Interview with Rob Wagner & Eric Ward
Last year, I had an idea for a series about local Toledo artists. I wanted to feature artists that make no excuses in getting their work out in front of an audience on top of their full-time careers and busy family lives. This is the 6th part in a series I’m calling The Moonlighting Series.
Toledo area photographers, Eric Ward and Robert Wagner are both family men with careers, and on top of busy lives, find time to get out and shoot. I wanted to find out how they pursue their love of photography on top of busy family lives and careers.
*Portions of this blog were from a blog I posted last year. I felt the content was appropriate to the series so I wanted to repurpose it.
(You can read other parts here: Moonlighting Series)
While anticipating the birth of our older daughter, I was just like every other soon-to-be dad. Scared. Scared I wouldn’t know how to care for a newborn. What if I don’t know what to do? Would I be a fun dad? Will I ruin her life by revealing her secret crush in front of her friends? While I was scared for her future, I was also scared for another selfish reason– I was scared I would lose all of my free time. I was convinced this kid would suck every ounce of energy I had through never-ending fits, soiling endless diapers and sleepless nights. It’s a real, rational fear based off of stories we all hear. For the first 4-6 months, this was absolutely true, but I found a few tools along the way to help not only regain balance but also have more creative output than I did B.K. (Before Kids).
I Needed To Budget My Time Like I Budgeted My Money. Being busy before kids is a lot different than being busy after kids. I know that is an eye-roll inducing statement, but it’s true. The amount of sleep is cut drastically and the number of events, choices, and lives I was responsible for became overwhelming. So I created a time budget. In budgeting finances, the fewer dollars you have, the farther you’ll try and make them stretch. That’s what happens to our time after having kids. The fewer precious minutes I had to myself, the more I would make them count. I looked for the pockets of dead time that I didn’t have anything to do but scroll through my phone. Seven minutes here, 14 minutes there, it all adds up to time that can be productive if you focus.
Less input. More Output. I realized if I wanted to make anything, I would need to reduce the amount of input from time spent watching TV and scrolling endlessly through my phone. There are helpful apps that help you track how much time you are wasting on your phone. Download the Moment app to monitor you and your family’s daily phone activity. Do it for a week. It made my stomach turn to see how many times a day I picked up my phone. Full disclosure, it was over a hundred times a day.
Daily Repetition. You can’t just expect to sit down after an exhausting day at work or with your kids and knock out three hours of writing. It just won’t happen and you’ll feel frustrated. It’s better to have 20 minutes every day set aside for creative work than 3-hour bursts every few days. Your mind needs the constant repetition to get into prime shape just like your muscles do. To help develop these habits, I’ve been using the Way of Life app. You can track your daily goals not only to develop good habits but also to break the bad ones. I have categories for daily writing and graphic design as well as goals for not doing certain things like ‘wasting time on apps’ or ‘eating fast food’ (I love Burger King).
I pursued more shared experiences while creating. I wanted to teach my kids the joy of telling stories, but I also wanted to write. My solution was to write while my oldest daughter did the same so we could share in the experience. In the top drawer is my daughter’s first book she created by stapling some pages together. She watched me make my books and thankfully it rubbed off. She recently published her very first book at the age of eight available on Amazon called Maci and Addie’s Fairy Adventures.
On top of my solutions for finding time for creativity, I wanted to ask a couple of my other friends how they balance their busy family lives and careers with their personal creative output. These individuals are not only prolific photographers but also great fathers. Here’s what they had to say:
Robert Wagner is a Toledo, Ohio based Photographer and Videographer.
Would you say you are producing more work after you had kids?
I would say yes and mostly because my priorities changed. Before kids I was a stupid college kid. My priorities were usually things like going to the bar, wasting time with friends, etc. The closest thing to creative stuff I did was being in a band. I was in a band because I thought it would make me look cool and maybe get me girls.
I bought my first camera (Canon Powereshot) while my wife was pregnant with our first child (Noah) and ever since then I became obsessed with taking pictures. Less than I year later I bought an entry-level DSLR to take pictures of Noah because I never liked the commercial type photography studios and thought I could do better.
So sometimes I think “if I didn’t have kids I’d be able to shoot so much more or just have so much more time”. But then I think of “pre-kids Rob” and realize that my priorities would have probably not changed dramatically. When it boils down, I think everyone has different sets of constraints on their time and it’s up to the individual to decide their priorities. If someone is driven to create, I believe that nothing will stop them. If I go a week without shooting something, I feel incomplete. So despite kids and family and job, I make it a priority.
Eric Ward aka @littlecoal is a Northwest Ohio based photographer. You can find him on Instagram @littlecoal
I agree with a lot of what Rob said. Before kids I would…I…I actually can’t remember what I did before kids! I know that with my kids in my life, I would tell you that I am busier than ever, but also somehow find/make the time to create. Often, it begins with going on an adventure with the kids and simply bringing my camera along. For years I only shot on my phone, and I think I did for so long because it allowed me to be creative while out with my kids. But it also let me do so in a way that didn’t feel like it was the reason we were out in the first place. I do the same with my camera now, but always try to keep those moments quick, so as not to miss the time with them.
As for creating away from my kids, I’ve had to plan time each week where I just get out for a few hours, without a plan, and just shoot. Those moments of driving or walking through downtown or a park give me an opportunity to let my mind relax and wander, which has often led to some of my favorite creative moments.
– Eric Ward @littlecoal