Not Just Being A Photographer Anymore

Some Recent Thoughts

I have been out and about gathering the best Ibiza suppliers for my photography workshop coming up in April.
It means I am chatting through what I do, how I did it and where it is!

I do a lot of reflecting and thinking anyway, it can be a lonely business being a photographer with many computer hours alone,
so meeting up with fellow industry friends and chatting is good and fresh.
I am reminded always of the years I have put into being a photographer on Ibiza.
A photographer at many many IBIZA Weddings. It  is actually coming up to 20 years. I talk about it a lot! Maybe I shouldn’t?

You know that age thing where you don’t feel like you are ‘middle’ aged, you still think you are 30 odd and then you look around. You have a teenager.
AND there are all these young, very energetic people doing what you did and do. The same but differently.

I read a post on Instagram the other day and it is so true, this is a change I really see in the Wedding Industry for sure, especially for photographers:

It is not just about the photography anymore.

It is definitely not about being a great quality knowledgeable photographer, though I stand by: being a good photographer is a bonus.
It has become about business and marketing and branding and client relationship and social media.
And if you are rubbish at all these things it seems it is a long harder road ahead.

I did not sign up for the business side of my job. As well as being a photographer I am an editor, accountant, marketing manager, content creator, strategist, writer, blogger, website designer, brand designer, PA to myself, admin assistant, organiser, google calendar expert,  social media expert, personal branding designer, graphic designer, … Did I miss any?

Of course you can delegate, I do BUT I reflect on those years when I was just a photographer making beautiful photographs, with a simple clean website for a portfolio. The enquiries came in. I went to the wedding. I got paid. I delivered the photos and I got on with my life. Now there is so much added on top. Sometimes you have to battle just to get the photography out. And the guilt complex, with yourself, that you have not managed to be the best wedding content creator out there. LOL.

So I reflect and wonder because I am not that old and I feel I am the same. I have to keep reminding myself it’s just things have changed around me.
They do. LIFE got faster and fuller. I have adapted.

I am now a photographer and a business owner. Who would have ever thought? Not me if you asked me 20 years ago!

Here are 17 photos . One for every year since my first properly paid wedding in 2004- missing 2020, the first year I did not shoot a wedding since the start.
I started in Film, then shot colour on Digital and B&W on film, until I went all Digital.
It is now fashionable to be a Digital & film photographer again.
Everything goes around in a circle.