Why Photography?

So, I was watching a video today on YouTube by Chris Hau, about how afraid he was to choose the life of a creative when he was trying to decide which college he was going to attend and it got me thinking....Why Photography, Adam?

Well, that's a deep and complicated question.  Even when I was young, I too was drawn to the creative life.  I loved to draw, sing, act and pretty much anything that got my brain thinking creatively.  The only problems I had were that I only thought my drawings were "ok", I couldn't really sing very well and I didn't know how to search for, and obtain, acting jobs that paid.

So, instead of following my creative desires, I chose the military, the U.S. Navy to be exact.  My other passion was technology, even though I had absolutely ZERO experience with technology.  I could actually SEE that computers and networks were the future and that a completely connected world was where I really wanted to work, at least at the time.  Not to mention, the tech-bubble was in-tact and I knew, approximately, what people in the I.T. field could potentially make in their salaries.  So when I went to the recruiter, I told him that I'd only sign the paperwork if they could guarantee that I'd be working on computers and networks somewhere within the service.  I took and passed the ASVAB with flying colors, without studying for it or even knowing what it was, and I chose the Radioman 21 rate which allowed me to gain a partial, college-level education in computers, networking and military radio communication.

Fast-forward 15 years, after a single enlistment in the Navy, and I'd been working as a technical support technician in many corporate and health environments.....but I hated it, even though I still love/loved technology.  I just got tired of fixing it when it broke.  I wanted to do something different, something creative.

I lost a contract position that I was working, as a technical support technician, and I tried starting and running a high-end automotive detailing company, and was doing VERY well, honestly!  The funny thing about detailing vehicles though, is that you need a large, open space to do everything you need to do in order to stay working, which I'd lost after running my business for almost 2 years, so back to I.T. I went because I needed to have a steady income to support my family, but during the time when I was detailing, I had to take photos of every vehicle I detailed, both BEFORE and AFTER detailing them and I started taking those photos with a 1st-gen iPhone.  Then I upgraded to a cheap point-and-shoot camera.  Then one day, the young man helping me detail cars mentioned that my photos were great with my phone and camera, but I could get much better photos if I bought an entry-level DSLR camera.  He also told me that I should never shoot it in "auto" mode and learn to shoot entirely in Manual mode.  This, coming from a guy who was 18 years old, in his 2nd year of college and one of this classes was photography.

This information piqued my interest!  I thought to myself...."Hmmm....technology and art in a single device!"  So that night, I jumped on Craigslist and found a photographer selling her old, entry-level Canon Rebel XTi and kit lens for $250.  I messaged her, met up, paid her and I had my first DSLR camera.  Now, let me tell you...learning how to use a DSLR is HARD.  Especially when you've never touched one and especially when YouTube wasn't a go-to place for me to look up tutorials, but I pushed through.  The device I bought was originally purchased to take photos of the cars I was detailing, but then, to practice, I started carrying it with me LITERALLY everywhere.  I practiced using my camera almost daily.  I used Adobe Lightroom to process my RAW photos and very slowly started getting pretty good at taking portraits of people and random objects.

Since my detailing business wasn't going to be an option, I went back into I.T., but found that my passion for photography was still growing...and FAST.  I eventually upgraded to a Canon 40D and the kit lens for that, which I'd purchased off of my best friend, and that camera went to Nepal with me, where I captured images I didn't know I was capable of capturing and so many photos of my family and friends that I posted as memories on Facebook and people started commenting how how much better my photos were getting.  A few years later, still in I.T., and a move down to Raleigh, NC., I found a group of photographers, models and make-up artists and started trying to take portraits of people who weren't my friends and family and found that I was actually good at making the models comfortable and capturing images that stood out!  (To be honest, my "break-out" image, as a professional photographer, is the image I used as the thumbnail for this blog post.)  I'd learned a LOT about my camera, angles, lenses, etc.  My portfolio was born, as was my online presence and reputation.

As my passion and skill in photography was growing, my passion and satisfaction in I.T. was at an all-time low and I just didn't want to do it anymore, so I toyed around with upgrading to all-professional gear and doing photography on the side, as a business, to see if I could make it work, but I was afraid to go from making almost $60k/yr. to whatever photography would bring in and I trudged through the daily grind, working in I.T. and hating every minute of it while HOPING that, one day, I would have the opportunity to make a real go at photography as my profession and running my own business.

There were a LOT of factors involved with why I didn't try earlier, but I'll just move past that and tell you that without a support system in place, it's impossible.  A HUGE part of my life had failed and I was downward spiraling, but my passion for photography shined through that darkness and gave me enough motivation to keep moving forward anyway.

Then I met someone.  I met this amazing woman who challenged me daily, who supported me wholly.  Someone who made me WANT to be successful in my passion for a million reasons, even though the fear was still there.  We moved quickly in our relationship.  Some would say FAR too quickly, but I digress, our relationship prompted me to move to Florida, away from my daughter and to start the process of separation from the I.T. position I'd worked at for a company in Raleigh for the past 4 years.

