Seeing Work Through Your Eyes

My office is one of many in a hub of metal and cement filled with funky couches. We pool our resources and keep overhead low. We eat together, brainstorm in the passage way and sometimes argue about who gets the only meeting room first.

I loved my business until the snow came. For six weeks it blanketed down without ceasing and then turned into hard slippery ice. Ireland is not equipped for snow fall of this nature. The country came to a complete stand still. And so did business. What was supposed to be a relaxing holiday period became a cash flow nightmare for me and most other business owners.

I had to dig very deep to find resources and creative ideas to generate plans B, C and even D in some cases. Photography helped me do this. I started photographing what it is that makes my business unique, the space my colleagues and I occupy, and the people we work with. Despite the financial pressure, I was able to see our reason for existence and find a way to get through the pressure.

What frustrations does your workplace bring? Can you capture your workplace through photography in order to rethink the negative aspects? Think mud prints, laundry piles, stacks of books, rows of filing cabinets, messy pin boards and meeting schedules, stationery holders. These all make for creative play if we look at them differently.

Photo by Mikael Colville-Andersen, used with permission via Flickr. Post by Claire Burge.