3 Essential tips for continuing your photography

Once the photography bug bites it is difficult to shake it off and you will want to continue your hobby or profession for as long as you can. In this post, I’m going to talk about some of the essential aspects of your life that must be in place so that photography will be continuing with you into old age. I found out by sheer accident that I have a slightly dicky ticker hence the reason for doing something about it.

This is not a normal photography post from me but there are times when it is important to discuss the issues that are essential and critical to what you do and for how long you can do it for. I would urge you to review this post and if there are issues arising from it to take action now.

1 Health

Your continuing good health will have a major impact on your ability to continue photography into later life.

“63% of UK adults are overweight”, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Britain is now sixth heaviest – “considerably worse” than the rest of the 35-member club of wealthy nations.

An internationally recognised way of ascertaining a healthy weight is the Body Mass Index. An index number of between 20 and 25 is a healthy weight, 25 to 30 you are overweight, 30+ you are obese. Use this link to the NHS BMI calculator to find out your current BMI.

What did you find? Are you one of the 63% and what are you going to do about it?

Do you have high blood pressure?

It is widely known that uncontrolled high blood pressure is a precursor to heart disease and strokes particularly in later life if not treated. Therefore, it is a good idea to have your blood pressure checked regularly. There are very many undetected cases of high blood pressure so get yours checked. Why not buy a low kit so you check it at home?

Do you know your blood Cholesterol%?

Our modern diet of highly processed foods and lack of exercise raises the amount of low-density cholesterol in the blood again a precursor for heart attack and strokes. A simple blood test at your GP will give an accurate reading. There are two ways to lower cholesterol one is a change in lifestyle e.g. better diet and more exercise or take Statin tablets for the rest of your life. The tablet route may be easy and cheap but does not cure the root cause of the problem.

Diet 

Before joining Weight Watchers in June 2018 I was 2 1/2 stone overweight. You will be pleased to know I have lost 15lbs in weight in the past six weeks. My BMI has moved from 27.9 to 25.6 and should in the healthy weight range below 24.9 in a few weeks time. I found the Weight Watchers Flex Program very easy to follow with the online app and weekly meetings.

See https://www.weightwatchers.com/uk/weight-loss-plans/weight-watchers-meetings  for more information.

The benefits of exercise

Given the overwhelming evidence, it seems obvious that we should all be physically active. It’s essential if you want to live a healthy and fulfilling life into old age. It’s medically proven that people who do regular physical activity have:

• up to a 35% lower risk of coronary heart disease and stroke
• up to a 50% lower risk of type 2 diabetes
• up to a 50% lower risk of colon cancer
• up to a 20% lower risk of breast cancer
• a 30% lower risk of early death
• up to an 83% lower risk of osteoarthritis
• up to a 68% lower risk of hip fracture
• a 30% lower risk of falls (among older adults)
• up to a 30% lower risk of depression
• up to a 30% lower risk of dementia

Source https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/exercise-health-benefits/

Before joining Weight Watchers I did no exercise at all so I started walking very short distances. When you are starting any exercise programme it is essential to start very slowly and build up to your own pace. If it hurts it’s wrong. I don’t want to feel the burn! Over the past six weeks, I have built up my daily number of steps to an average of around 12,000.

As a side note walking 10,000 steps a day for a week burns off enough calories to lose 1 pound of fat.

Useful phone Apps

There are two apps on my phone I use every day when out walking. The first is a free Pedometer app that measures the numbers of steps I do every day. Secondly, I use a free app called Rocket Player that plays the music on the SD card in my phone. It was a lot of research to find a music app that was non-streaming and automatically could see the SD card in my phone.

2 Finances

You will not be able to continue photography if you do not have the financial resources to make it possible. As we get older our financial needs change. If you are at the age where you are thinking about retirement or are retired you will have juggled with the conundrum of how much money you have and how long you will live. One is known and the other is a known unknown. If each of us knew how long we’re going to live, we could plan our finances accordingly.

State Pension

If you have not retired yet it is worth checking your online National Insurance Contributions for any missing years. You will need a Government Gateway ID and Password. You may find like I did that you have more than the minimum number of qualifying years of full contributions but still may have to make additional payments to receive the maximum state pension. Crazy I know, but true.

The government has two Pensions Advisory Services that are totally separate. The first is the Pensions Advisory Service that deals with the State Pension. Secondly, Pensionwise will advise you about your investment options for a pot of your own money.

https://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/

https://www.pensionwise.gov.uk/en

IFA

Making good choices about your finances later in life requires independent financial advice (IFA). Whoever you choose make sure they are fully qualified and regulated. These tips will help you choose an IFA if you have not got one already https://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/about-pensions/pensions-basics/top-tips-for-your-pension/choosing-an-ifa

While we’re on the subject of IFA’s it would also be a good idea to make a will and put in place Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA). The LPA can be in two parts firstly for your financial and medical decisions should you not be able to make them for yourself later in life. The LPA allows you to choose who will make decisions on your behalf should your mental capacity decline or you have a debilitating accident earlier in life.

3 Vision

The last of the three essential tips for continuing photography throughout your life is to understand what your vision of photography is for you. Your vision of what photography is and what satisfies you will change as you progress within the medium. Hopefully, you will be in a completely different place at the end of your photographic life than when you began. Over an extended number of decades technology will change opening up new possibilities for what can be photographed and expressed in new ways.

Your duty as a photographer and artist is to always stay true to who you are and ways of expressing the growth that comes through inspiration and education. The learning zone is a good place to learn and grow.