I hear this phrase "Living The Dream" time and time and time and bloody time again. And it p*ssess me right off. Read on to find out why.
Seriously. If I was living the dream (or at least my dream anyway) it wouldn't include working at all. I enjoy my work as a wedding photographer totally (best job I have ever had in fact). So why does the phrase constantly come from people who HAVE to work to afford to live the lifestyle they want?!!
Working the Dream - perhaps!!
Anyway, back to normality as a wedding photographer.
Living The Dream - My Ass
Covid-19 Update
So you think living the dream is great? Think about it as a self employed wedding photgorapher, or indeed any self employed sole trader.
I'm down (moved dates) 13 weddings from March - August so far. Only two outright cancellations that have only paid a booking fee. I've now got 4 weddings back to back in August to accommodate couples. 5 couples have moved from 2020 to 2021.
13 weddings have moved dates. That is an awful lot of cash flow that has moved from the beginning of the year to next year or later this year. I started off March 2020 with being 46% booked for 2021. I've only had two sales meetings and I'm now 63.96% booked for 2021 due to moving dates.
They say, the business planners, that you should have 3 months cash reserves in the bank, and thank goodness I do. After that though is a different story. And I'm in a much better place, business wise and cash flow wise than some of my other wedding photgroapher colleages. There will be a lot of business that go bust over CV-19.
I'm already seeing the weekend warriors with cameras attempting to cash in. These people already have full time jobs (in the main) and so will get upto 80% of salaries paid by the government. I'll get nothing but universal credit.
Bow this isn't a rant blog - but when you are looking for your wedding photographer choose the full timers. We would have had it damed hard and will need your support.
Let's move on!
So yeah, Living The Dream - not when sh!t hits the fan like this.
These images are from my FitBit over the past 5 days of a very manic, but normal, week for me.
- 48.83 miles walked
- 83,951 steps
- 19,697 calories burned
Miles Walked
5 days and 48.83 miles. Wow. When you consider I'm carrying heavy camera kit for the majority of that time that is a lot of stress on the muscles and skeletal structure of my frame. And that is in a decent pair of shoes that have Vibram soles that are designed for walking and are cushioned for that. Not the most sartorially elegant I must admit - but damned comfy all the same. So when I hear of wedding photographers wearing those fashion orientated shoes I cringe at the damage they may be doing to themselves.
Is that "living the dream"? Potentially long term and or permanent damage to your skeletal and muscular system?
As an aside, the use of Vibram insoles was one of the factors that helped my shin splints tremendously when in the Army.
Steps taken
83,951 steps. That is a lot of heel and knee and hip impact going on. All that up and down, kneeling, standing, crouching etc. See the paragraph above for the potential damage it can lead to. Not what I would call "Living the Dream"!!!
Calories burned
According to my Fitbit, my physique should use around 2,600 calories a day just doing nothing. This ties in with other guides. So when I exercise I should eat more to keep the same weight etc.
19,697 calories over 5 days is 3,939 a day. I know I do not eat anywhere close to that when I am working at a wedding, regardless of how many Jaffas Cakes you lot think I eat!!
I usually have a bowl muesli for breakfast with semi skimmed milk - about 375 calories. The next time I eat will be when the guests sit down at a wedding, so on average it may be around 1,500 calories of whatever I can grab. Bar meal, sandwich etc. Then maybe a roll at the buffet before I leave for the day. Certainly not an average of 2,600 calories and not even close to 3,939 calories!! I drink a lot of liquid (diet pepsi / diet coke usually) also.
So to maintain the 12st 3lb (or around 77Kg) I am currently at is hard work. No wonder I eat crap like it is going out of fashion. And by crap I mean junk food. And by junk food I mean McDonalds. I swear that share prices in McDs would drop if I stopped being a wedding photographer!! Not really good for me I know, but I do eat a balanced and healthy diet when not working. I also take a wide array of vitamin supplements and usually pop around 200% vitamin C during the wedding days anyway.
So trying to maintain an age body (51 years old in July 2019) with sufficient calories by eating crap junk food isn't what I would call "living the dream".
Keeps me fit though!!
