Being a photographer means having So. Many. Roles.
The other day, I saw this reel that said “When you want to be a photographer, but now you’re suddenly a social media manager, website designer, photo editor, stylist, content manager, light specialist, and photoshop wizard,” and holy crap, that hit hard.
I would love to make a living as a photographer - I’m working really hard to try to turn this into something lucrative. Last year, I hit farmers markets and craft fairs really hard, and I barely broke even (not counting any compensation for my time). This year, I’m trying to branch into people photography, but it’s such an oversaturated market that I’m not sure how to do it.
And that’s why the reel hit so hard. I don’t just get to take photos, and edit them - I love both of those parts of the process. I also have to be my own marketing manager, project manager, social media manager, and administrative assistant. I built my own website. I manage my own social media campaigns. I blog every week. I’m also entirely self-taught, and I’m constantly trying to improve my skills with lessons available online (Hi, Craftsy).
It takes so. much. time. And that’s not counting the time spent actually doing the thing I want to be doing. I want to go on adventures and take photos of them, not spend all of my time doing the parts of the job that I don’t enjoy as much.
It’s not that I don’t enjoy the hustle - it is a side hustle after all. I love a challenge, and I love staying busy. I think I’m just struggling with the fact that it’s difficult to see if any of this hard work is paying off.
I did take photos of my first wedding a couple weeks ago (stay tuned for a blog post on that!), and that felt like a big milestone. I’ve got some exciting stuff in the works, and hopefully that will turn into some great opportunities. But at the same time, I’ve sold one photo from my website and my Instagram has fewer than 300 followers.
In the meantime, I’ll keep hustling, and if anyone wants some engagement photos on top of a mountain, hit me up! I might even cut you a pretty good deal if you let me use those photos in my marketing…
