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How much of your personal life do you share? (Follow up to long ago question)
ssimmonsphoto
Registered Users Posts: 424 Major grins
Hi, all. I've been a long time lurker and infrequent poster. Last year I asked the ladies on the board how they handled being pregnant while being a wedding photographer. Everyone's response was extremely helpful and definitely helped my husband and I a lot. Well, all these months later, and I am two months away from having our first kiddo. Logistically, it's perfect timing for my business and I won't have any weddings to cancel because of it (end of April due date). So, obviously, we're thrilled.
But, now I have a new question for everyone that is based around that.
How much of your personal life do you share with the "world" (via your business blog, Facebook page, etc.)?
The reason I ask is relatively simple (in my mind). The majority of my clients for this year know that I am pregnant, but it has not been something that I have openly shared outside of consultation meetings with them. I know that I will be photographing my baby a ton when they are finally here and am planning to use the photos to build my portfolio. In my mind, making an official announcement of sorts that I am pregnant, such as a blog post, is perfectly acceptable and almost expected. My husband (and opinionated father in law) thinks that I should never mention it at all and only worry about it when talking to my 2012 couples who will be effect by it (such as me needing to pump, etc.). In my mind, my couples trust me with the most important day of their life and I get to know them very well in the process and, thus, they should be in the loop. I follow other photographers on Facebook who have been open with the fact that they are pregnant. I think I'd be put off if a photographer never even mentioned such a life changing event and all of the sudden had a kid. :dunno
What are your thoughts?
But, now I have a new question for everyone that is based around that.
How much of your personal life do you share with the "world" (via your business blog, Facebook page, etc.)?
The reason I ask is relatively simple (in my mind). The majority of my clients for this year know that I am pregnant, but it has not been something that I have openly shared outside of consultation meetings with them. I know that I will be photographing my baby a ton when they are finally here and am planning to use the photos to build my portfolio. In my mind, making an official announcement of sorts that I am pregnant, such as a blog post, is perfectly acceptable and almost expected. My husband (and opinionated father in law) thinks that I should never mention it at all and only worry about it when talking to my 2012 couples who will be effect by it (such as me needing to pump, etc.). In my mind, my couples trust me with the most important day of their life and I get to know them very well in the process and, thus, they should be in the loop. I follow other photographers on Facebook who have been open with the fact that they are pregnant. I think I'd be put off if a photographer never even mentioned such a life changing event and all of the sudden had a kid. :dunno
What are your thoughts?
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Comments
www.tednghiem.com
To that point, if you were going to be leaving the country for two months, you'd mention it and explain that you won't be answering email/calls regularly because you'll be away, and then you'd probably post a couple of pictures when you got back... because you're a photographer. I understand that having a baby is a MAJOR life change whereas vacations are temporary, but in either case you're out of pocket for a while and then excited about sharing some images from your new experiences... so I think your perspective is valid. I agree with Mr. Moogle... folks aren't really interested in hearing every little detail of the day-to-day - and it doesn't sound like that's what you plan to do - but I think you're right that it would be weird to keep it a complete secret to the world.
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I think this makes good business sense, people might wonder why your bookings are so low.
www.CottageInk.smugmug.com
NIKON D700
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