As 2018 draws to a close, it seems appropriate to do my final blog post of the year: the annual review. 2018 marks SIX years in business as a full-time freelancer, and six years of writing an annual review. This year was the most interesting out of them all, and it ends with a fairly big decision on my part. I’ll get to that below.
Embracing Change as a Photographer
This year, I went all in as a photographer. I finished up all of my old web design projects and officially shuttered that part of my business. I focused instead on photography as my primary service. I photographed significantly more corporate events this year than in years past, even after swearing early this year I would do fewer events. Over 53% of my income this year came from corporate events, which is slightly higher than previous years. Best of all, I’ve fallen in love with event photography again. Or, rather, found my stride with it and had the honor of working with stellar clients this year including HGTV, Norwegian Cruise Lines, actor Kyle MacLachlan, and more.
Usually, I post a roundup of favorite photos from the year. Instead, I’m knee deep in the video world and don’t have the capacity to think about photos right now. So I’ll direct you to my recently updated photography portfolio if you’d like to peek at some of my work from this year.
Less Food Photography
Food and restaurant photography continues to be profitable, making up about 14% of my income this year. But this number continues to drop. In some ways, this makes me sad as I truly do love photographing food. But when I really think about it (and look at QuickBooks), there are some pluses to doing less food photography. It’s become a lot less lucrative, but it also tends to be very “copy and paste” in terms of creativity. There are only so many different ways you can photograph a pizza, hamburger, and cocktail, and after a number of years of doing food photography, I’m ready for a new challenge. I’ll continue doing food photography because I enjoy it, but I’m also looking forward to my new take on it: food videography!
With that said, the few restaurant shoots I did this year led to some great publicity including bylines in Architectural Digest and the Wall Street Journal.
More Real Estate Photography
Another part of my business that has thrived this year is real estate photography, which made up 12% of my income. I’ve always done real estate jobs because they’re quick, easy, and pay decently well. This year, I’ve had more real estate photo jobs than ever before, likely due to the multitude of new construction projects around town. My take on this: bring it on! I love shooting architecture and real estate and hope to do more of it next year.
Less Concert Photography
This is probably the first year in many that I photographed literally a handful of concerts. In comparison, there were many years when I’d do my annual reviews and realize I had shot upwards of 250 concerts in a year. When I think of it from a nostalgic perspective, it’s a little sad considering concert photography was my gateway into the photography world. Concerts are also a LOT of fun to shoot, and I do often miss the thrill of being in the photo pit. But it’s an increasingly difficult industry to thrive and profit from, and it’s a huge personal expense in terms of time and energy. So for now, I’m totally fine with having fewer concerts to shoot these days.
So Much Work Travel
Being able to travel for work as a self-employed freelancer is a hard-earned blessing. It’s something I’ve actively worked toward the past few years, and I’m immensely proud to that 2018 brought numerous excuses to travel for work. From Jacksonville, San Diego, Toronto, Vancouver, Park City, Suncadia, and more, this was a fantastic year of work travel, and I hope that 2019 brings much more.
Stocking Up on New Camera Gear
2018 was also a year when I finally upgraded my camera. I’ve had the Canon 5D Mark III since it first came out in April 2012 and have been itching for an upgrade. I was so anxious I added two cameras to my gear kit: the Sony a7rIII and the Fujifilm X-T3. For me, these upgrades served two purposes:
- Putting the power of 4K video in my hands
- Unlocking creativity
New camera gear isn’t just about oohing and ahhing over new tech; it’s also about unlocking creativity. Cameras like the Sony A7rIII and X-T3 challenged me to learn a new camera and unlocked pockets of creativity in the process. Also, there’s a feature of the Sony A7rIII that, in my opinion, has catapulted my event photography skills: silent shooting + shooting with the LCD. Silent shooting offers less distraction, making it easier to capture candids. Shooting with the LCD enables you to shoot from all different angles without having the lift the camera to my eye.
My new main camera: the Fujifilm X-T3.
Tending To Side Hustles
One question I’ve received repeatedly is how I can afford to invest in both Sony and Fujifilm gear this year while not selling my Canon gear. The answer is in my side hustle in Belize. My husband and I started the business when we first met, and 7 years later it continues to generate semi-passive monthly income for us. Since it’s not our main source of income, we put those funds into savings and only dip into them when we need to invest in our business. We first withdrew to buy our company car, and this year we withdrew again to purchase new camera equipment. This leads to the next point…
Shifting Focus to Video
This has been a long time coming, but 2018 was the year when Martin and I finally dove in headfirst into videography. Our BIGGEST hurdle that we’ve faced over the years has been camera equipment. Until recently, video cameras were a huge upfront investment and they often required giant stabilizers or tons of extra gear to use them properly. 2018 was the first year that we both felt that cameras (namely, mirrorless cameras) had come far enough in video features to be worth buying. Between the two of us, we invested in 3 mirrorless cameras, plus 2 other compact video cameras this year. It might seem frivolous, but our video production exploded this year, due mainly to our new cameras. We’ve also managed to put those tools to work almost immediately and have pulled in $500 of video income this year, including a sale to Netflix. Not so terrible considering we’re not actively selling our video services (yet!).
Our Annual Review on YouTube
The Future of This Blog
Admittedly, this year has been my very worst in terms of updating this blog. I haven’t given much time or attention to this blog, which was once a major side hustle for me. Recently, I questioned the future of this blog and even considered shutting it down. However…I decided that it will live on. But first, I’ll reiterate what this blog always was for me: a way to chronicle my journey as a full-time freelancer, and offer tips and advice to other aspiring freelancers.
Even though I rarely post here anymore, the blog continues to serve its original purposes. It pulls in new visitors and email subscribers daily, has led to many email exchanges (always the best part for me), and even continues to generate income via affiliate marketing. Although my lack of posting has inevitably led to a decrease in site traffic, income, etc. The reality is that blogging takes a lot of time, and this year I’ve decided to refocus that energy elsewhere. Basically, I’ve achieved everything I’ve wanted to with this blog and feel it’s time to move on.
That doesn’t mean the blog will disappear. It will continue to be here, as it seems to serve as a helpful resource for others. But posts here will be few and far between, much like this year.
Where I’ll Be in 2019 and Beyond
Instead of resuming my original intent of writing weekly blogs here, my commitment for 2019 is to make weekly vlogs on YouTube. In case you weren’t aware, Martin and I started a YouTube channel last year. Well, technically it started in 2012, but this year was when we made a targeted effort at growing the channel. Why YouTube? Because making videos is something we’ve always wanted to do, and YouTube seems the best outlet for that. One obvious benefit: Youtube allows you to (eventually) monetize your videos; to date, we’ve made $80 since being allowed to monetize two weeks ago. YouTube is hardly a perfect platform and we’re aware of its pitfalls and challenges. But so far it has proven to be worth more of our time than any other social media platforms.
We’re still largely experimenting with the proper video formats that work well on YouTube, but our current intended strategy is a weekly show that mixes photography, travel, and food. I also intend on making “Intrepid Freelancer” videos that focus on the freelance lifestyle.
If you’re interested in following along, it would mean the world to have you subscribe to our channel; to be alerted every time we upload a new video, be sure to click the bell.
In Conclusion
Whether you’re seeing this for the first time or have been a longtime blog subscriber, thank you. Seriously, it means a lot to me that there are people out there who take the time to read my blogs and sometimes even write to me. I truly appreciate the support. And to reiterate what I said before, this isn’t a permanent goodbye. Rather, it’s a shift of creative energy, and I hope you’ll follow along on YouTube. Wishing you all the best in the New Year and beyond!
