While Photography was the nature of the business I was trying to get into, releasing the shutter while pointing the camera at a particular subject amounted to less than 10% of what was really required to get the job done. The remaining ingredients can be found in almost any business venture, with different ratios of each depending on the nature of the business.
So, why did I choose photography as a business to be in and, if I intend to continue to pursue photography as an art form, what have I really given up by not ? For me, this business was the promise of a new future for me and my family.
At my day-job alone, I make enough money to support Jess and I, our house, two cars, a vacation or two each year, and the moderate lifestyle we’ve chosen to live. While very few jobs are entirely secure, I have very little worry about losing my job any time in the near future, and even less worry about not having the ability to find a new job or remain employable if that should happen. With Jess working as well, we’re able to have more vacations, nicer things, and a bigger cushion for the future. So, photography as a business has never been about making ends meet, paying the bills, or supporting our current lives. It was about the future: something very different from what we have lined up now.
It allowed us a future of flexible living locations. Jess and I could live anywhere on this planet and still manage to make a few dollars each month from the Internet. While a brick-and-mortar store would certainly help to bring in even more money once established, it would not be a requirement. We could live closer to her family, closer to my family, or as far away from all of them as we wanted. Because travel is a natural part of certain types of photography, we could see friends and family more regularly, regardless of where we lived, on the company dime. Once we have children, this would be even more important, allowing them to see all of their extended family much more often than I did growing up 3,000 miles away.
It allowed a future away from the Dallas metroplex, which I’ve begun to consider one of the worst places to raise a children the way I want to raise my children. Aside from my family, friends, and occupation, this city offers me very little and, in many ways, actually makes things harder and more difficult.
It allowed Jess and I a future of working together. In other ventures there would be too many aspects of that business that one of us didn’t understand. Helping one another, and working to find new methods of advertising, new products, and new potential customers would have been more difficult. Photography is something that we both understand, and it’s customers are groups of people well within both of our grasps.
It allowed a future in which I would be able to spend time at home with our children. As an occupation in which a lot of time can be spent at home working, in a home studio, or at home in preparation of an event, it allows this freedom. It’s heartbreaking for me to consider having a beautiful child (or 3) at home with my wife and, because of my day-job and the hours I work, seeing them only 2 hours of each day just before their bedtime. I know, this is the reality a lot of families face, but if I have an alternative, I’d like to consider it.
It allowed a future in which the harder I worked, the more I would be compensated. I’ve been working for the same company for 10 years now. I’ve gone through bouts of 70 hour work weeks. I’ve worked 60 hours in three days before. I’ve spent much of my own at-home time doing research that would be needed for the next day’s work. In the earlier days, we were sometimes given small monetary awards for our hard work. While they were certainly appreciated, it in no way compensated for the time and effort we put in. These days, even those awards are no longer seen. I’ve gone through other bouts where, tired of my job, I worked as little as possible to just barely get my job done. No matter how hard or how little I worked, my compensation was the same. In fact, if you considered the number of hours I spent working, I was actually paid more to do less.
It allowed me to have an occupation that I could share with and explain to my children. It is cool and glamorous. Being a project manager for a large corporation isn’t exactly an easy thing to explain to a child. I have a hard time getting my wife to understand what I do. I sometimes have a hard time understanding why there are so many people that do what I do in the corporate world. While it may be a silly thing to desire, being able to know that my children are proud of what I do and think that my job is “cool” makes me very happy. There are very few 5 year olds who say “I want to grow up to be in middle management”. Being a “Photographer” is exciting, even to a 5 year old. That may not sound important, but, I want my children to like me, respect me, look up to me, and want to be like me when they get older.
It allowed me a life long career. From these early years, through child bearing and rearing into the post-children age, and on through retirement, a Photography business can take many different courses and play as big or as small a role in the consumption of my time as I’d like. I can do portraits in a studio all day long while raising children. I can teach my children how to work a camera and get them involved when we take family trips and out door vacations. As our children grow older, if they are interested they could learn the ropes of the business, working together or branching off on their own. Even into retirement, as Jess and I travel the world and share in our families new families, photography remains accessible and profitable in any capacity that I desire.
It allows me a chance to be even more involved with my town and my community. Jess’ dad, for instance, because of what he does for a living, has always been so close to his community. He knows everyone and everyone knows and respects him. I think this has really helped him to raise a better family with strong values and a deep respect from those around him. It also gives me a chance to be even more involved in things that might not normally interest me so much, like our son’s high school football games or science fairs, and our daughters mock trial team or cheer-leading practice. With a camera and an innocent motive, you get to be closer to the action than most people, deeply involved in any aspect you desire, and you can make a few dollars while you do it.
It is these things and many more that I am giving up.
Yes, there will be other opportunities to pursue this and other interests as potential businesses in the future. But I’m 28 years old. It’s time to set down roots and start a family. Some would say that time was several years ago and now I’m running very late. If I were to have kids today I’d be 8 years older than my father was when he did. And once the dependents start piling up and the bills and obligations set in even deeper, leaving this place, spending more hours away from my family to get a business started, or taking the risk of throwing away the security of what I have now becomes more and more difficult to do.
Photography as an art form provides none of these things. It’s the business aspect of it all that gave me so many promises and filled me with so many hopes and dreams. And it is that which I have lost.
