Welcome to my office! Notes from my kids taped to the side of my desk, empty glass from my coffee that morning, cables running everywhere from my (gasp!) PCs, books elevating my too-short monitors.
I posted a picture a couple of years ago of our office in our old home. Now that we’ve moved I wanted to share with you all my workspace. For my fellow photographers who follow nationally known photographers and other professionals like them in our industry, you have probably seen pictures posted of their amazing offices: perfectly decorated, color coordinated and it is even so cool they call it their “studio space”. I would look at their offices and dream about what mine could possibly look like some day. I started to feel inadequate because my “office” at the time was a Craigslist desk in the middle of our basement from 1986. It was less than stellar.
Photography is one occupation that must have an online presence. With that, we can all see into each other’s work and personal life a lot more easily than other professions. This leads to a lot of comparing and potentially self-doubt about our ability and “success” as photographers. Thankfully, I have a husband who keeps reminding me that our photography isn’t about how amazing my work space is. There are less than a handful of couples that meet us at our home. We have built a business catered to busy, working professionals who are getting married in a destination location and plan to do almost everything for their wedding online. If they prefer to meet in person, we try to save them time by meeting them in their hometown, usually at a coffee shop next to their office. So what my office looks like really doesn’t matter. It’s a place to get ‘er done! It’s a place to be inspired. And getting inspired means a myriad of things depending on who you are. There is a small canvas of the first wedding Ben and I photographed. I love remembering how our business came to be. There’s also a big empty space on my wall. This coming week I will be putting up a huge cork board. I have a big binder of magazine pages of inspiring images. Fun poses, cute dresses, beautiful make up… I want to put them up where I can see them daily. Seeing others create cool images inspires me to push toward where we want to be a photographers. So, if you are a new photographer out there and feeling not so great about where you work, don’t worry. Use the time and money that you would have spent on your office on your clients! Give them a personal experience that no one else can give them but you. Think about who your clients are and what your workflow needs to be to cater to your combined specific needs.
