3 things I’ve learned in 3 years as a food photographer
I’m celebrating 3 years of my business this week!
On 11th November 2019 I made myself a coffee, grabbed my laptop and sat down at my kitchen table to start a business. 3 years, one break up, a pandemic, 2 cameras, 4 lenses, one love story, 2 home renovations and more than 150 shoots later, I’m here to share some of the lessons I’ve learned along the way.
Here are 3 things I’ve learned in 3 years as a full time food photographer:
1. Working for yourself is a mindset game
You can have an incredible talent or service, but if you don't believe in your own worth as a solopreneur then it'll only get you so far. This has taken me a long time to acknowledge, but I've found investing in coaching & mentoring to be really helpful, as well making time to enjoy my life outside of my job, which helps to separate me as 'the photographer' and me as 'the person'. It’s a work in progress for sure, and one of my key goals for next year is to connect with more photographers so I can ask questions / ask for help / go out for dinner!
Being honest about the highs and lows has also been an important part of this process. It's not always fun, or easy, or enjoyable (like any job) so opening up the conversation about the more difficult aspects has helped me feel supported. It also seems to have struck a chord with others; my daily failures posts on LinkedIn being some of my most read.
2. A creative business is still a business
It took me almost a year to call this thing a business. It’s complicated when you leave the ‘regular’ corporate system to set something up on your own, because you instinctively resist a lot of the working norms. I wanted to have more fun, be more creative and manage my own time, and from what I’d understood from my experience of the working world so far, it wasn’t possible to be ‘business-minded’ and enjoy yourself. (This is wrong, by the way). So I resisted the term. I called myself a creative instead, and shied away from things like quarterly planning, setting marketing goals, and tracking my finances.
But a creative business is still a business. Being a photographer is still a business. Enjoying your job and being a successful business owner are not mutually exclusive. You can still plan, set goals and work to a structure and find joy and meaning in your job at the same time. The sooner you can accept you need to function as a business, and set up the structures you need to support your growth, the sooner you’ll see success. Which brings me to…
3. Success doesn’t change how you feel
This was a real kicker. It turns out there isn’t one magical day when all your efforts pay off and you can sit back and say “I made it!'“ From the outside my business looks incredibly successful: I’m booking a lot more clients, making a lot more money and taking much better photos now than when I started. I’ve even been featured in the BBC! But the goalposts of success are constantly moving and I often feel like I’m not ‘where I should be’.
Understanding that I can reframe negative thoughts like these has been both a liberating and infuriation lesson to learn. Liberating because I realise I’m fully in control and I can choose to feel happy, calm, successful and financially secure in my business, regardless of how my business is actually doing (I know, it’s a weird concept to get your head around). Infuriating because reframing negative thoughts isn’t easy and acknowledging responsibility for all my thoughts, feelings and actions in my business can be pretty exhausting.
Acknowledging this overall though has really taken the pressure off and allows me to enjoy the ride a little more. Sure, I’d like to make £100k in a year and feel great about it, but life is good either way.
BONUS - Spend time on your own portfolio
I appreciate the majority of these lessons are mindset oriented (told you it’s a mindset game!) so for all you budding food photographers out there, I thought I’d end on a practical note. Which is, to shoot for the joy of shooting and create work that furthers your skills and can be shared in your portfolio.
It’s so easy to skip this at the beginning of your food photography career, because you’re so focused on booking clients and making money. But it will help you in so many ways! Working on my portfolio has brought so much joy back into my job, because I cook and style and photograph the things I want to create, without client briefs or deadlines to stick to. It’s also helped me book bigger clients (with bigger budgets) and charge more for my work as my skill set improves. It’s so satisfying to witness yourself learn and grow, especially when you master a skill you never thought you’d be able to achieve, and that’s the true beauty of a job like this: you’re constantly exploring.
Are you looking for a food photographer?
Come and chat with me about what you need and we can get started.