Photography Sundry

Wednesday, January 7, 2009


I think that this year is going to see a lot of changes in my photography business.

I discovered after having one baby that being a wedding photographer and a full-time mom with Lyme disease is not a wonderful experience. In order to keep our lives open for the possibility of family expansion (oh, there's all kinds of Questions in there for the curious, isn't there?), I am officially scaling back on weddings and planning to focus more on photojournalism, portraits, stock photography, blog design, and learning Photoshop and my equipment.

Before anybody panics, let me note that I will still take weddings, but I'll be screening them closely and doing everything I can to educate my clients about my style so that I'm not shooting portrait after posed family portrait in churches with red carpet and low lighting. And girlfriends who know what I'm talking about, I am NEVER shooting a wedding in THAT CHURCH again. (Ahem. Got that out of my system now.) The weddings I will be most likely to take will be weddings with sufficient lighting, interesting locations, and couples who want my informal photojournalistic style for their photos.

The cost for my travel weddings will now include meals and gas, and I may have to travel with a different assistant, since Piper is getting older. I wonder if I can get this girl's eye when she comes back to the States?

I plan to ask clients to pre-approve an eight-month editing window. I probably won't use it, but it will definitely ease a lot of pressure and allow me to continue to find life in my photography.

In the meantime, as you can guess from the screenshot above, I will be working on a revamp and expansion of my photography site and adding a design element to it. The photos on my site will be the type of photos that I want to take - photos that tell a story and capture life as it happens.

I'm transferring my photo albums to SmugMug and canceling my Typepad account. I'm liking the "print" and password options for the albums - I've wanted to be able to offer these for a long time.

As for descending into a more intensive photography business? It's a dream of mine, but I don't mind holding it loosely. I know that I could do it, if I would ever charge enough to pay for it. Who knows, I may try it out sometime, but for now, I need some time to rest and learn and create without needing to compete.

I still have a wedding and a half to process, and two more to shoot for some dear friends in March and April, but I'll be taking my time and putting some heart into these, instead of letting it dog me as I have.

Keep checking here for updates and such. I hope to be going live with part of the new website sometime in the next couple of weeks, edits pending.

(And no, we are not pregnant or planning to be so.)

2 comments:

Hilary said...

I think I need to plan an event in my life...I love your photography!

Kelly Sauer said...

Oh, plan it! Do! We'd love an excuse to come see you!

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