What type of careers involve writing, photography, design, and software engineering, but doesn't limit me to staying in an office most of the time.

For clarification, when you say you don't want to be in an office, do you have some other place in mind?
I don't mean to imply that it's not a good goal. But it can be difficult to work on a project with other people and not spend time in an office (either in an office building or an office in your home).

When you need to work with multiple people, it can be helpful to be able to communicate in person, and offices facilitate this.

So one idea would be that to avoid an office, you need to avoid projects where you need to work with other people on a daily basis.

As for the first part to the question, one thing that comes to mind that can work in all of those is independent game development. If you make your own game, you can work in all of those. Though I wouldn't necessarily call it a career.
There are software fields that involve photography. Projects that involve computer vision. Perhaps robotics. Even working for a camera company, you could work on the software for the cameras themselves (embedded engineering). Gopro, cannon, nikon, they are, these days, tech companies and employ software engineers in all areas.

For writing and software engineering, you could go into technical writing. I don't know much about it, but it's a very useful field.

Or you could work for a company that makes ebooks. Or ebook readers. Or make new types of ebooks that are. In that area, I doubt you would do much writing.

And I'm sure in all of the fields you mentioned, software engineering can be a useful addition.

I would be very interested of other careers people could think of. Specialization can make some all-encompassing jobs less useful. An example would be, if I have a project that needs something written, and something programmed, I could hire someone to write for much cheaper than I could for someone to code. So I would not want to pay a programmer to write. But there are of course instances where it can be useful to have all of those skills.

Writing, photography and graphic design are all communication. Software engineering is problem solving.

I just finished a time as an instructional designer, specifically doing web-based training. This was communicating to learners. I worked in a corporate training department helping people learn to do their job better, not at a school helping students prepare for life. Those are different careers, but similar.

Instructional design involves most of the skills you listed, writing, photography and graphic design (at least that is what I assume you meant by design, when put close to photography and writing). The department I was at was beginning to incorporate the agile development methodology in developing training, as used by software developers, but it was just at the experiment stage.

While it may be possible to get software engineering into the mix as an instructional designer, it would not be likely. There was one guy I worked with who was instrumental in developing a moodle-like courseware development and presentation system LMS (Learning Management System) (along with a others), but that was many years ago. They have much more sophisticated tools nowadays, more aligned with what a TV newsroom uses. Using technology tools in the development and delivery of training is more along the lines of instructional technology (that is more engineering than communicating.)

How do you see yourself? More of an engineer that solves problems using software? Solving problems using technology in general? More of an artist that wants to use digital technology to build something of beauty? More of a teacher who uses the technology tools to help people learn? More of someone who wants to communicate a message in the most effective way possible? When you answer those questions, that will help you narrow down what to emphasize in your learning.

As far as getting out from behind the desk, you will probably have to do that as a hobby, unless you can get into a small company that requires you to do a lot of things.

It's very tempting to try to find a career that lets you do all the things you love -- and, if you're going to attend college but haven't started yet, it's going to be tempted to pick a major that lets you study all the things you love, or dual-major, or even be tempted to triple-major.

Consider instead focusing on just one or two of the things you love, and doing the rest as hobbies. It's great to have your job be what you love... but it doesn't need to be everything you love. I know someone who is a professional software engineer, but also has a side business as a photographer. I don't have a side business, but I'm a serious skier and somewhat serious hockey player. I also have an interest in computer languages, which I express as a non-professional side project.

One of the great things about software engineering is that the pay is good, and the hours, while significant, aren't as all-consuming as other professionals (like investment banking). This means that you have plenty of time and money that you can devote to things you love, even if they're not your day job.

I would consider mixing software engineering and design by looking at front-end programming, and devoting your non-professional time to your other interests.

Hi Bertha!

Here are some sites that will tell you more about writing and digital arts:

https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/majors/arts-visual-performing-digital-arts

http://www.thespace.org/news/view/digital-arts-writing-awards

https://thomafoundation.org/programs/individuals/awards-fellowships/2016-arts-writing-awards-in-digital-art/

http://www.societyillustrators.org/

Keep me posted. I would like to follow your progress. Sent thank you notes to those who help you. Best of luck!