Juggling...

ezra:

A career change is not easy...you have to be a professional juggler. I've said this before...I'm a father of 2 children, a husband, a Social Worker, and a Photographer. Any given Monday - Friday looks like this: 7:30-4:30 @ work...5pm to 6pm is dinner and hang-out time with my kids...by 6pm I'm on the computer answering e-mails, making orders, editing pictures, burning discs, making slideshows, trying to stay current on Facebook & Twitter...and working-out in between uploads and downloads...oh, Fridays I have rehearsals to go to...I'm always looking at photos for new concepts...and currently I'm reading two books on branding at the same time. This is insane...and I haven't mentioned the weekends...and I won't.

But I have to do all of this...it's not healthy, but neither is remaining in a field of work that has nearly drained all the "happys" out of me. To me, this sacrifice is worth the reward. I have been in the Social Work field for nearly 9 years...and if you throw my internships in there, then it's been 10! I have worked in a domestic violence shelter, did in-home parenting, ran the programs at a Boys Girls Club, and am currently an Intake Specialists. In any given year, with my current job, I listen to 170-200 parents tell me about their latest problems. After 10 years, I have heard way too many problems...not 1 too many....like 1000 way too many! The latest trends has been mothers who have committed suicide...a recent incest...we always have the "cutters" or suicidal kids (they just keep getting younger)...the drug cases, domestic violence, divorce, murders...if it's bad, I've heard it...

So this is not any healthier. I always say God didn't create humans to listen to 200 problems in a year...no way. So my quest is to be a full-time photographer...but I have to transition...and that's the hard part. I have been to the Promise Land - just about every weekend I visit there, with my cameras and awesome people willing to stand in front of them...and I never want to leave...Photography, to me, is the opposite of Social Work (at the least the feelings it brings).

So that's why I'm pressing so hard in this photography business...I'm trying to learn as much as possible about every aspect of photography; especially the business part. In mid May, I'm making a trip to Chicago to meet with Fred Egan...I'm always talking to other photographers, and I'm reading a lot. This is the investment that has to be made.

If you are considering a career change, I warn you that it's not easy nor for the weak-hearted...but if you survive "crunch", then I expect the reward to be great...more on this in the future.