I am reading the book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants Paperback, by Robin Wall Kimmerer. The very first chapter uses the metaphor of pecan trees and the idea of having mast years.  For those that are unfamiliar with the term, a mast year is when a tree produces much more fruit than what it normally averages. There reasons can vary, but the chapter ended talking about how the tree is building up so much energy preparing its seeds for a mast year that it would hurt the tree to try and produce a bumper crop like that every year. Not every year can be a mast year, not for the tree and not for you.

Sometimes you read something exactly when you need to. Right now there are lots of lists naming top photographers, put out by various organizations. To be included is thrilling.  To not be included is disheartening. Here you have been pouring your heart and soul into your clients, your work, and trying desperately to be seen and heard in a huge pool of very talented people, and maybe it just wasn’t enough.

It is easy to become disheartened, to wonder why you are even bothering. I understand. Think of this time as an opportunity. Are you creating work that is meaningful to you and your clients? If you are, then maybe this just isn’t your mast year. Just like a pecan tree that can’t produce a bumper crop of nuts each year, you aren’t expected to make every year a banner year. Sometimes you need to take time and pool your resources and figure out exactly what you want to be doing.

This past year I took a big step back from birth photography. This wasn’t a mast year for me. I worried about missing out, or being left behind. But I was able to be more present with my family, helped launch a new business completely unrelated to photography, taught for the first time, and saw other opportunities to grow in the art of photography that aren’t birth related. So no, it wasn’t a mast year with regards to client volume but I was able to invest in myself and develop skills and opportunities that I will reap the rewards for later.

Don’t give up. Keep creating work that is important to you even if it doesn’t come with the recognition we all crave.  The time and energy you are putting into your work, developing your seeds, creating, will lead to your own mast year down the road.