I pushed myself harder in the last year than I have in a while.

  On September 26th, 2022, I lost my Father. He was put to rest a week later. In the two week time, of Dad being in the hospice, Dad passing away, and Dad’s funeral, I had 5 weddings, 2 engagements shoots on location with weather-delay issues, and 2 senior portraits to shoot, and a contract job’s products to shoot at their studio 25 miles away, every weekday, to schedule appointments, plans talks on the phone around the clock, take on new business, etc… in addition to normal things, sleeping and eating gas station food to get me through, in addition to prepping my notes for each event, back-up the images to multiple SSD drives, recharging all my equipment, process all the files, cull the images, upload each wedding to servers, in addition to having to deal with agencies’s server, which makes me have to re-upload the images multiple times, (& their customer service sucked to the max!!) because their server apparently can’t count files accurately!!!!, making my life far more stressful, as I show up to a client’s home/hotel, keeping a positive attitude, without showing a bit of emotion from what I was going through, because that would be unprofessional for those who paid a fair amount of money for my service. At one point, I was expecting a call from a manager at an agency, who happen to have the same first name as the Bride for an upcoming wedding..  When I heard The Bride say Hi..  this is:……..  I thought I was talking to someone else!  Oops..! This manager and I know each other pretty well, and I started to go into the stress and all the stuff I was being hit in addition to the funeral, even stating that I was overwhelmed. (Oops!!)  Imagine being “The Bride” and your photographer is having a breakdown while they are just planning on talking about the plans for the big day…!  Ooops!  yeah…  with me getting emotional….etc…  before realizing that the Bride for my upcoming weekend wedding was on the phone with me…..duh…. I felt terrible…  I really went out of my way to hide all of that from everyone…  & I apologized for that. After taking a 5 minute break, we spoke, and that was the last of that. I moved forward.  

 It was a tough time.  

  But I was tougher. I still managed to get everything done in time for the deadline, minus the issues with the Agency which took several weeks to resolve. My initial attempts to upload were all on time, & I delivered some awesome results. 

 After things settled down, I was able to take a much needed break. Everything is good…  I’m happy..  well-rested, lost a few lbs..  even bought some new gear that I want to try out!  :-)  

   2022 was a great year for me & my business. I was looking forward to my “Christmas Season”…  which for me, is typically: September-October. That is when I am booked solid….and have been for the last several years, often taking on 2-3 weddings a weekend, but nobody can predict the passing of a loved one, in the middle of the most stressful and busy time, making their life even more challenging. In addition to my work, I still have a family, and our needs come first, and I still had to help with the arrangements, etc.. all while I was getting text messages from clients, associates, spammers & scammers, etc..  in the middle of the service for Dad..  sigh…  

   I’m glad that is all over, and I am mounting my comeback..!  :-)  

  With my never-ending, ongoing-education in photography, and things related that are always always evolving, I’ll have to blog about some of the lessons I’ve learned & issues that came up in the last season, as well as thinking up more ways to help those looking to plan a wedding for the first time..! …..or…  even…..you know…if you can’t succeed the first time….. keep trying.. :-) 

More to come!  

  JP

  BTW, I still have dates available for 2024, and am presently booking 2025 & 2026.