Avoid Shooting on Holidays – A Smart Photographer’s Advice

For many beginner photographers, holidays seem like the most ideal time to plan a photoshoot. No office, no tight schedules — just free time and the urge to grab your camera and head to your favorite location. But what seems convenient on the surface often turns out to be a frustrating and unproductive experience.

If you're serious about producing great images, planning your shoot on a holiday might be one of the biggest mistakes you could make. Here's why.

1. Overcrowding Destroys Your Creative Freedom. Holidays, especially weekends, public holidays, and festival seasons, attract huge crowds. Whether you're shooting at a monument, park, market, or even a street — you'll be sharing your frame with hundreds or even thousands of people.

• Want to get that perfect empty street shot? Forget it.
• Trying to frame an architectural marvel? You’ll have heads and shadows blocking it.
• Want to wait for the golden hour? The crowd will block your tripod setup.
• Your entire composition suffers. You'll be compromising your vision just to “manage a frame.”

2. Handling Photography Gear Becomes a Nightmare. Carrying your camera, multiple lenses, filters, tripod, and a bag through a thick crowd isn’t just inconvenient — it's risky. You constantly feel the pressure of:

• Watching your gear in the crowd
• Holding your bag in front to avoid pickpockets
• Balancing a tripod while being nudged from all sides

All of this creates physical fatigue and kills the joy of photography. You’ll spend more time protecting your equipment than using it.

3. Too Much Traffic and Long Travel Time. Holiday traffic is often at its peak. Roads are jammed, public transport is crowded, and parking becomes a challenge. You may have planned your shoot at 6:30 AM, but by the time you cross the traffic or find a parking spot, the lighting is gone — and so is the magic.

Instead of capturing the perfect light, you’re caught in a struggle to just reach the place on time.

4. Endless Queues: Tickets, Food, Restrooms. It’s not just traffic — the entire infrastructure is overwhelmed on holidays. From standing in line for entry tickets to waiting endlessly at food courts or even restrooms — your productive shooting time melts away in queues.

Even if you're photographing at a tourist site, you’ll find queues at every corner, and that's not a place where creativity thrives.

5. No Control Over the Scene or Environment - On non-holiday days, you can request people to step aside, wait a few seconds for a clean frame, or guide a scene into place.

• On holidays? That’s almost impossible.
• People don’t wait.
• No one listens to "Excuse me, I’m shooting."
• Any attempt to control the scene is met with frustration — or worse, confrontation.
• As a result, you’re not composing — you’re coping.

6. Zero Mental Focus = Poor Results. Photography is an art that demands mindfulness. You need to:

• Observe light
• Adjust your settings
• Think creatively
• Visualise your shot
• Connect with the subject

All of this requires focus and peace — something you simply don’t get amidst shouting vendors, honking traffic, or selfie-crowds fighting for angles.

7. High Security Risk for Expensive Gear. Let’s face it — professional photography equipment isn’t cheap. Holidays attract all kinds of people, including pickpockets and petty thieves.

1. You can’t leave your bag even for a second
2. You’re always looking over your shoulder
3. Your stress level increases, and shooting becomes secondary
4. Risking your gear in a volatile environment isn’t worth a few casual shots.

8. You Miss the Opportunity to Revisit or Retry. On regular weekdays, you have the flexibility to return and shoot again if needed. But during holidays:

1. The location may be shut the next day
2. You may not get the same lighting conditions again
3. You’ll find yourself “adjusting” with mediocre results
4. One bad shot could mean wasted time, energy, and money.

Pro Tip: When Should You Shoot Instead?

• Weekdays (Monday–Thursday) – lesser crowd, better light
• Early mornings – sunrise light + empty streets
• Post-festival days – clean environment, minimal crowd
• Off-seasons – plan your calendar around quieter periods

Conclusion: Shoot Smart, Not Convenient

Photography isn’t about free time — it’s about the right time. Shooting on a holiday may seem fun, but the results rarely meet expectations. Serious photographers choose days when the world is quiet, the light is soft, and the camera can focus literally and mentally without noise.

Let holidays be for relaxation or casual clicks. But when you’re aiming for brilliance, choose silence, not celebration.

The above-posted photograph, A Crowd, Surajkund International Fair. Faridabad, India

Happy shooting!