On the outside, the lives of Boston family photographers might look pretty glamourous. I mean, we get to travel around to beautiful locations in the area and we have great seasonal variety. After our sessions, we get home, upload the photos, edit the best ones, and bam, done! Right? Not so fast. There’s a lot more that goes on behind the scenes, and a lot of it is surprisingly stressful. Read on to learn more!
The first thing you might not know is how frustrated we find ourselves with technology. But we’re photographers, aren’t we tech geniuses? Ha. No! In the last year, my 50 mm lens failed me more times than I can count, and after finally sending it out to get looked at, I discovered that some screw was loose. $350 later, it’s good as new. My computer also died not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES in 2018. THREE! And it’s not old! And it’s a Mac! Aren’t they supposed to last forever (inserts eye roll)?!
It might also surprise you to hear that sometimes, we lack confidence. When we don’t hear back from a client after delivering a gallery, we often assume they didn’t like their photos. I’ve learned over time that this is rarely the case, but still, there’s always that nagging worry. Or sometimes, when a session really isn’t going great and toddlers are unruly, we may seem cool, calm and collected on the outside, but inside, we might be in slightttt panic mode. It always works out just fine though, as we tend to overshoot to make sure we capture the fleeting moments when things aren’t chaotic :).
Finally, and perhaps most surprisingly, we really value the “community over competition” motto, and many of us Boston family photographers are friends. Sure, my friends are my competition and that’s *kind of* a weird thing, but we also refer clients to each other pretty often. Additionally, we troubleshoot together, share location ideas, and generally just provide a listening ear for one another when we encounter business challenges. This is a part of the job that I’ve grown to appreciate so much. Anddd, despite the stressors, think I have one of the best jobs on the planet :).
