Surviving the Photography “Off Season”

What do Photographers DO when they aren’t shooting?

Have you ever seen those meme’s or graphics for various occupations that make light of popular misconceptions about said occupations? You know, the ones that poke fun at: what my friends think I do? What society thinks I do? What my mom thinks I do? What I actually do… You know the ones. I recently came across one for photographers and had to laugh. There are sooo many misconceptions about photography as a business I’m sure there could be books on the subject. So here’s a casual blog post with no mind for SEO or anything in particular other than my random ramblings… (turn away now if you don’t like quirky people…as a matter of fact how did you get here in the first place if you don’t like quirky people??)

What society thinks I do: For some VERY strange reason there is some misconception that all photographers are rolling in dough, barely work, and when we do work it’s always with Anna Wintour shooting the next cover of Vogue or Condé Nast. We have unlimited budgets for sets and locations and we fly to exotic locations at the drop of a hat to shoot models. HUUUH?? Excuse me while I scratch my head in utter confusion. Even in the busy season, shooting is probably one of the least things that take up time in the work week. I wish I could show up on set like Annie Leibovitz and be handed a camera with settings already dialed in, shoot for an hour and then leave it up to some graphic design intern to edit. (Just kidding. I don’t actually wish that, I would hate that.)

What a work week actually looks like is: answering emails, driving, editing, attempting to blog, networking, marketing, accounting, taking online courses, driving and more editing and very tired eyes from all the computer and device screens we stare at in order to accomplish these things.

No complaining here though. Being your own boss is the best. I would be a terrible employee at this point in my life is I had to work for someone else again. I would not be able to get my thoughts and dreams out of my head and I would go crazy if I couldn’t pursue them. The point is, actual photography is a very small part of running a photography business. Because you actually have to run an business; and often its a one-woman-show. Sure you can outsource as you scale larger with more success, but you have to make it there first. And when last I checked, I haven’t received my invite yet from Anna to head to the Vogue offices.

So if that’s the busy season, what’s the slow season look like? I’m actually figuring that out for the first time ever on purpose. This is the beginning of my third year in business so the first two years involved so much hustle that I was actually afraid to slow down. I kept shooting – even in bad winter light. I kept buying and taking courses in order to learn more and I did a complete website build with an actual professional. I was tired. Then busy season kicked up again and carried me through all the way until December.

For the record I will never complain about work. I am grateful for every single client that chooses to share a part of their life with me. But I also should have listened to all the podcasts and mentors when they said to time manage so you don’t burn out. So I’m being honest now when I say I burnt out this year. Burn out is a a scary place to be for a creative. For me I can’t BE creative if I’m burnt out and that was making me even more mad as the year wound down. Therefore I made a point to actually try and take December and January off. It didn’t totally happen but it happened better than the last two years so that’s a start right? Baby steps.

So what have I been doing?

• This. Blogging like I’m supposed to. I spent all this money on a beautiful website that I don’t update enough. Resolution #1: Blog regularly.
• Expense reports for the year. That whole accounting thing and running a business thing.
• Making a marketing plan for the year
• Taking a step back to see what worked last year and what didn’t. How I can improve on what didn’t work or eliminate it from the chess board altogether.
• Booking weddings and upcoming sessions with amazing clients who are soon to be friends.
• Planning out travel for commercial projects.
• Planning my next workshop. The downtime has really allowed the creative juices to come back in full effect so this one is sure to be tops. If you want info on it, be sure you’re on the email list here.
• Spending time with family over the holiday!
• Reading business and marketing books. Some of my favorites here.
• Website updates
• Creating educational content. I’m self taught and it hasn’t been easy. I made the decision to create a few educational pieces in order to help other people on the whole “Self Taught Journey”. Stay tuned for those coming soon.
• Watching Disney+. Cue “A Whole New World” playing in my head. Yes, finally, Downtime the right way.
• Hanging out with the ponies and Hula.

At this very moment, I am contemplating my last full day off for the next few weeks again. My downtime was short lived and still relatively productive. If I’m being perfectly honest I was starting to get scared. When you really only pull in a paycheck when you are actively working, it starts to get scary when you have days that aren’t booked. I’ve had to just take a deep breath and look at all the future bookings and rest assured that I’ve done the work (and will continue to do the work) to have a business that I can be proud of. So what does “Surviving the Photography Off-Season” look like? It looks a lot like working ON your business and not just IN your business.

So thanks to the clients that make this possible. While I enjoyed some semblance of an “off season”, I’m so excited to get back to work with you.

Champagne and Ponies,
Beth