5.18.2023

Wooden Slats in the Paris Metro.

 

 I photographed this image one evening, after rush hour, in the Paris Metro, under Le Place de L'Étoile back in 1986. I was using a Leica M3, loaded with Tri-X film and sporting a 50mm Summicron lens. It sums up how I feel about work these days. I think I'm sliding into a gradual retirement from standard commercial photography. I'd like to do more commissioned portraits and fine art work. I won't pass up money thrown at me in exuberant abundance but I'm tired of chasing it and I think we have enough. I'll never give up being a photographer.

sometime in the early part of last year I just flat gave up marketing my services to the usual clients. No more mailers. No email blasts. No cocktail parties. No lame Ad Club happy hours. I didn't plan it all out and I didn't really discuss it with anyone but B. I didn't actually need much feedback. My feeling was (and is) that the business of photography had changed so profoundly; at least the way I had always practiced it, that it was no longer "what I signed up for." And it seemed further and further from something fun and challenging and more like a relationship gone sour where one is just going through the motions solely from decades of momentum. 

Even though my advertising pushes disappeared I still was (and am) regularly asked to bid on projects. But once the spark goes out one tends to finally bid jobs for the full amount they should be at. And clients are loathe to pay what the work is really worth. At least that's my perception. 

I could retool and find a new commercial purpose but I'm not particularly interested in ramping up a business again and doing all the hard work of establishing it only to decide, a few years from now, that I'm going to shut it all down anyway. 

The work I really want to do now is more or less like the work just above. Wandering through life with fun cameras and snapping whatever resonates with me in the moment. 

This blog, VSL, started out as a series of posts about the business of selling photographs. The commercial aspects of doing the work. The marketing and the selling. The 'nuts and bolts' of how we produced jobs. Things will change here as I run out of client anecdotes and pratfalls to discuss. I'll be much more self directed in my work and I hope to be discussing how to find one's passion in projects, how to do art, how to show art, and how to embrace the joy of playing with fun cameras and lenses too. 

A number of years ago I wrote a book for Amherst Media called, "The Commercial Photographers Handbook." It was a general guide to the business of photography and it was used by several big college programs as a text book. It was a success in the marketplace and we sold enough of the books to take the rough edges of the Great Recession of 2008-2010 down a notch or two. Enough in royalties to keep my hands off the retirement accounts and still make the mortgage payments and stuff. It was an effective antidote to panic.....as were the other four non-fiction books.

The one thing the book never got around to discussing was "How to Quit." or "How to Wind Down a Profitable Business." There is a secret, I think: Leave in the black. Under your own steam. When you realize that you and the current market are no longer a good match. 

I'm looking forward to fewer scheduling obligations for clients (who love to cancel at the last moment anyway) and more focus on swim practice, time at the gym and time playing with cameras and the resulting images. 

My passport renewal is being expedited. My Global Entry Trusted Passenger card is renewed. Fall 2023 will be the start of a busy travel schedule. (We don't go vacation much in the Summer because that's when everyone else goes. Fall and Spring are our favorite times). 

Just thought I'd let my readers know my direction for now. NOT stopping the blog. It's too much fun. 

27 comments:

adam said...

apparently portrait photographers in the UK can make £1000 profit shooting a preschool, 60 kids, half a days work maybe, it's heavily seasonal here

SW Rick said...

Words from and to the wise! I always think of the saying: "No one on their deathbed says 'I wish I had spent more time at the office"

Enjoy!

Kirk, Photographer/Writer said...

I have never been interested in "retail" photography. would not consider that model for a second.

karmagroovy said...

Have you ever considered a career in Pet Photography? ;-) Glad to hear that you will continue the blog and I'm looking forward to hearing more about what cameras/lenses interest you without having to rationalize any purchases for business use.

Robert Roaldi said...

I've always thought there could be money in divorce photography. For every marriage, there are potentially two divorce parties. I guess it would pretty much all be documentary style, not much need for formal photos at a divorce, e.g., cut the cake, first dance, etc. (I'm joking, sort of.)

Eric Rose said...

Join Erna and I in Ireland and Scotland this coming September! I went through what you have just begun about 8 or 9 years ago. I have not regretted one second of my retirement! I learned to say NO, even to long standing clients. Whine as they may it just wasn't worth it to get in the saddle again.

Look forward to seeing you on the trail Kirk.

Eric

Sanjay said...

Glad you're not stopping the blog. Your life path and life advice have been much more useful than any possible photography advice. That's true in a lot of my good relationships, though. I belong to a business group. We've met once a year for 20 years. Made my life immensely better. Business ... well it goes along.

Gato said...

Sounds good. Also sounds much like the conversations I've been having with myself lately. Maybe you just pushed me over the line.

My part-time retirement photo business just is not as much fun as it used to be, plus I seem to be working harder for less money. Seems like time to move on. Not that I will give up photography, just that I will stop trying to sell photography.

I'll be looking forward to what you shoot and write next.

Anonymous said...

Great plan! I am looking forward to watching the blog evolve. Interesting posts ahead.
I retired-but not from photography-some time ago. I recommend it.

gjhimages said...

A follow up to The Lisbon Portfolio , where Henry finally retires?

Gary

Ken in Cleveland said...

Someone once said that if you do what you enjoy for a living you will never work a day in your life.

