Photography: Portfolio Building

My husband has told me repeatedly for a good year,

maybe longer,

that he really thinks that I should just

take the plunge and start a photography business.

He has even offered to do the

marketing/collections/biz side of things for me!!

{Since he started & ran his business successfully

in our previous place of residence,

he would definitely know how to do all that,

ahem... junk.}

What a sweetheart. :)

Guess you could say he really believes in me,

and in the art that I enjoy "creating"

with my camera & my little computer.

Of course, many others say this to me a lot too.

Not that what others say has to validate me.

However, I do think it's something I'd like to do.

BUT.

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I also know that I have these 3 important gifts in my life

that are very precious,

that will only need me intensely for a short, yet so long, few years,

that give me the opportunity
to be called "Mama".

A name I desired to be called for many years,

and asked God desperately for that gift.

And now I have that.

I can't justify taking that plunge during this

intense season of my life right now.

Being a Mama right now is my "holy ambition".

I choose to do that.

BUT.

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I would also like to continue moving forward with my photography.

I feel like I'm at that point that I need to

start shooting people other than my little ones to grow.

I need to learn to pose,

and not pose;

to learn everything I don't already know about light,

and the lack of it;

to push the limits of my understanding,

to attempt new things, success & failure;

to learn Photoshop better,

and get a better workflow,

and know what labs to use.

So even though I feel like I can say that I am a good photographer,

and that I *could* go into business right now.

I choose not to.

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I make this choice to sacrifice to be my children's Mama.

I make this choice to grow in my photographic skills,

so that when I am ready,

it will be a much more seamless transition

 than some have to go through when beginning their business.

Photography is a passion,

not unlike playing & teaching the piano,

crafting & creating.

I am an extremely creative soul.

Can I achieve my purpose in this season of life,

and still pursue my passion?

I think I can only do one thing well right now.

BUT.

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This choice doesn't mean that I do not plan to grow photographically.

I plan to begin more aggressively portfolio building.

Doing all those things I stated above,

by accepting & seeking out "models" & "clients".

I had my first 'official' portfolio building session about a week ago.

I am so excited about the images that I was able to produce.

I am trying to figure out how to go about some of this still.

I need to figure out the "branding" process,

possibly begin a seperate "photography blog",

and then there's pricing, model releases, etc...

I can't do all of this for free,

even though it would definitely keep things simpler,

yet my time, my husband or babysitter's time,

and my art is worth more than $0.

Here is my favorite shot from my session:

 

So I'm still mulling some of this over.

I have another session in a couple weeks.

This will be my last session I will schedule before I figure

some of the "skeleton" stuff out.

If you've read through this really long, boring post, thank you!

Any suggestions from out in my photography friend world?

I'd like to put a disclaimer out there, too...
to all my photography buddies-
I am so proud of each of you that have begun
your own businesses.
I'm so excited for you,
and in no way expect you to come to the same
conclusions that I am writing here today! ;)
I can't believe how many friends,
and even a family member,
that have started their own photography biz
 in the last year or so.
We each have our own journey,
and stories to write.
So, please do not take offense to anything I wrote here.
This is just my own little journey on my life story. :)
Love you all & enjoy seeing you grow as photographers.