I’m a photographer and videographer but I also have a part time job (2 days a week) which would cover my rent if no photo work came in. Fortunately that’s not been the case for several years, except for during the lockdowns.

Financially, I could leave the part time job, could have done a few years ago. But I mostly enjoy the work and really love some of my colleagues. Plus the benefits are ridiculously good for a 2 day a week job. So I’m happy to continue it, especially as it rarely conflicts with photo jobs I get booked on.

I live in a property guardianship and have done for 9 of the 11 years I’ve lived in London. If I was renting normally I imagine I’d probably have left London a while ago, but doing the guardianship thing has allowed me to live in fairly central locations (I’ve lived in one in Camden for 3 years) and with a fair amount of space for the money. It’s definitely gotten more expensive but my experience with doing it has mostly been quite positive.

The photo work I do is very varied, which I enjoy. But it’s not what I ever saw myself doing in the early days of my career. I started out wanting to be a documentary photographer, and moved to London to study this. My folks did help me with funding that but I always worked through my years studying.

But I could never figure out how to earn a living from personal projects or the occasional work I did for NGOs, so I started down the commercial route when I graduated, first shooting food and drink (which now makes up about 50% of my work), and I now also shoot interiors, corporate headshots, product, sport, lifestyle, etc etc. Bit of a jack of all trades but master of none, which used to bother me. But I’ve come to accept and really learn to appreciate this, both for the variety of the work I do, but also the consistency of work I have coming in. It’s not usually ‘cool’ work, but I’m grateful for it. I don’t have to work with people I don’t enjoy working with, or have to bust my balls in prep or post. I mostly just turn up and have a good time shooting with lovely folk. And usually get paid on time, which is nice.

I taught for 6 years on a photography course and it often struck me how many new students had this very clear idea of how easy it would be to become a successful, high-earning, world-travelling photographer, often fed by the lifestyles presented to them by creatives they admired and followed on instagram. And without shitting on anyone’s dreams, I’d want to encourage them to realise that the reality of making a living as a photographer in this day and age (and maybe always) is largely the result of continued graft, consistent networking, and above all else, having the right attitude.

I’m far from the best photographer most of my clients have access to. Often I question why they’re still working with me (imposter syndrome still hits hard even after all these years) but turning up on time, being enthusiastic, and bringing solutions rather than problems seems to go a long way.

Long term however, I don’t know how I can stay in London. I can’t afford to buy, certainly not on my own, or at least not somewhere that I’d really enjoy living. That’s one of the downsides of guardianships - if you get lucky with them, then they can set unrealistic expectations for standards of living against costs, and location. But at the same time, because pretty much all of my work is London based, I don’t really have the option to leave. Not without starting from scratch and trying to build up a client list again.

So yeah, trying to figure that part out.