Christopher's Blog

It consumes me. Ever since I got into photography it seems like all I can think about. Just ask my wife and you'll know that I have a passion for photography. From the beginning I spent endless hours reading books, forums, magazines and whatever I could get my hands on trying to become a better photographer. I've spent many late nights scouring over thousands of pictures critiquing them and trying to learn from them. I am embarrassed to mention how much money I have spent on camera bodies, lens', and lighting equipment even though it has paid for itself and provided a stable household income. The crazy thing is that even after years of doing this and so many thousands of dollars I am still no where near where I want to be. So hear I am late at night scheming on my next move asking myself questions like, "How can I get more value out of each shoot," or "what equipment should I 'invest' in next?"

Working from home also means that I am always at work. In this business I am finding that I always have more to do. Currently I have a few 1 terabyte external hard drives full of images ready to be edited and uploaded. A lot more goes into each image that most people think. The shoot is the easy part. Before each shoot is a planning process involving choosing a theme and finding models. After the shoot each of the 300 to 4600 pictures are reviewed and only the best are selected. Then those are color corrected and adjusted, converted from RAW to JPEG, and meticulously edited in Photoshop. If it is for stock we add keywords, descriptions, and titles to each image and distribute it to multiple agencies. Each agency has a unique way of uploading, attaching releases, and submitting an image that can be a long, boring process when we do the larger uploads. Then on top of that is keeping up with the portraits and wedding pictures which I like to finish within a week to keep from getting bogged down. So if you think, "Wow! He's lucky, he takes pictures for a living," you're right but don't think it is that is all there is to it.

I love my job! But as fun and laid back and free as the life of a self employed photographer is, there are two disadvantages for me: I'm never good enough and I am never finished with my work.