Many years ago I read a book about couples and money, how to talk finances with your partner without ending up in a donnybrook. One sentence has stayed with me, “Married couples don’t divorce because of money, they divorce because of not talking about money.” I think this is also true in commercial photography if you substitute ‘divorce’ with ‘go bankrupt’. Discussing money with agents, clients, vendors, colleagues, especially yourself can be fraught with conflict, real or imagined. So let’s talk about money.
To Start - I have often said to my assistants, especially if we’re in some swanky location, “This is a blue collar job with white collar trappings. Be careful.” I saw this while assisting a photographer who got sucked into the lifestyle vortex circling this industry back in the 80’s and 90’s. For a brief moment advertising was running on 12 cylinders but it turned out those 12 cylinders were of the ‘Jaguar E Type’ type; Gorgeous when it worked but infamous for breaking down. Next thing you know this guy was taking out a second mortgage to pay the bills and eventually he had to shut down his studio - permanently.
Commercial photographers are particularly susceptible to lifestyle temptations because, if we’re lucky, clients will pay for our business class tickets, let us photograph million dollar necklaces, send us to visit luxurious places and stay in nice hotels and, well, you start to get used to it. However, especially as freelancers, we are fully exposed to economic downturns and the advertising business is very skittish when it comes to bear markets. Things can get awfully quiet awfully quickly. Twelve cylinders can become a deux cheveaux before you know what hit you. (No more car analogies I promise.)
Some colleagues don’t agree with my blue collar attitude but it has served me well enough. Look, I drive a nice car but it’s a Volvo, not an E Type (That wasn’t a full analogy so we’re still good) and I do have some nice things - I’m not advocating deprivation. However, I have sometimes fallen into the very trap I’m warning you against and have seen it happen to others. It’s helpful to recognize that photography is a trade, not unlike plumbing or electrical work. The work in our case, making the best pictures possible, has to come first and foremost.
I remember talking to the first assistant of a top celebrity photographer who, when I asked him what his plans were for beginning his shooting career said, “I’m going to be driving my white Porsche convertible along PCH, making six figures…”. As he was describing his future, inaccurately as it turned out, there wasn’t a single mention of photography. This, I suppose, is the big lesson here: The photography has to come first. Always.
TO BE CONTINUED…
that ring image!!!!!!!!!! GORGEOUS