Sleep and "Living The Dream"
Sleep? WTF is that?!! You shoot a 12 hour wedding and you work 16 hours:
- 1 hour to get up, shower, eat, pack the car
- 1 hour to drive to the first location
- 12 hours on site shooting
- 1 hour to drive back
- 1 hour to unpack the car, back up the shots, sort the camera bag out, recharge batteries etc
I also usually do more than 12 hours, especially in the summer. More like 16 hours and occasionally closer to 18 hours.
If other wedding photographers are like me they are hyper from a wedding. Filled with adrenalin and excitement about the day and take an age to fall asleep. So maybe 6 hours sleep a night if they are lucky? Between Thursday and Friday's wedding, I had 4 1/4 hours of sleep. On average I had a little less than 6 hours sleep.
Carrying the cameras...
I use FujiFilm XT3's. LIghtweight bodies with lightweight lenses but I still feel the strain on my back, neck, shoulder and more importantly wrists and elbows from all the carrying, the up and down to the eye of the camera etc. Total weight with a zoom 50-140mm f2.8 and a Godox V860ii flash is 2.153Kg or 4.74lbs in old money.
Typical Canon 5DIV with a 70-200 f2.8 L lenses attached and an EX600 flash on top for bouncing weights in at 2.88kg. In old money that is 6.34lbs hanging around your neck or shoulder. And don't forget you would have another camera plus body plus flash on the other shoulder. Even putting them around your waist will give your hips a good battering.
So yeah - carrying potential 10lbs of weight around your neck / shoulders all day is really living the dream. Taking a 6lb weight to your eye quickly and repeatedly is putting so much strain on your elbow you will need a brace. Really living the dream there.
Access to all the free Cold & Flu symptoms you can ask for!
Yup - being in close proximity with 100 guests several times a week can lead to picking up every single buy that happens to be going around...and then you share it with your other wedding the day after. Meanwhile, you feel like the Hulk has used you as a punch bag and you are mainlining Lemsip (other cheaper brands available!) and snorting huge quantities of Vitamin C just to stay on top. (Thanks to Laura Simpson, Freelance Heroine and Social Media Guru for Chameleon Social, for pointing out that one!)
Living The Dream as a wedding photographer
It's a load of bolloxs.
Being a wedding photographer is physically hard work. It is mentally demanding being on point for around 12+ hours per day, looking for shots, looking out for the client's needs and anticipating them so before they know they need something you are there waiting with it. It's bloody long hours, often with little sleep between those long hours if you shoot back to back weddings (Thursday and Friday for me - 4 1/4 hours sleep)
The After the Wedding Dream
Some documentary photographers will take 6000+ in the same time frame. Not sure how the heck they cope as I only shoot around 1,500 images in a 12 hour day. But all of those images need culling (getting rid of the crappy ones) and then editing and then in most cases retouching. That is sitting in front of a computer for hours on end looking at the screen and trying to decide if Image A is slightly better than Image B and Slightly worse than Image C etc. God knows what those documentary people do with 100+ images of the same frame shot because they were waiting for the "perfect shot". (Hint - whilst you were waiting for the perfect shot you missed 99 other perfect shots going on around you...!)
Do you know how mentally tiring it is do have to do that? How physically tiring it is to sit at a computer desk for hours and do that? Eye strain, shoulders, neck, back muscles all take a battering. Not to mention the wrists when editing. Yeah, that's what I call "Living the Dream". Not.
The Perfect Instagram Photo
So the next time you see a photo of a MacBook with a cup of coffee next to it on FaceBook / Instagram posted by a wedding photographer with the tag "Living The Dream" ask them what flipping planet they are on and can I have some of the drugs they must take!!
Don't get me wrong - it really is the best job I have had. But can we bring a bit more honesty into the game? At least let new wannabe wedding photographers know that it's a bloody hard job that takes time to master, a lot of luck to get noticed by clients, venues, magazines etc, and won't make you a millionaire overnight. In fact probably won't make you a millionaire period!
Stop lying to yourselves and your couples - admit it. Wedding photography is hard graft and it sucks at times.
But when you get THAT shot. Just that ONE SHOT at any wedding and you know you have nailed it. When you run around like an idiot because you know it's a killer shot and you got it despite the odds.
That's when its all about "Living The dream"
0 Comments