This season seems to have brought two opposite extremes to my days. I'm either out enjoying the bitter cold winter, cavorting with friends at coffee shops -or- inside cooking, nesting, and relishing inside the calm of a quiet evenings.
Over the last couple of weeks, the topic of my creative business has come up over conversations with friends. I found myself sort of floundering when trying to explain what the business end of what I do looks like.
And so I've been sitting with this for a while, trying to figure out what changes I could make that would polish me up a bit.
What I've come up with is: nothing.
I don't know how to box and package what I do. My work is so very personal and from such an organic place. I can't see myself saying 'stand this way' or 'look off into the distance like you're deep in thought'. I just don't work like that.
I don't have a stack of paperwork for clients to sign or catalogs to order leather bound photo albums. What? What is that? I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing when I imagine what 'professional' looks like.
I just know that I feel pulled to create & capture the essence and aura of another ... and I can't put that into a package. I do it the only way that feels right to me, from inside, from the purest place. That's really the simplest way for me to describe my creative process.
Now.. how do I put that in a shiny box with a pink bow on top? I have no idea so I'm leaving it be. The way I work doesn't have to look like or measure up to anyone else's.
That's the truth.
Sometimes it means I'm not the right fit for a client. And that's ok.
How did I even get to talking about this?
I guess maybe because I feel like in some ways it humanizes me. That it somehow relays that I don't have my shit together. And maybe that I don't like associating the words 'professional' or 'business' with my work.
And that sometimes it means saying NO so I can recharge my batteries because when I do that I work from a much better energy space.
I do have some definite goals for this year. I'm about to share those (if only to stay accountable to myself). These are big creative dreams of that I could lose an entire afternoon thinking about...
-I definitely would like to have my work published. I'm halfway there. My work will be featured in a magazine this coming Spring. I'm really excited about that.
-Beyond that goal, I would love to have my work published again .. and again ... and again. Because I don't want to keep it all to myself, I want to see - experience - capture - and share so, so much. The world is so BIG and sometimes I feel so small in comparison (in size, not value). I feel like maybe I'm not alone and photography allows people to engage, to dream bigger, and to desire more.
-I want to publish one or more of a series of photo books, like coffee table style. Something that you would keep close and look through while you're curled up on the couch with a cup of coffee for inspiration or for no reason at all. I will most likely self publish these books or keep myself open to the idea of some fabulous company wanting to publish it on my behalf.
I don't have a clue how to make any of this happen, by the way. But I'm definitely open to exploring how to.
What I'm really digging is seeing my work in my hands and putting it up on the my walls. Oh my God, what a good feeling. I only recently started putting my art & work on the walls. (I know!!) Some of you leave lovely comments on my posts & my photos ... and that has been so gracious and kind of you. It's why I keep a few prints for sale on rotation.. just in case you want one.
I'm excited to share what I've been working on this winter. My print shop will reopen on Jan 30th with a very special collection of images that pull you deep into this season. There may or may not even be a series of photos on bamboo, ready to hang on an empty wall. We'll have to see. Here's a small peek of what will be available in the shop.
So this piece of writing went places I never imagined it would...! I'm gonna press publish now...