I like photography but going in and having to do family portraits and the mundane stuff to provide a paycheck would not be doing what I enjoy. I realized that doing only the stuff I enjoyed would not be a stable income.

I enjoy cooking and people said I should have been a chef, but going in everyday to cook the same recipe the same way so that people can come in many time and have their same favorite meal be exactly the same would become mundane and not enjoyable. It would be work and take the fun out of cooking.

So I took another mundane job to provide a paycheck and kept photography, shooting what I enjoy as an way to relax and express a creative release. I sold a couple pictures here and there. I kept cooking also as a way to relax and to prepare an enjoyable meal for family and friends.

If you enjoy what you are doing then keep working. Is there a part of the job you still enjoy than just do that one part for as long as it is still enjoyable.

My wife and I had decent jobs, spent wisely and lived below our means. Saved and invested wisely by dollar cost averaging using time and consistency.

My philosophy is once you have a net worth that can support a life style that you find acceptable why keep playing the game. Spend more time doing the things that bring you joy and happiness in your life and spend it with the people you care about.


An interesting article on The Phoblographer - https://www.thephoblographer.com/2023/05/17/how-to-shoot-photos-you-enjoy/

Greg Heins said...

As my spouse said when I had a similar conversation with her, "That's great. I've been waiting to hear this." Four exhibitions since then.

Kirk, Photographer/Writer said...

Greg, Exhibitions are something I'm planning on. Generating new, fun work is also in the plan. Thanks!

Dave Jenkins said...

I never wanted to retire. In fact, one of the reasons I chose photography as a career (I was a teacher previously) was that it was a job from which no one could make me retire. However, as I got older, I learned that your clients gradually "retire" you. As I moved into my mid-70s I gradually quit seeking commercial work. As the commercial business dwindled I moved into writing books and magazine articles and illustrating them with my photographs. I'm as busy as I want to be and enjoy what I'm doing. But I'm not retired!

Bob said...

Very wise. I'm in the beginning of this process myself, so I've just started to try to sort things out, work-wise. Thanks for the blog--daily thought-provoking insights, in more ways than one.

Kirk, Photographer/Writer said...

Thanks Guys. We all works as guides for one another. It's very cool.

Roland Tanglao said...

"NOT stopping the blog. It's too much fun. " <-- huge sigh of relief :-) Now that i have my email snafu fixed :-) maybe we can meet up if you travel through Vancouver at some point again!

Kirk, Photographer/Writer said...

Just looking at the Loden Hotel in Vancouver and deciding when we want to go. Currently looking at early Oct. Hope to see you then Roland.

Thomas Backa said...

Only one short comment. ”Excellent!”

Welcome to Europe again.

JC said...

Are there still photography classes at UT? Just hinting.

Kirk, Photographer/Writer said...

Does UT Austin have a photography program?
Undergraduate Studio Art Program - Department of Art and Art ...
Rather than providing degrees in a single medium (such as Painting or Photography), the undergraduate program offers two degrees in Studio Art that each allows students to take courses across five areas of study: Painting & Drawing, Photography & Media, Print, Sculpture & Extended Media, and Transmedia (video / ...

Hi JC, there are no longer specific degree plans in photography. There are still courses in the J school and in the C of Fine Arts.

Not sure what the hint is but I won't go back to teaching unless I was under court orders as penance for some offense. I found teaching to be the most boring and least productive of any job I ever had. It's funny you mention it as this morning I was cleaning out yet another filing cabinet and found my course syllabus (from a Mimeograph machine of all things) and marveled at both my detailed preparation and my ensuing boredom. I taught as a Specialist in the College of Fine Arts at our wonderful university from 1981-83. I was underpaid, understaffed and under resourced. Some of my students were brilliant and creative but the majority were incurious and sullen. Two quit in the first week of my first semester because I wouldn't let them smoke cigarettes in the darkrooms...

If I were searching for income I'd work in finance. If I want to do art I'll work at it myself. But intrigued by your intention in hinting. Perhaps you meant I should go back to UT as a student and get an MFA in photography? That would be rich. The blind leading the fully engaged 20/20 visioned. I could only anticipate catastrophe for someone...

Kirk, Photographer/Writer said...

Just remembering inviting Duane Michals to fly down and give a lecture. Advertised it all over the school and in all the photo courses. I thoroughly enjoyed his lecture as did the 14 people who actually showed up for the free event.

Funny, my kid's college also brought Duane Michals up to lecture and in their largest auditorium it was standing room only. Funny what a difference of 30+ years makes.

Joel Bartlett said...

As a somewhat older long time reader, best wishes on confidently heading down your new path.

Joel Bartlett said...

Bon voyage!

Nigel H said...

Your readers (including me!) enjoy the blog, great that you find it fun too. Semi-retirement seems to me to be doing those bits of work that we find enjoyable, are fulfilling and we are passionate about. But I'm still learning how to balance it all after eight or nine years!

Roland Tanglao said...

early october in Vancouver sounds great! Fingers crossed! coincidentally i have eaten twice at the Loden's restaurant, Tableau bar bistro ,lately and i enjoyed it unexpectedly (hotel restaurants and all that :-) !)

Kirk, Photographer/Writer said...

B. and I had two dinners and one lunch at Tableau when we were in Vancouver for a week. A great restaurant with a really nice staff. Made us feel right at home. The Loden is pricier than our hotel was but it's where I'm staying from now on...

A really wonderfully run hotel.

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