Stopping in

[nancy s.]

In the past three months much has changed in my life (Boy friend moved on, job

promotion created more stress, everything I owned broke down and needed

replacement or repair.. ya know the stuff) and I decided to stop doing wedding

photography (which is only one kind of event photography).

 

I must say I have never been happier. I love running my own business, but

wedding photography has experienced drastic changes in the last 3 years that

have impinged on the business and changed it in ways I do not enjoy.

 

Part of these changes seem to stem from a larger portions of the general

populace placing less emphasis on weddings and on the photography aspect of

weddings. Part of the changes stem from photography itself changing from the

need for great skill at the camera to a need for great skill at the computer.

I sit at a computer all day during the week.. and to do so on weekends or

nights just is not my idea of fun!

 

Please do not inerpret this to say skill is not necessary at the camera.. I

think it still is, but with the advent of digitizing the capture and the

ability to "fix" many captures in a photo software program, images that were

previously cut can now be used (and from what I read here, often are). Being

good with the computer is as important today as being able to proces and print

your own black and white prints was in years past!

 

Stepping back from wedding work has not been a bad thing. I now look at the

images I see and the business itself with much more objectivity. I am finding

that my creativity is enhanced and I like the images I take much more than I

did with the spector of wedding work always in the back ground. I am studying

aspects of photography I didn't focus on (no pun intended) because everything

was weddings, weddings, weddings!

 

I am learning new event shooting skills and while there is pressure, there are

few instances where there is only one chance for the shot. In fact, we often

set up what we want with lighting we want and take some time with each photo

which is very nice.

 

I have never been happier. My time is my OWN. My weekends are my OWN. I

have No One here telling me what they want or need or requiring me to

compromise my space, my life or my time! I do not have to work when I really

need to not work and I can truly enjoy what work I do now. I feel so FREE!

LOL

 

So, as I sit here with a Mozart Piano concerto in the background I wish you

all well in wedding work. I am thinking that right now many of you all are

out there doing the hustle and while I congratulate you on what you are

pursuing I am so glad I am here NOT pursuing that. :)

 

There are some really experienced shooters on this site offering their advice

(Mark Williams, Bruce Rubenstein, Mary Ball, Al Kaplan as an exapmple).

Listen to their sage and keep your own creativity for that next wedding.

 

I am just stopping in to say Hello and let y'all know I have never in my life

been doing better!!!! I have never been happier than I am right now!!!

 

Ahhhh SWEET FREEDOM.. (wasn't that a line in a song?)

[conraderb]

Nancy - it sounds like you are all set. My only question - which piano concerto? I think that #20 and #21 are my favorites.

[nancy s.]

I was listening to #21. I also got hold of the Requiem (entirety).

 

I think that when opportunity avails itself (read: When I get the money) I want to get s few of his Operas. A lot of people roll their eyes at opera, but I like light opera a lot. Just don'e ask me to sing it!

 

In my past life I wanted to do a dressage to music and for that I would have chosen Beethoven's Choral Fantasy.

 

I am no xpert on music but I know how to enjoy what I enjoy. My x husband gave me the gift of Classical (Baroque) music. My X BF gave me the gift of some Jazz but also some Blues as originally played. I know very little about Jazz and Blues.

[al_kaplan1]

Ahhhn dear Nancy! It's called "burn out", rarely lasts and is about never fatal. I think we all go through it on occasion. I remember when we had a five year old and a newborn, my wife was a perpetual student, and just when it seemed that the horizon was in sight she announced that she wanted to go to medical school. I spent a few frantic years doing every wedding and bar mitzvah I could find plus corporate and political photography during the week. The marriage didn't survive, the kids turned out fine (an attorney and a rabbi), the ex became a doctor, and I wouldn't touch a wedding for a dozen years.

 

When photography becomes a joyless chore it's time to step back and take a good look at your life, maybe redefine your goals. Listen to some music. All men aren't insensitive pigs (although we do try) and life goes on.

 

You have me wanting to go dig through my collection of 12 inch vinyl blues records that I keep meaning to play again, stuff from the blues revival spurred by Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones discovering some of the old singers, some Folkways records from the early 1960's, and even some "race records" made for the black market in the 1950's. Great music. I love the blues.

 

Thanks for including my name in your post. It means a lot to me. Just promise that you won't hang up your cameras for good. Take a break from the hectic pace of weddings but keep shooting. Maybe even set up a "wet darkroom" and shoot some black and white on real film. Let us know how it's going.

[nancy s.]

Hi Al! Glad to know you are doing well as always.

 

I never was going to hang up the camera.. just hanging up wedding work!

 

BTW men aren't all insensitive pigs. I just need some time alone to define myself and take care of me. I am having the time of my life right now doing just that. Soon I am hoping to get a dog! A good Dog is "someone" to go hiking with and taking photos with ya know? And it is all black and white to them.

 

I have a wet dark room in the basement and I promise myself that I will set it up as time permits. I want to, but energy and time are both factors in making it happen. I have a long weekend at the 1st of January so maybe I can do this then.

[adam_pek1]

Tools will improve or change but they will never replace creative vision of an artist.

