Photography Business
Balance: the word I hate.
There is none. I hate the word itself. I would prefer to say accepting comfortable norms for you.
Answer yourself a question. Do you need to feed your mouth, or do you want to throw all your passion in and feed the fire of your soul.
Your lens captures the world, representing emotions that words often struggle to translate. Each image is a whisper of your artistic spirit wanting to shout out. I remember a time when photography was solely my way of soul searching, a caged lion pacing, yearning for freedom. Unfortunately, there is an unspoken truth about our art: soul searching alone doesn't pay the bills.
Somewhere along the way. I thought, as many of you have before , that taking beautiful pictures was enough. But as the days stretched on and the accolades turned to business decisions, reality burned my wings.
The business lane, the financial meetings, the soul-crushing networking opportunities that I never took, made my own business decisions that much risker.. It started to become that with every shoot, workshop, webinar and client meeting, the end result was my art felt further entangled in a web of profit.
However, somewhere along a bumpy path of my journey, I found how I can create my peace. Rest assured, I am still creating it and sticking to moving forward is a minute by minute commitment . It can become such a goal to establish it, that it turns into an obligation which is avoided at all costs.
I recognized that the art we yearn to create and feed our souls can exist alongside the business it necessitates to feed your mouth. Peace, though delicate, can be mastered, but it has to be YOUR journey and your desire. Learn your value and when you do, others will hold fast to it.
Learn to connect with, and explain to, and extrapolate on to the stories you tell. By doing so, you provide a window into the soul of your work, inviting opportunities that are compatible with you. Remember, successful navigation in the realm of business doesn't necessitate a compromise of voice and vision; rather, it requires the courage to stand firm in what your art stands for and the wisdom to evolve in it's expression.
As you embark on this elusive journey, remember that success in photography and life actually, is a symphony of patience, passion, soul searching, learning, making hard decisions and defending your voice. Try to remove emotions when you feel
they have too firm a grip on the business . Don't let the burden of business break you. Let it be the undercurrent that runs steadily, but don't forget that what sets your soul on fire is never a dollar amount.
I am still on the search for peace, that is my balance. Everyday it changes and it requires an incredible amount of resiliency. I am closer to peace now, but sometimes take many steps back and fuck something up. I will do anything to get a shot, and maybe you do to and that is priceless, and nothing to do with profit.
Yes, I have made many mistakes. Messy ones, ugly ones, hurtful ones, dangerous ones, like everyone else. And to answer another question, some were worth their lesson and some were not.
This unknown and non personal elusive thing called balance always comes back to the same thing, there is no balance. How can there be in the brain of an artist? There are new things to devote attention to on top of those I already am. My circus act thrives in colorful chaos and if I ever try to get it to someone else's perfect, I end up in a dark place.
I'll leave you with this. The "business people '' who hold me up, (who I avoid), call me a Bumble Bee. Why? Technically a bumblebee cannot fly. There is nothing about it that makes it possible.
Yet, they do.
You can do whatever you set out to do.
Know your worth and let your art light up the whole world, and ultimately what you put out in that world is what will come back to you, whether it was supposed to or not.
Onward..... xoxo,
Meg