The Surprising Truth About Turning Your Hobby Into a Job - ISSUE 51
Uncovering the unlikely relationship between personal and professional work
Housekeeping
Thanks for opening this email! It’s so good to have you back!
This week I will discuss my professional work and share some images with you that haven’t quite hit the IG grid yet, so I hope you enjoy the first look.
In other news I have released an interview with the extremely accomplished and talented photographic artist, George Byrne, who was a delight to chat with. There is a good chance you are familiar with his work and his book Post Truth but if you aren’t this is a great way to get acquainted with him.
There are plenty of visuals scattered throughout the interview to support the conversation but it can also be listened to like a podcast as well, so choose your own adventure here! I was truly very honored to speak with him and this is a pinch me moment for sure!
There are some exciting guests coming up in the future so be sure to subscribe to this newsletter, and the channel so you don’t miss out!
I also have 20% off prints right now and a whole new line up available, including some of the photos shown here, as well as new bangers from the last two months that I haven’t shared on socials yet! Sale ends in 24 hours so get in now to snag a print!
The personal, the professional, her thoughts and her lover
If you have been following me on socials you will know that I took the leap over to professional photography a few months back and it’s been a wild ride.
I have had a lot of anxiety attacks, made some mistakes (which thanks to film turned out mostly okay) and learnt a hell of a lot of other skills that I didn’t think came along with doing this for a job.
Things like…
Communication with clients and landing on a vision
Learning to price and value yourself
Working out what jobs to take and what to turn down
How the hell to invoice, deliver the images and do my tax?!?
Staying true to my style whilst still working enough
Networking (everyone hates this word but I am over trying to disguise it as anything else because it is just a necessary part of being a paid “artist”
Juggling jobs and managing my time efficiently
And a million more things that I can’t think of right now
There is of course so much more than this but I don’t want to bore you. This is kind of the practical side and there are other things I want to say today that are more fun!
People say that when you do what you love for money you risk losing the passion for it. I had always seen the rationale in this and avoided doing anything I liked and instead, worked in jobs that were void of any creativity and didn’t at all align with who I was as an arty gal. As soon as I started to see a path that could lead to me being part time, or full time, doing something that I actually LOVED I held on so tight and my grip has only strengthened.
I am here to tell you that going “pro” has made me MORE creative. Honestly, it’s made me think outside the box when it comes to shoots, ideas, locations, gear and it’s given me a lot of drive to create. I am learning so much about myself and how I work with others in this setting too! Having the chance to work on something creative that the client then loves is the same satisfaction I get when I sell a print, which surprised me!
I feel immense pleasure when a client loves how I have captured their business or their product and it feeds my creative side more than I could have ever imagined.
The lover in the heading of this section is obviously Lux and we have been working on these projects together which involves me being in front of the camera. I see this is a creative expression as well! People love to tar modelling with an unskilled vapid brush, but to me it’s just as much an artform as the picture taking is.
I adore being in photos and I love to bounce off Lux and come up with ways that we can really nail the shoot using both our strengths. This collaborative energy is the reason I love doing YouTube (and life) with him and client work has given us so much more scope to play around in.
I have been underexposing, using a macro lens, off camera flash, I’ve got a wedding party shoot coming up! These are all things I thought I couldn’t do and would have maybe never tried so to me the paid work is really allowing me to grow as an artist and I am so grateful for that!
I am very much a purpose driven person and since becoming a mother I feel such guilt in simply creating for shall we say, art’s sake, even though I want to, so as bad as it probably is to say this, the fact that it’s my job now and I must do it, makes me feel less mum guilt and allows me to enjoy the creative side as well! Win win right?
The shoots I’m sharing here are something we hope to do more of this year, especially coming into summer. We have such amazing light and beaches here and I can’t wait to do more product or fashion shoots to show it off!
I am a recovered shopaholic and although it looks like the thing I own most of is cameras, I can assure you it's clothes, bags, shoes and sunnies!!! I have toned it down since starting the channel as we invested a lot in gear and tech to make the channel better and obviously film prices nowadays are so high I had to park my love for shopping. Working with brands it’s such a fun way to feed my love for fashion and it just ties together all things that I love in life.
Film Photography
Fashion
Art/design
Collaboration
Modelling
Concepting…
And not to mention this newsletter, which I love to write each week and treat a bit like a journal that is shared with all you lovely people!
Thank you for reading and if you are a brand, or know of a brand you would love to see Lux and I shoot for, hit me up!
See you next week guys :)
The best way to support me and this weekly newsletter “Love Lucy” is by purchasing a print from my shop. This means you get something in return and are helping to keep this newsletter accessible to the photography community. Thank you!
One thing you said really resonated - that people love to tar modeling - my experience working with models, it's a skillset and a hard one at that to master which a lot of people don't realize! Models work hard at their craft (because yes its a craft) and its super creative!! All the portraits I've done with models and fashion work wouldn't have been nearly as good without the models input. So many I've worked with tell me it's nice to have their input considered because a lot of photographers do put them down and actually don't want them to speak at all, which I find revolting. An image is a true collaboration between creatives, photographer and model and anyone else involved like make up artist, stylists, etc. And its better when everyone shares their input. I love to see you and Lux's collaborations, it's so incredible and I really admire the work!