You get out of it what you put into it
Damn those words......
Not sure if it's the caffeine or the desire to succeed....or the fear of failure. But these past few days have been putting my brain on serious overdrive. My creativity naturally gravitates to being most productive from 11pm to about 3am. Maybe it's the lack of outside forces. It's dark, no phone calls, NOTHING on TV and everyone is sleeping.....except me.
I have gone to bed, many nights, only to wake up a few minutes after falling asleep. My mind is a-blur with ideas. Sometimes I jot them down on the notepad next to me, others, I get up and work on them. I hope everything starts to fall into place soon. I need the sleep.
I have also made a friend or two in the (local) photo world these past few weeks. Actually, I met Chris Perry last year after we moved to New Brighton. He added me to a list for a few other photographers in the area. I haven't met any face to face, but we trade emails back and forth. Each of them is making money. Some as part time/hobby, others a strong (read many hours and should be full time) part time, but it's not their career, so to speak. Me, I am in the middle of a perfect storm as it seems. I am putting in a few hours, but not bringing in money. I know why, in a sense. i am laying the ground work, so when the clients do start calling, I only have to shoot, edit print and deliver. Other items will already be taken care of.
It has been relayed to me that one should put about 15-20% of their sales into advertising. OR it can be said to spend 15-20% of what you WANT to make into advertising. For my current advertising budget, I am making exactly the right amount of sales. Nothing in advertising, nothing in sales......ouch.
I did get an inquiry about a family session and should have the opportunity to shoot a few weddings this fall as a 3rd shooter and even as a 2nd shooter. Once the kids head back to school, I hope to have the high school senior portraits trickle in as well. I am working on the poster I will hand out to the schools and businesses. When I get a decent version ready, I will put it up here on the blog for review. Also, my business cards are in print and I hope to get them by the end of the week. It sucks to not have anything on me to let people know I am a photographer. I see so many people I wold love to take pictures of and w/o cards, it's tough to convince them, so I shy away. (Note: I didn't get the cards done until I had the site up and running).
This isn't a "poor-me" blog post, it's a here-it-is-in-your-face blog post telling you what it's like to try and be a photographer in this economy. But I am positive (and somewhat patient) that while we are in an up and down climate, a new wave is coming. We just don't know when. I don't know when. I just hope I can ride a bit of it up.
Not sure if it's the caffeine or the desire to succeed....or the fear of failure. But these past few days have been putting my brain on serious overdrive. My creativity naturally gravitates to being most productive from 11pm to about 3am. Maybe it's the lack of outside forces. It's dark, no phone calls, NOTHING on TV and everyone is sleeping.....except me.
I have gone to bed, many nights, only to wake up a few minutes after falling asleep. My mind is a-blur with ideas. Sometimes I jot them down on the notepad next to me, others, I get up and work on them. I hope everything starts to fall into place soon. I need the sleep.
I have also made a friend or two in the (local) photo world these past few weeks. Actually, I met Chris Perry last year after we moved to New Brighton. He added me to a list for a few other photographers in the area. I haven't met any face to face, but we trade emails back and forth. Each of them is making money. Some as part time/hobby, others a strong (read many hours and should be full time) part time, but it's not their career, so to speak. Me, I am in the middle of a perfect storm as it seems. I am putting in a few hours, but not bringing in money. I know why, in a sense. i am laying the ground work, so when the clients do start calling, I only have to shoot, edit print and deliver. Other items will already be taken care of.
It has been relayed to me that one should put about 15-20% of their sales into advertising. OR it can be said to spend 15-20% of what you WANT to make into advertising. For my current advertising budget, I am making exactly the right amount of sales. Nothing in advertising, nothing in sales......ouch.
I did get an inquiry about a family session and should have the opportunity to shoot a few weddings this fall as a 3rd shooter and even as a 2nd shooter. Once the kids head back to school, I hope to have the high school senior portraits trickle in as well. I am working on the poster I will hand out to the schools and businesses. When I get a decent version ready, I will put it up here on the blog for review. Also, my business cards are in print and I hope to get them by the end of the week. It sucks to not have anything on me to let people know I am a photographer. I see so many people I wold love to take pictures of and w/o cards, it's tough to convince them, so I shy away. (Note: I didn't get the cards done until I had the site up and running).
This isn't a "poor-me" blog post, it's a here-it-is-in-your-face blog post telling you what it's like to try and be a photographer in this economy. But I am positive (and somewhat patient) that while we are in an up and down climate, a new wave is coming. We just don't know when. I don't know when. I just hope I can ride a bit of it up.
posted by Brent Rust at
11:30 PM
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