meetings, meetings, meetings

When people ask what I do I say, "I'm a photographer". I was thinking on the way home tonight though about how much of my work is actually photography... and it's not really all that much. I mean, yeah, its the reason I have other things to do, but so much of my work is meeting people.

Yesterday I had a PUG (Pictage User Group) meeting and I met a ton of great photographers and made alot of really good contacts. Right after that I met Trever (another photographer), my great friend and sometimes business partner to hang out, talk about business, eat some greasy fast food and most importantly look at his new Mark IIn (its a Canon but still pretty nice). Tonight I met up with the girls from Simply Mumtaz Events (which I talked about a couple days ago). They invited me to a ISES dinner aboard the Queen Mary where I met so many event and wedding planners I can't even begin to keep them all straight. Tomorrow I'm having lunch in LA with another client, Saturday, meeting one for coffee, and finally Sunday, shooting "Save The Date" pics for Bryn and Matt. So all this "work" and only one day of shooting.

David Jay says all the time that people hire you because of who you are not necessarily because of your talent, and that there are a lot of really talented people not making ends meet because they never make the effort to have a relationship with their clients or they think that their "art" is the most important thing.

Bryn, the girl from the couple I'm shooting on Saturday, sent me an email today and apologized for writing me to often. I love hearing from my couples. I want to be their friend on the wedding day, not just some random guy taking pictures.

I love what I do. I love that my job is my creative outlet. I love when everything lines up and this amazing picture emerges but that's not what I like most about my job. The best part of my job is taking those amazing pictures of people who I would hang out with whether I was getting paid to be there or not.