.TAKING ON TOO MUCH

Being a freelance photographer can be a massive challenge. Everyone will tell you that its not gonna be easy, but being the stubborn creative that you are, you will think “I WILL MAKE IT WORK AND IT WONT BE AS HARD AS THEY ALL SAY….. CAN IT?!”. Yes, sadly, from a freelance photographers mouth fresh out of university, it is.

I have my own photography studio and a second job in a pub which I swear to God will be the death of me! I don’t often say no to a shift because I need the money to be able to fund my life, bills, and things for the studio because I don’t have enough clients to be able to support the studio fully. But from working the long and late hours at the pub I am then shattered the following day to go to the studio in the morning and am very unproductive. Some days I get to work and think “If this is what being an adult is all about then I don’t want to do adult anymore” but then I can have very productive spells where I feel nothing is impossible and I go for it.

I work basically 7 days a week, and this is something that as a freelance photographer that you should get used to. Having your own business and trying to make an income from a creative medium never stops, if someone wants photos being done at 3am then you will jump to it and take it on because… well… MONEY. But you do have to make sure that the jobs that you take on, you will be able to handle them and not put too much on your plate at once or this will make you more stressed and (for me) being stressed makes me beyond uncreative and then its a downward spiral to self loathe and pitty.

When first starting out as a freelance I do recommend having a part time job on the side that understands what being a freelance photographer means so that shifts can be changed and it can mould around your main job. I have been very lucky in that I can change a shift and move things around at the pub if I have a client booking or something has come up that is more important that pouring someone a shit pint of Carling and a bag of Scampi Fries.
I have found that I am now stuck in a catch 22 though, I can’t run my car, or pay my own personal bills without the pub job because the studio doesn’t pay me a wage yet as it is still so new, but the more I take on at the pub thus giving me more money, the less creative I feel during the week at my own premesis. As a person, you have to judge what your boundaries are and how much you are able to take on at once. Primarily, your own dignity and business should come first of course! But sometimes it isn’t as easy as that and a lot of people dont understand which can make you end up wondering what on earth you are doing with your life.

I do pride myself on my work ethic and that I’m not afraid to get stuck in and work the hours I need to. But this very thing is currently the thing for me that is making it friggin’ hard to be able to do my photography.

This shouldn’t put anyone off doing a creative subject as a career at all, it’s just down to each individual being able to judge their own situation and know when things are getting too much and how to deal with it. I’m so happy that I have got this far in my career already and I would never want to tell someone not to do it as we need more young photographers out here with modern ideas and quirky ways of thinking to change the way people look at photography as a medium in this day and age. Photography is exciting and enjoyable so don’t let things get in the way of your passion.