Making Money from Art

Just for me

I was a person who desperately hated to spend money on frivolous things – ya know the ones that bring joy and fun, but not money. So while I was ok with my spity purchase of the one time basics workshop, the monthly group was a different story. As much as I loved that group, I felt endless guilt about spending money every month on it, when it was just for me.

Very soon after I learned how to take a decent picture, I started offering photoshoots to offset the amount I was spending. I loved and hated these photoshoots in equal measure. While I was doing it, I was in the zone and it was amazing. I loved getting to meet new people and I loved that I got to show them how I saw them.

Leading up to these photoshoots was a different story though. That felt more like panic: ‘What if I really don’t know what I’m doing and I fuck it all up?’ ‘What if they hate the pictures and think it’s a waste of money?’ That dreadful feeling wouldn’t fully dissipate until the photos were delivered and they told me they loved them.

I did the photos for a wedding, and didn’t sleep for a full two weeks leading up to the date. It all went fabulous and they were happy clients, but it was hard on me.

It was an interesting push-pull. I loved doing them, I loved practicing what I was learning and I was getting pretty good at it. It was also flexible work where I made good money. Every logical reason pointed to continuing on doing them.

On the other side of that, it became something I felt like I should do more than something I wanted to do. Even posting online or advertising felt like a terrible chore and every single post felt like a fight with myself to get myself to do it. The whole thing was exhausting.

However I felt about having a business as a photographer, it allowed me to keep paying for education, mentorship and new equipment and that was the winning factor.

Get Out and Explore

Puffin, taken in Elliston, NL

Order prints here

In 2020, after my ex and I separated, I suddenly had more freedom to roam. He would take the kids every second weekend, which meant I had time to go see the places I wanted to see.

It really didn’t matter if it was hiking Topsail Beach trail for the 100th time or going someplace entirely new, I could now just get in my car and go do it. This was not my reality before separating.

Going to Middle Cove Beach to take pictures of some epic waves is not nearly the same experience with two children who are fearless explorers, as it is going by myself. One of those is a terrifying experience. The other is pure peace.

I was falling more and more in love with this province, the more I got to see of it. Photography was the kick in the ass to go do that.

Years ago, in an attempt to take away the sense of ‘have to’ that I introduced to this thing I love to do by trying to make a business out of it, I decided that I would take a different approach to making money from this skill I spent all this time and money learning. I would sell prints instead.

Basically, I take pictures of things I want to take pictures of, and I upload my favorites to NL canvas. Anyone who likes what they see can order through there, and NL canvas will take care of printing and shipping and all the rest. This felt like a brilliant way around that ‘what if they hate it’ panic because they got to see what they were buying before they bought it.

Wouldn’t you know that even that idea made me push away the thing I love to do! I am only now starting to find a happy middle place with this. A place where I don’t feel any obligation to take pictures or to promote them.

I take them because I like to take them. I share them when I feel like it. That’s it. If prints sell, that’s fabulous, but I no longer make earning money or impressing someone else the point of taking the pictures at all. I get to do it because I like to do it. That is the only reason needed.

Portraits

As for portrait photography, I have officially retired from doing that as a business. Jess, the owner of Raising Sage Photography (pictured above) is lovely though if you are looking for someone.

While it was great to be able to make a few extra dollars here and there to fund the fun stuff, some severe burnout made the stress of doing photoshoots for people a clear no going forward.

My kids rarely let me take their pictures anymore, but that doesn’t mean my camera is getting dusty. I started learning photography for them, but it is about me and who I became for doing it. They do take a lot from that – so much more than being made to smile for the camera.