photography rut ? Normally i would say yes, normally i set myself small challenges and target shots i would like get my creative excitement flowing again but when you feel that you have become limited by the tools you have or feeling you need a change, sometimes that new gear addition or change no matter how big or small can really help light that fire again.

For me after much bargain hunting (including some amazing help from fellow COAP members), planning, resource listing and mission goal planning my masterplan was complete. I upgraded from the trusty Nikon d7500 and sigma 150-600mm c to a Nikon z8 and the new nikkor z 180-600mm which is a phenomenal bit of kit. Along side this i purchased a dji mini pro 4 drone for different angle shots at the many museums i visit in the summer, my desk set up was upgraded with a new more workable desk, sandisk pro card readers, new external sandisk pro 2tb ssd’s , a more workable storage system for my smaller bits of equipment such as cables and microphones etc. Even simple changes like making my scanner bluetooth compatible to work with my wireless ear buds, its an idea i’ve had for so long but just didn’t get round to it..that has now been done and will make my life at the fence so much easier. All i have left to complete my work station is a graphics drawing tablet for masking and the loupedeck+ to ease the editing even more but those will remain firmly on the wish list for now while i enjoy the fruits of my labor i have now. Its safe to say at the expense of my bank account being destroyed i fully dove in to investing in myself and setting myself up for many years to come while continually being able improve and step up in the development of my aviation photography and editing.

Right now i don’t just feel like i have re-lit the fire, i feel like a rocket has been lit and I’m ready to absolutely go to town on 2024 and beyond. However what comes with that is a time to think carefully on how i can make the most of my time and new resources without any consequences , if i go too hard too quick ill end up back in the rut, if i go too slow ill stall , so taking my time and spreading the time out evenly to keep that balance is key to hitting my goals and keeping that fire lit.

I will also be taking a new approach on trips as we discussed on the recent merge meet. Thinking about the reward instead of the agg. Im not going to let the thought of long drives and aggregation put me off going to some amazing bases and shoots that i probably haven’t in the past pushed myself enough to go to. I will instead be thinking about that chinook or merlin dropping into the base with the golden hour sunset in the back ground, or the hawks leaving RAF valley on a stunning spring morning and more so the beauty of the mach loop even if i don’t get to see much.

With all the gear upgrades i could dream of done, i can now focus on saving up for my next dream…A COAP air to air shoot. As much as id like that to happen asap my primary focus has to be my main goal for 2024 which is to see one of my images in a magazine, ive tried a lot so far to make this happen but it seems to be a very tough nut to crack. I’ll continue to persevere and work hard to accomplish this goal as the reward for the hard work will be worth its weight in gold to not only myself but to also see the smiles on the kids faces when they see one of daddy’s photos in a aviation magazine.

For me 2024 has so much potential to go incredibly well and be the year that i can look back on and say that was the best thing i ever done. I don’t expect things to go from 0 to 1000 just because I’ve upgraded a tonne of my gear but i know what i have put together is a amazing foundation for my future relentless pursuit.

What is my main message i want readers to take away from experience and blog ?

All in all ruts can be crawled out of in many ways, sometimes it needs change, sometimes it needs time and sometimes we just need a nudge but one thing is certain ……our relentless pursuit will always come back tapping us on the shoulder saying “Oi go and stand 15ft under a landing £90 million stealth jet and get that adrenaline flowing again”