The Road Gets Longer and Longer….

While my updates on this site may be sporadic and not always on the topic of photography there is always more going on in the background.  More reading, more studying, more list making, and more planning, all in the name of my future in photography.  There is also a lot of frustration, confusion, worry, and me generally wondering “WTF!?”

I previously wrote about a great book called the Photographer’s Market Guide to Building Your Photography Business. I liked the book the first time I wrote about it and I like it even more now.

What I most definitely do NOT like is how the more I learn the longer this path feels. This isn’t a yellow brick road I’m walking down, this sucker is lined with cash. Cash that I do not have. Whereas so many people my age spent all their credit buying random electronics and clothes while not worrying about the consequences I spent mine on camera gear, paper, film, and tuition. Sounds pretty reasonable doesn’t it? Well, it wasn’t. “What’s this? More film for one class and memory cards for another? SURE! WHY NOT!? I don’t really need to print all 300 of these photos but I’m going to do it anyways because I want to see how pretty they are! YAY ME!!!” Little by little my wasteful spending built up, hidden behind the thin veil of necessity.  And now here it is, biting me in the ass. To get this photo venture off the ground in a real way I need money. To get this money I need to be out of debt. A debt that I really dug myself into finishing the photo degree which I wanted so I could make money from my images. Hell of a circle isn’t it?

I’m not giving up; this post isn’t about that at all. I just want to look back on these words in the future and know that without a doubt this was when one of the big realities of what I’m trying to do hit me. Here, in debt, with the national economy falling apart, with everyone I know hurting for cash, I was spending hours researching, reading, planning for and working towards something which will never get where I want without funding. It sounds a bit stupid, I’ll admit. But where’s the joy in life if you don’t do something stupid every now and then?

WordPress, I’m yours…

I really have no idea if or when anyone will read this.  I highly doubt that anyone has followed this project of mine since it started.  On the off chance that you’re reading this now and you did follow it from the start, thank you so much!  That being said, you’ve probably already noticed that I’ve moved.  That’s right, I pulled up my stakes, packed my boxes, hurt my back picking up all my crap and I’ve now landed on WordPress.

There’s no great reason I did this besides the fact that I was unsatisfied with Blogger.  I liked how easy it was to create a new blog and to move elements around the page, which I haven’t figured out how to do here by the way, but all of the layouts seemed to be either really boring and restricting or required a level of HTML knowledge that I just don’t have and have no real interest in learning.  So I took a page from my friend Amy’s playbook and started my work here.  I hope this is a positive change for me.  I plan on making this blog a big part of my photography work so it’s important that I stick with someone I’m comfortable with.  I have high hopes for you WordPress.  Don’t let me down!

A plan, resources, and the "nitty-gritty"

This won’t be the most exciting post ever, so consider this your fair warning.

I am currently working my way through yard work. By yard work, I mean something boring yet very necessary. By boring yet very necessary, I mean I’m not really enjoying it at all but I know that to make this entire enterprise work I have a lot to learn and the only way that’s going to happen is to put in the hours reading. I started with the Photographer’s Market Guide to Building Your Photography Business and so far it’s been a great resource. All of this talk about business plans, budgets, marketing, and so many other topics are just vague ideas to me and this book is so far doing a great job of laying them all out for me. But where’s the fun in that? I am the kind of guy who likes a little panache and I just happened to find a wonderful mix of that plus the real world info I so desperately need. I am, of course, talking about Photojojo.

Thanks to the wonderful DIY emails from Photojojo I have enjoyed articles on making a paperclip tripod, helmet camera mounts, and how to make moving pictures like in Harry Potter. Recently, they started a multi-part series on starting your own photography business and the third installment has been an amazing resource. I never realized how many free (and pretty amazing) resources there were out there for people who want to start their own business. But don’t take my word for it, if you’re interested at all check it out yourself. In case you didn’t feel adventurous enough to click the first mention of Photojojo above (which you should have!) please take advantage of my subtle hint below.

STEPS TO STARTING A BUSINESS ALONG WITH WONDERFUL RESOURCES!