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.

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 18 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.