Your Photo Business | Photography Awesomesauce’s Post

So I was planning on doing a photo post about my recent visit to Michigan following a wedding I shot in the midwest.

Until I read this Photography Awesomesauce blog post, entitled 7 Reasons Owning a Photography Business Sucks.

Umm, wow.

So this is the thing.  I’ve covered a few of those topics on my own blog.  Like, this one about the myth of photographers getting to choose their own hours (aka not at all, cuz we work when most other people aren’t working in addition to working with most other people are working) or this one about the myth of photographers making hundreds of dollars per hour (aka I probably make $12/hour when you consider I work 80 hour weeks).  So I’m no stranger to trying to keep it real, right?

Or, not.  I read Photography Awesomesauces’s post while simultaneously scraping my jaw off the floor.  I don’t have the balls to write like that!  What would my clients think if I posted *so honestly*, showcasing my business in anything other than the most favorable light?!  Rainbows shine out of my lens and unicorns pop out of my Lightroom!  I don’t ever think that my business, to coin a phrase, SUCKS.

But, it does.  Sometimes, anyway.  It sucks in every way that post describes.  Sometimes, anyway.  (Ughhhhh the point that REALLY speaks to me is about people thinking you’re either lying or making up how busy you are & how many hours you work… omg.  When people ask me for coffee or, better yet, a meal, all I can think is HOW DO OTHER PEOPLE HAVE TIME TO DO THAT?!?!  It’s not personal that I can never hang out — but, if I want this business to reach my aspirations, I am going to be really, truly, insanely busy for awhile.)

So, yes, operating your own photo business can suck.  It can SUCK SUCK SUCK (I’m kinda wanting to shout this from the rooftops at times). In fact, it can suck so badly that even your mentors have moments of flail.  After I read Photography Awesomesauce’s post, I revisited a post (The Courage To Do Less) by a photographer that unknowingly influenced how I founded my business; and her words brought tears to my eyes for a second time.  If you’re a shooter, read what Melissa Jill shares so generously and vulnerably, and understand that even industry leaders hit a wall sometimes.

So that’s me today.  I’m actually in a great mood and don’t mean to sound negative.  But, there’s negativity; and then there’s honesty.  Sometimes I have to check in with reality… and other members of the photographic community that lay it alllllll out there.