I am happy for you. Enjoy your life but don?t pretend that computers or some stupid software took your old life oway.

[nancy s.]

Ah Adam... I never said computers and software took my old life away. I did not like my old life and so have walked away!

 

Yes, tools change. I am stating that I am not enthralled with the new tools since I am forced to use them every day at a day job and do not relish their use on weekends. Skill behind the lens is still better than no skill and understanding light is still essential for success anytime you pick up a camera.

 

I did not LIKE shooting weddings and so have stopped. If I never hear "Butterfly Kisses" or "Mambo #5" in triple decibels again that is good foor me! I was wearing ear plugs at every wedding to protect my hearing as it was. :)

 

My camera is being used for more enjoyable (to me) pursuits.

[savagesax]

Well weird things happen Nancy. I have a music degree from 2 well know schools and played about 1000 concerts, perhaps more. Did this for 20 plus years. I was with the Air Force Band and 1 year we sometimes played 2 concerts a day totally over 450. I also had 2 college teaching jobs. One day I just had to walk away. TOTAL burn out. I also have an engineering and computer degree, again I didn't like it, missed the passion. I found passion with photography. Anyway, things change so GO where your heart sends you. You will thankful and you will have a rewarding career.

[savagesax]

Oh, I was only in the Air Force for 2 years! Not 20! Anyway, come by and say hi! We'd love to see what you are up to!

[bruce_rubenstein___nyc]

Nancy I'm glad things are working out for you. Thanks for the plug, but you left out Nadine Ohara. The quality and volume of her posts I think put here at the top of my list here.

[nancy s.]

Bruce, you are welcome. I could not mention everyone who posts here that has much to offer. Yes.. Add Nadine to the List! :)

 

The greatest pleasure I derive from this site has been watching a "newbie" (and we all were newbies at one time or another) take the advice to heart and advance their knowledge, work and business.

 

And yes, things are most assuredly working out for me. I am enjoying my camera work a lot these days. I am enjoying my solitude and the peace I have here where I wake up to the sounds of the stream out back and slate colored juncos and chickadees discussing the coming day! There is a dust of snow this morning on the tops of the Catskills.

[J.W. Wall]

Nancy - Congratulations for taking back your life! That requires major courage and effort, IMO. And, thank you for posting these messages. For example, "I just need some time alone to define myself and take care of me." - That's something we ALL need, and could work into our schedules if we really wanted to, but we often don't pay attention until the symptoms become highly noticeable if not overwhelming. I'm speaking from experience, 30+ years as a successful professional. One day my sister asked how I liked my job. I told her I hated it, which isn't like me. Realization set in: Major burnout. Years later, in a new way of life that allows time for me as well as others, I'm way happier. (Also has to do with Finally finding the Right Woman, which first meant being the Right Man, but that's another story.) Congratulations again! - John

[nancy s.]

The courage came from my BF moving out and my REALIZING how I needed to define myself as me while recognizing my part in the reasons for his moving on.

 

Wedding photography is not in my definition of me. I am grateful for the experience and I am grateful for the instruction in this line of work, but I would rather shoot candid photos of horses and cows and wildlife. I would rather landscapes and I absolutley love Macro Photography.

 

Courage came from treating him very badly and recognizing my own shortcomings as a result. I was wrong. He was right. (And this is a woman saying this, guys!!!). I have apologized but with my apalling behavior it likely will never be accepted.

 

We all make mistakes and some of those are bad mistakes. I believe the trick to this is knowing what we did wrong, what we are doing wrong, what we have been doing wrong and then FIXING IT. The other half of this is knowing what we do right and keeping that.

 

Courage came from realizing I needed to become "the right woman" for me first. Oh I do stand at the base of a very big hill which I must climb! :)

 

And as part of that I need to photograph subjects that give me satisfaction. While this approach will improve my photography, it is unlikely I will ever surpass the skills of my teacher.. a truly knowledgeable (tho sometimes irrascable[sp?]) professional.

[fotografz]

Nancy, you have struggled with this in the past.

 

In my "real" job as a creative director, I have had the pleasure of guiding and advising all

kinds of creative people, whom I learned from in return ... some of which surpassed my

own career and have become famous in their specific field.

 

I think what you are doing is a sound strategy. However, I'd add something to the mix. If

you feel the changes in wedding photography have impinged on the joy you once

experienced, then I think you let it do that by acquiescing to those changes. Sometimes

the pressure to conform to expectations is the corrosive aspect that needs to be avoided.

 

I'd say, find your joy again, and then make wedding photography adapt itself to you rather

than the other way around.

[nancy s.]

Thank you Marc.

 

The wedding business, beyond the changes (computers etc.) in capturing and handling the images is high pressure work. I used to enjoy the pressure but now my M-F job provides that and I don't relish this on the weekend anymore.

 

Perhaps the bottom line is that I find I don't really enjoy the crowd control skills you must often have to get things to work in a timely manner at a wedding. I realy don't enjoy receptions at all between the loud music and (in most instances) the drinking.

 

No.. I don't see me working weddings again. I just don't like the work. I like photography, but there are other professional outlets I would prefer to pursue and other artistic outlets in photography that give me greater satisfaction.