I knew that I didn't want to find an I.T. job again down here in Florida, but I looked anyway and had several interviews, none leading to an offer, but I'd secretly hoped they wouldn't anyway.  I wanted to be a photographer.  A real, professional, legitimate photographer, so I took the leap, again, and registered my business, bought some new equipment and upgraded my camera, had business cards made, created this website and started networking.  I'm slowly getting there, but I'm getting there a WHOLE lot quicker with photography than I ever did with detailing and I was one of the better detailers on the East coast, as stated by my peers and not claimed by myself.

Through everything I've been through since I bought my first DSLR, the ONLY hobby that has NEVER waned, ebbed or flowed, but has been a rock-solid constant for me, was photography and the creativity that comes with the art of photography.  Combine that with being able to still be involved in the technology of it all and I believe I have found the absolute PERFECT storm for satisfaction with what I do for a living.  On top of it all, I have someone in my life who is not only SUPPORTIVE of my photography, but PROUD that I'm following my passion, and without her, Yaatra Photography wouldn't be where it is today.

I see a future now.  I see growth and I can feel the wave of success coming at me in the distance.  23 years of customer service in I.T. has honed my people skills to almost god-like status and I can get along with, and relate to, pretty much anyone, from any background.  I'm an easy person to talk to and like to make people laugh, which puts my photography subjects in a great mood and that, in turn, makes for great photos.  My passion for people, technology and art are ALL combined into a single profession now....photography, and that's the answer to my question, "Why photography."

What's your reason for what you do?  What's your passion?  Share your thoughts below and sorry for the novel.  I'll try to make these shorter as time progresses.

What is photography and what are you paying for?

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen!  As the title of this blog post indicates, I'm going to do my best to explain, to the best of my abilities, what you ARE, and ARE NOT, paying for when hiring a professional photographer.

What are you NOT paying for?

Someone to "just push a button".  Photographers do SO much more than "just push a button" to capture and produce the amazing images that we give you and there is so much more involved, behind the scenes, than you could ever imagine unless you're a photographer yourself.

What ARE you paying for, relatively speaking? 

Well, first and foremost, you're paying for a professional photographer, with very high-end gear and the knowledge to use it properly to capture photos that you will treasure for many, many years.

You're paying for the constant, non-stop, ENDLESS formal and self education (both paid and unpaid) that comes along with photography and the industry.  The extremely long days and nights, sitting in front of our computers and watching/reading/training, to be the best photographers that we can be.  You compensate us for the hours upon hours upon hours away from our family and friends, that you don't see, that allow us to provide you with the quality work that you expect from us.

You're helping us pay for the required, monthly subscriptions and software purchases we have to pay for that goes towards keeping our editing software updated with the latest and greatest features and equipment that will eventually wear out and/or break and will have to be replaced.  

You're paying for the many, MANY hours that we spend sorting, culling, rating, editing and re-editing the photos we captured AFTER your photo shoot has finished.

You're allowing us to make a livable wage using a VERY complicated, ever-changing skill-set learned through many years of practice and studying, trials and errors and an unbelievable amount of time we've invested into "free" photo shoots to help us hone our skill into something that made you want to hire us in the first place.

You're paying us for enormously expensive photography gear. (High-quality lenses can run in the multiple-thousands of dollars alone and a current-generation, professional, full-frame camera body usually costs between $3000-15,000, for JUST the body alone.)  Strobe lighting, speedlights (a.k.a. flashes), remote triggers, back-drops, lighting stands, tripods, batteries, protective containers to carry everything in, new camera bodies that have a limited shelf-life due to normal use and accidental damage, back-up equipment so that we always have a fall-back should something happen to our primary gear that would other-wise cause us to cancel or re-schedule your shoot and so much more.  Computers powerful enough to be able to edit the hundred, or even THOUSANDS, of photos that we take for you and the multi-tiered back-up solutions that we have to keep on-hand so that we reduce the risk of losing everything we worked hard to capture for you.

You're helping us pay for insurance to keep it all protected, attorney's fees for the documents we have to have created for all of you to sign to protect ourselves, and you, and outline what you will and will not be receiving from us.

These really are just a few examples of what you're actually paying for when you hire a professional, full-time photographer.  Sure, you can find hobbyist photographers who may, or may not, be able to capture everything you're looking for.  Someone who may, or may not, have all of the right equipment needed to provide you with the types of photos that you want and you may be able save yourself a few dollars, but is that a risk you want to take, or would you rather increase your chances of ensuring that your photography needs are met by spending your hard-earned money on someone entirely focused on you and your photography desires because we do this full-time and understand that if we do a bad job we can't just fall back on the ol' day-job to pay our bills?

We are small businesses, and most photographers are passionate about what they do.  We are artists but we also have to be very tech-savvy and use our equipment, knowledge and hearts in everything that we do.  Consider some of these points when questioning why photographers charge so much and ask yourself this..."How valuable are the memories of my life?  How do you put a price tag on items that will easily out-live you, your children and the rest of your family for many, many generations to come and how important is it that you hire someone to capture them in such a way that you will know that your money was well spent?"

I could go on for days, but I'll end it here.  Let me know what you think in the comments section below.  I know there is so much that I left out, but this really should have most of you thinking about why you question how much a photographer charges you to "just click a button".  Nothing in photography is free, including this website or the time I invested in creating it.  It's all worthy of fair payment, don't you think?

Until next time...

Adam