PASSION, PRIVILEGE AND PROFESSIONALISM
This is an amazing time of year for me professionally. It puts everything into focus and reminds me why I love what I do. It makes also makes me remember how important my job is and the immense responsibility that comes with it. In the last two weeks, several clients have made me realize what a privilege and responsibility it is to be hired for photography work.
I know what you're thinking....
Trish really you’re a photographer, how hard can your job be? We’ve all heard it. This week someone actually said to me you charge what? Maybe I should become a “professional photographer”.
Many people believe that professional photographers travel all over, see great places attend cool events and work and make gobs of easy money. Sounds like a pretty good gig. Right??? Read on and I'll let you decide:
Here’s the truth and this is where the being passionate about what you do and taking on the responsibility of a commitment to care for your clients really gets driven home.
Facebook recently reminded me of a wedding I photographed the wedding sometime ago for a wounded soldier injured in an explosion in Afghanistan. The fact that he survived I am sure was a miracle. He was flown to Water Reed Hospital… in May he was in front of my camera trying to make another miracle happen. He had as lost one leg in Afghanistan and the other was in still in the process of healing but has had many procedures and surgeries with possibly more to come.
It took every ounce of his strength to go from preparing for his wedding in a wheel chair, to stand with a cane and struggle to be able to stand just long enough for his ceremony. He was determined to be standing with his very beautiful bride on his own for their wedding.
It was a very touching ceremony for a couple who had come so far and have still a tremendous journey ahead.
In the midst of these very touching moments and the positioning of everyone for the ceremony to take place, one of my cameras was dropped from about a height of 4 feet. It hit the deck "literally". My flash was smashed in to several pieces with free hanging wires exposed. Yikes!!!
Three thoughts came to mind after the initial FOUR letter ones that rolled through first - they were... BE RESPONSIBLE! BE PROFESSIONAL! DELIVIER YOUR PROMISE!
Someone once told me the difference between being and amateur and being a professional is the ability to pull something of beauty from chaos and confusion. That thought crossed my mind as well.
I was fine, disappointed at the damaged gear but ready and responsible for delivering my promise to give them beautiful wedding images. After the dust settled and I got home, I started thinking Oh My God if they had a photographer that wasn’t prepared with extra gear and had the ability to stay calm and keep working, that very well could have been the end of their wedding photos and a personal journey he had come so far to complete. From Afghanistan to Maine to me with a camera in my hand.
“It may be that when we don't know what to do we have come to our real work, and that when we no longer know which way to go we have come to our real journey.” –Wendell Berry
As I said in my opening paragraph, this is an amazing time of year for so many families. Weddings, Graduations, Portraits of all kinds, families coming together for the first and quite often the last time. Picking up my gear to attend a family reunion or photograph a senior with their family as they head off to college matters as much to me as wedding. Being a professional photographer has tremendous rewards some tangible but so many that are not. That is where having true passion matters.
Every time I step into a one-of-a-kind moment that someone has given me the privilege to be a part of I take on that responsibility with the same mantra in my mind… “Who will hold these images in 100 years?” That’s WHAT we do. We leave families a legacy, a history, memories of loved ones present and past.
That’s WHY I do what I do and why I am so passionate about it.
In closing as you hire your photographers, choose them well, ask the right questions and make sure they feel as much responsibility as you do and are committed to making the event as memorable and special as you are.