[Photo Jen]

..or maybe mid-life crisis (can that happen when you're only 30?)

Anyhow, I love taking portraits, but my portrait sessions are not fulfilling for me. There isn't really any part of it that excites me except for when I view the photos and find a good one. I am burnt out with small children who won't listen and the parents who are upset with them, and then the hours of editing the same faces in every picture is quite boring. I don't charge a lot and I don't think I could get away with charging much more because my pictures are just not what they should be, lighting wise. When I do studio shots I only have one small light, and when I do natural light, I don't have an external flash to fill in the light so I am always hiding my subjects in the shadows and then turning up my ISO which makes the photos grainy.
What I do love is just taking photos of whatever I want, and not having to please anyone except myself, whether it be portraits (non-comissioned), nature, animals or landscapes.
I have yet to sell a fine-art print, but I do have an online store set up.
This started out as a hobby for me, and because I am a stay-at-home mother, and I don't want a career, I've never decided how far I wanted the portrait thing to go for me.

I feel like I'm at a fork in the road. I can start buying more equipment to make my portraits better (of course I'd have to save my session money to do so, which means I have to just keep doing what I'm doing), and I still don't think it'd be very fulfilling for me. Or, I can stop doing portraits so I can focus on getting better at what I love instead, but I won't have any money to work with to get more equipment for that unless I start selling prints.

What would you do, if you were me? Have you had to make a similar decision with photography?

Thanks!

-Jen

[Dabhand16]

Welcome to Pixalo Jen

I don't think you are alone, many (most?) photographers go through this sort of dilemma/doldrums.

However - your first sentence is 'Anyhow, I love taking portraits...', so your frustrations must be due to the results you are getting and the time taken to achieve them.

One think you can do to improve your lighting, both studio and with natural light is to use a reflector. You can get the 5 in 1 type on e-bay quite cheaply, or you can make your own from white card and/or card with tinfoil wrapped around it. I don't know what editing you are doing, but this can be cut down by getting the shot right, or more-or-less right in the camera.

Like you, I can please myself on what I shoot, but as soon as you step over the line where you are trying to make some money from your photography, it puts things in a different light (if you'll pardon the pun).

As far as feeling that you are in a rut, I bet that your portrait sessions are repetitious and you are getting the same shots/poses in most of them. You don't say what age ranges you are dealing with, but having a range of props/toys available and also trying to treat each session individually and varying the situation(s) you are putting your 'sitters' is perhaps the key to variety.

I think that rather than spending money on more equipment you would be better doing a course of some description, perhaps lighting, and this will improve your results to a much greater extent.

You can always post some pictures of your own kids (or others if you have the necessary release/permission) and get feedback/tips/advice on what could be done to improve them.

[AQ]

Hi there and welcome

From your post it sounds as if you are trying to solve this on your own. That is never the easy way to do it. I think you would benefit by meeting other photographers and getting some hands on coaching.

Dabhands advice about a course is very good and worth following.

You do not say where you are but perhaps there is a local studio that allows group sessions that you could get to and meet others who have the same interest as you.

What about a local photographic club. There may be some people there who you could talk to and who would help you.

Most importantly do not let these temporary problems put you off something that you love doing.

[Gary Bagshawe]

All brilliant advice above. One thing you may want to try on the available light shots is maybe make the grain work for you as to against you. Convert to b&w and get a really moody looking shot.
Try lots of different things and most of all ENJOY it.