Apologies if this isn’t allowed, it’s more of a rant. Just wondering how everyone deals with the whole family asking for free photos thing.
For context, I’m a professional fashion/commercial photographer so family portraits aren’t going to help my portfolio or anything. My schedule is incredibly busy year round, even more so during the holidays, and I’m also a mother of two young kids. So if I’m not in parent mode, I’m working- often until midnight, and then I’m awake around 5:30 with the kids. I know it sounds like I’m complaining and… well, I kind of am, but want to give an accurate picture of how little time I have available to be doing free photos.
So every year, my in-laws want a family session. Not just a quick snap but like a full session. And every year I do it because they’re my in-laws and I don’t want them to think badly of me. The one time I hinted at being annoyed at this yearly request they were flabbergasted, saying “I thought you liked photography? It doesn’t take much time, does it?” This year I feel like I might snap. I’ve been racing to meet deadlines for huge clients that I’ve worked hard to get and I keep getting sidetracked with all of these family shoots (it is also happening with friends, other relatives). It’s not just the shoot- it’s deciding a location, responding to lengthy texts about what to wear, doing the editing- you guys know. It’s never “just a few pics”.
How can I deal with this?! Do I need to just suck it up and be a nicer person? I’m just burnt out af. Help.
This is what happens when people who do not know anything about anything don't know anything. This is what happens if your field of work was never explained to someone but they only saw the outcome.
Same with all artists, other people see the outcome and don't even think about the process. How could they know if they are not told or try it themselves. Just because taking a picture on your phone is so easy, they just think snapping a picture with a better camera makes the photo better. Not the lighting, or the location, or the posing(directing) or anything else.
This is why I rant, I rant all the time even tho I do not have to. I rant to family and close people just so they know how demanding something is... but in my case it even might not be. I do graphics design, web design and "development" (mostly kitbashing code and visual editors, but its sort of development). Everytime I am on a project with someone like a relative (which is a bad call to begin with) I take more time than I need to make it seem like it takes longer. I can do a good looking page from scratch in an afternoon and 1-2 more days for whole package with logos and all. Its the rest surrounding it that is the time consuming part. With me the "opposite" effect is that people that are so computer illiterate and think all this is some magic thing so they are always surprised how fast I am.