Singapore: A Creative Lesson About Knowing When to Stop

Some years ago, I had the chance to visit Singapore. Everyone had told me it was a great place to see, and in preparation for the trip I started with what I now call creative executive decisions.

But what does that mean? For me, it’s about tracing a plan and setting creative expectations for a trip or a project. We often see creatives online who seem to manage everything at once in a short amount of time. I’ve learned that’s not my case. Maybe I’m wired differently, maybe I’m slower, maybe it’s age. But I know that if I don’t manage my expectations, I’ll end up frustrated and risk jeopardising the outcome.

For Singapore, I told myself: video first, photos second. I had heard so much about the city that all I wanted was to capture everything in motion.

So there I was, on the first day, carrying a backpack weighing over 7 kilos and holding a full video rig in one hand. What I wasn’t prepared for was the heat, 34 degrees, combined with the weight and the lack of a plan. That was most of my days: walking, sweating, filming here and there.

Singapore was my first Asian city, and it was wonderful. So amazingly organised that I couldn’t help thinking: What if Colombia was like this? How amazing the country would be — it already is, of course, but with a few “ifs”…

We stayed for five days and I shot everything. I wasn’t reviewing, organising, or deleting. I was just recording it all.

But when I got back home, I found myself frustrated. I had overshot. The soar amount of footage was overwhelming, nearly a terabyte. Some good, some bad, mostly just… too much.

As someone who had worked mostly with stills, I realised my mind was wired differently. Photography is about seeing the frame, catching a single moment. Video demanded something else, thinking about movement, finding a story, planning a sequence.

Back then, I thought shooting as much as possible would guarantee something cool later. It didn’t.

That frustration stayed with me for more than a year. The project felt too big, the files too heavy. Eventually, I gave myself a goal: make one video, no matter the length. Just close the chapter and move on.

It took weeks to sift through it all, but I finally managed to finish something. It wasn’t my best piece, I know that, but I did it.

I still remember the feeling of exporting the file, of saying: It’s done. A mix of relief and joy. It wasn’t just about completing the video, it was about overcoming my own frustration. It was about being kind to myself, managing my expectations, and recognising my capabilities.

It was a lesson in self-compassion, and a reminder that executive decisions matter.

And in the end, the trip gave me not only a video but also one of my favourite prints. A photo of Singapore taken from the infinity pool at Gardens by the Bay, handheld, leaning dangerously close to the water, while people stared at me like I was crazy. But it was worth it.

So yes, here it is: the small video I made, the one that took me more than a year to complete. But it’s done.

And that’s what matters.