Hello my fellow bloggers/photographers!
First I really need to apologize for being MIA for so long! I know I promised you something like a blog-a-day way back when….but it appears that I have been overly ambitious once again, and that my life is just too busy at the moment to be spending all of my time sharing my thoughts with an invisible audience! Now would probably be a good time to update you all on my career status as a photographer, and what it is exactly that I have been doing for the last month or so.
Last week (on February 15th to be exact) was my last day working at Bell PMP as a photographer/intern! I know, exciting right? Well I guess it is exciting, but at the same time I can definitely say that I am scared shitless because, basically what this means is that now I am ON MY OWN. All on my lonesome. In this gigantic. soul-eating. life-consuming. cutthroat competitive. crazy-ass business market.
Now that I have ‘dipped big toe in’, as they say, or ‘tested the waters’, it is time for me to go all in and see if I sink or float as a photographer…soo kinda nerve wracking I guess if you want to put it mildly. No longer am I safely cocooned within the thin, aluminum, construction-paper name-plated cubicle walls that greeted me every week day morning at Bell PMP for over 6 months. No longer will I have the regimented, dependable, structured schedule of your typical 9-5, Monday-Friday job. Even though I was working at the PMP as an unpaid intern photographer, I honestly can say that I will miss having a regular schedule and a group of people to work with. Having that schedule really motivated me to keep doing what I am doing as a photographer. Other people depended on me to be there! Now it is just me depending on myself, and hopefully continuing to keep myself motivated. My success as a photographer now completely rests on my own two shoulders and the brain that is between them. Talk about pressure!
I guess one good thing is that I am not starting off too badly as a freelance photographer, and I am trying to keep my photo bookings as busy as possible! I just finished a boudoir shoot with a client who has re-booked next month for family portraits (Success!!!…ok now i need a celebratory beer). On top of that, today (while meeting with insurance brokers to find some new auto and camera Insurance mind you), I met a really nice lady who’s husband recently bought her a camera, and she is looking for someone to tutor her on how to use her camera! We exchanged information and hopefully I will be teaching her one-on-one on how to manually photograph. I am also waiting to hear back from a lady who is looking to get food photography done for her menu and her website for her restaurant that she has recently purchased.
In the meantime, I also forgot to mention that I have moved back home with my parents just until I get my business lifted off the ground. I am hoping that this will happen before the end of the year 2013. In order to get there in time, I am planning on meeting with a business advisor who will help me draft up a proper business plan. I am also shopping for camera equipment insurance now that I have accumulated so much gear…and camera insurance is proving to be harder to find than you would think!
Another experience I feel I should share with you is related to printing. I have recently printed a photobook with PIkto, a company located in downtown Toronto, currently in the distillery district. I have to say, I had heard nothing but good news about Pikto, and so this is why I printed with them! This time around though, I needed the photobook for February 14th for a valentines present. I definitely ordered the book with enough room to spare so that it should have gotten there in plenty of time…. in fact the exact date that I ordered it was February 4th. Pikto states when you order a book online, that it takes 5-7 business days to process and print the photobook…ok so I’m fine with that. that would mean that I should have received the photobook on either the 11th, 12th or, 13th. this still would have given me enough time to gift wrap the book for my client and deliver it on valentines day. Instead, due to my extraordinary luck, the photobook was not completed and in my hands until Tuesday the 19th. This is practically a week behind schedule, and I almost lost my client due to their fantastic fucktardidness! On top of that, their prices are kind of high. After seriously having to break out some of my mad awesome customer retention skills (thank you Starbucks Training!), I have to say, I was not Impressed in the least, and so sorry Pikto, but you have lost a potentially lucrative customer… and I am printing with someone else next time.
I have also recently photographed some sample products for a canadian clothing/accessory company called Parkhurst, which I sent to the company owner to show him a sample of my work and see if they are looking for photographers. Unfortunately I can not share the beautiful awesomeness that became of those photos quite yet (still processing the photo release), but I will post them as soon as I can.
In other news, I figured I should share with you that I was matched up for a super fantastic, drool inducing internship opportunity in South Africa! Now thats super-fucking awesome right! I would be working as a media ambassador on a Rhino Conservatory on behalf of Jenna Clifford, a jewellery company who is financially backing the StopRhinoPoaching.com project. Here I would get the opportunity to photograph and videotape conservation efforts in South Africa, and then upload all of that on social media platforms to raise awareness and increase donations. This is all super awesome, but again, this is another unpiad internship opportunity…and after 7 months of working at Bell as an unpaid intern, I have had to turn down this opportunity. bye-bye national geographic! This seriously crushed me alive (imagine what your 13 year old car would look like after being sent to the scrappers and being crushed by one of those compactor machines).
And so my life seems to be in extreme limbo right now….and the world continues to turn. Will I Sink or Float?
Those are all my updates for now! Let me know what your printing experiences are, or if you have any recommendations for camera equipment insurance!
JKH Photography 