That being said, I always have to find a happy medium between helping people for free and helping people for pay. After all, photography isn’t just a hobby, it’s how I try to make a living.

I have some people call me with the expectation that because I know their sister’s cousin’s uncle, I would be willing to shoot their 10 hour wedding, give them all the images fully-retouched on a CD, and donate a pint of blood in the their name — all for $400 or less.  Maybe they don’t understand how much work goes into the wedding photography, even after the wedding day is over.  Maybe they have zero in their budget for a photographer and it was just an afterthought.  Maybe they are just plain frugal and are looking for a “coupon” deal.  Whatever the reason, I always have to stand my ground with my prices and remind myself that I have to make a living too and that my photo skills are worth that much.

That’s not to say I don’t sometimes make exceptions and do photos for free, but I pick and choose and don’t discount my work.  It’s either free or it’s full price.  If it’s free, it’s a gift, otherwise it’s my business and you pay the set price.  I mean, you wouldn’t walk into Macy’s and look at the price tag, then ask for a half-price deal at the checkout counter, would you?  And, if you would, do you think they would give it to you just because your sister is friends with the manager’s cousin?

So, how do you deal with it when someone asks for or expects special prices or free service?  Do you ever do free services?  Discounts?  Leave a comment and let me know how you handle it.

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I remember in high school, I never had any money for going out to lunch. Of course, I could have brown bagged it, but how un-cool is that! Especially when all your friends are going off campus for fast food. At first, my friends would lend me a few bucks that I struggled to pay back. Finally, sensing my lack of funds, they just started buying my lunch. Hey, they were my friends and they loved me! But I always wished I could buy them lunch, and vowed that someday, I would be successful (rich) and would be the one buying lunch.

So, I’m not rich and probably never will be. Nor am I famous. I CAN buy lunch for a friend though, and that gives me some sense of satisfaction – but my whole idea on being successful has changed.

Success (to me anyway) isn’t about money or fame. It is about doing something you love, and doing it well. I like to think I’m a pretty good photographer and I love making people happy. I design web sites too, and it satisfies some techno-geek thing in me as well as helping out small business owners. So by my definition of success, I guess I’m pretty successful. But that’s not all!

I also love being a wife and mother, and despite a few mistakes along the way, I think I do a fairly good job too. I get no complaints from Mark on the wife part, but I have always wondered about how I was doing being a mom. It’s hard to tell. How do you know? When do you know? What criteria do you use to judge?

Leave a comment, and let me know your thoughts on success.

And, because any post is better with a picture, here is Miss Jane camping out on the clean laundry. She’s not too successful at choosing a sleeping spot, but she is quite successful at being a great wiener dog!

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Go check out some other “beachy” pics at

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