Brenda Landrum

I’ve been thinking a lot about where I am at in my photography career and where to go from here. Photography and the business of photography have been part of my life for 30 years. It’s been quite a journey. I’ve seen a lot of growth in my own skills and knowledge along with seeing the industry change drastically. I’ve been willing to adapt and learn from film to digital, to learning how to make my own websites on lots of platforms, image gallery delivery systems and online shops, even how we manage and market a business has changed a lot. I’ve pretty much always been excited about the next new thing until more recently.

I’m sure there are others who have been feeling a pull to step back a little from constantly trying to keep up with the trajectory of our online presence. The ever changing rules and the demand on having to play algorithm games just to try to keep our ‘content’ in front of the people who chose to follow. Isn’t it weird that even though someone chooses to follow that doesn’t mean they will consistently see it? It’s frustrating. And to find new followers … now you have to perform circus acts on video to even have a chance. 

Honestly, I find it frustrating to think about my career in how well I do on social media. I hate to keep coming back to this topic but it is on my mind and I’m trying to find my path within it. These days your business success or failure rate seems to solely rely on how well you convert viewers to followers to a buying customer. The range of what they can buy can be extremely wide to just your knowledge, to subscriptions online or mail clubs, and of course products. Everything online pushes you toward monetizing whatever you do. But is money the main goal?

Is this gift of seeing the world around me through a viewfinder only for the sole purpose of just making money? A question I have had to get deeply honest with myself about.

My photography has always been framed within a business mindset. Photography came first in my life and I was highly influenced by Ansel Adams and Anne Geddes in creating the dream I’ve had for 30 years. When people started asking me to do portraits and weddings right out of high school, I said yes and the business was formed. I went to college to solely major in business so I would somewhat know what I was doing. My entire adult life includes being a photographer and managing that business. They have always been as one. 

For a business to be successful, it has to make money. People don’t run businesses that don’t make money, now it’s classified as a hobby. My fine art floral and landscape photography ‘business’ today would be classified as a failure. The people that follow me are not interested in making a purchase. But I’m not a hobby photographer. I’m obsessively serious about photography and consider myself a professional. I’ve got 30 years of dedication and hard work to this art and darn it I think that deserves the title of Professional Photographer. But I struggle separating “Photographer” and “Business” though and the entrepreneur in me says I’ve failed. No sales = failure.

Back to the question I’ve had to get honest about: Is this gift of seeing the world around me through a viewfinder only for the sole purpose of just making money?

I’m a photographer no matter what. I want to be the 80 year old lady who stops on the side of the road to get out with my cane and camera hanging around my neck to take a photo of a gorgeous sunset. And probably share it on whatever social media platform exists then to show others what I saw. I will die with a camera by my side. 

That’s a very clear NO to the question above. I need to change how I think about this. I need to divorce the business mindset that I have embedded into my photography. I need to reframe what is success and failure. Maybe I never sell anything but that does not make me a failed photographer and it does not stop me from taking photos of whatever I want. 

Someone please keep telling me this as it’s so easy to fall back into bad mindsets.

The things I want to stop doing:

1. Stop thinking that money = success 
2. Stop labeling an image I’ve created as success or failure by how many likes it gets or if someone buys it. If I love it then that is all that matters. 
3. Stop thinking of an image as inventory. Images created are not just product for a business. I love photography no matter if anyone see’s them. 
4. Stop embedding the business mindset into my photography. What I mean by that is I’m judging whether my entire photography portfolio is good or not by how well the business is doing. 
5. Stop playing the algorithm games. I’m done with it but easily get sucked back in because I want my ‘business’ to be successful. How to make $5000 a month on Substack, How to Increase Your Following. I’m going to have to detox from all the rules I’ve obsessed over for years to get back to sharing from an excited and joyful heart. 

I’m should print that list out and paste it onto my desk or laptop so that I have to read it every time I sit down to ‘work’. 

Maybe I’m the only one who is struggling to keep my sanity when the artist and entrepreneur are battling it out and I can’t believe I’m going to hit publish on this. I’ve pondered over whether or not to make these thoughts public and I’m sure someone will ‘set me straight’. I simply hope that by sharing this very vulnerable moment with others that maybe it helps someone else work through similar struggles in how they view their art and success.

B.