Lets start a Blog..
I brought my website back YAY! I can hear the slow clap from my one fan as I type this.
I decided to take off my website and stop taking any jobs back In July of this year, but to know why i’m back here now and what the plans are moving forward, lets go back to when it all started first.
So is mid 2019, my vape business is doing okay but we wanted to try expand and earn some extra pennies. Me and the missus decided to sell up and use the money as investment in the expansion along with my business partners at the time.
Little did we know what was going to happen next!
Here we are then in the midst of a global pandemic, a new home and some money in the bank ready to invest in an idea that was now out of reach. Covid hit most of us hard and for my business partners this was no exception so the expansion of the vape shop was just not a viable option anymore. So what to do now?
“Aga, you know I quite like taking some pics with my phone?”
“Err yeah”
“Well how about we use the investment money, buy a load of camera gear and I set up a photography business?”
“What an amazing idea Rob, you go right ahead!”
Okay, so maybe the last part is not quite accurately reenacted but you get the idea.
I do what any sane person does, watch a tonne of YouTube videos and make an informed decision on my set up within 48 hours of deciding to take up photography. Looking back it wasn’t a bad choice at all, I got a Canon 6D mk ii with an amazing Sigma 85mm lens, a Canon EF 35mm and a 70-200mm, that and some lights, backdrops, and other bits to go with the set up. I also paid for a logo, website, flyers and much more, I was all set to go and become Lincolnshires premier image maker!
The first thing I didn’t take into account was that in an already saturated market, 8,456,965 other people had the same idea. It was a photographer boom when all we had to do was sit in doors all day. The next thing was, it’s not that easy to just pick up a camera and make money! I mean firstly there’s the fundamental skill involved, then you have to work out what you really want to capture and market accordingly.
The last part of that is what proved in the end my own downfall and lead me to this point.
You see once I actually started to learn and get invested in the photography world, I realised that I actually loved photography. It brought me back to my early years of being creative with a pencil. I found a new love for all things artistic again. But in that I was wanting to create for me, the things that interested me was what I really enjoyed. The paid work I found myself in just wasn’t it and left me uninspired most of the time. Don’t get me wrong i’ve had plenty of great clients and the weddings were very enjoyable days, but with a new love for photography it just wasn’t sparking the joy I needed.
And we are back to now, after closing everything and having some time out from photography altogether I decided to just focus on what I enjoy. Take the jobs that will appeal to me and give that creative spark I love with this wonderful medium that is photography.
My goals are pretty simple now too, I would love to generate a small audience to my work that will hopefully one day give me the ability to sell prints, work on creative projects that are primarily in the fashion and editorial sector and also start learning how to write.
Learning to write will help relieve some of the burden my friends here in Louth have to endure, because anyone that knows me will also know that I can talk for England, the UK and well probably Europe! So getting thoughts out on here every few weeks will help that.
If you made it this far then you are firstly mental, but also amazing.
Thank you and speak to you on the next one.
Rob
My first ever image taken on a “Big boy” camera. Subject is my friend Kyle
