Lockdown long game
Lockdown from COVID-19 is something none of us saw coming. We’re living through a pandemic and it’s utterly terrifying. I’ve slipped through the cracks of the government help but I’m not worried since I have a steady income through book cover photography.
In fact, I gave up book cover photography last October and was making my way through a new career path as a unit stills photographer. Scary but exciting. Then I was about to do a job for the Discovery Channel when the lockdown was announced. I felt so much gratitude for my long game of book cover photography because I was still getting decent statements every month, easily enough to cover my outgoings. I’m not going to bitch that I don’t fit any of the government handouts, I don’t need them and others do.
After speaking to many photographers over the years, professional and amateurs I’ve noticed a very clear pattern. I rarely meet a photographer with a ‘long game’.
A long term plan, I’m talking YEARS not weeks.
When I started book cover photography I wanted to be able to take a break after 5 years without losing any income, that it would passively keep running in the background. So if I wanted to travel for 6 months, for example, I could without money worries. That was ALWAYS my goal. Up until that point, I had been putting out fires, doing small jobs here and there and wondering why I was never saving any money and why I was always struggling. I blamed everyone but myself for a little while. I was flat out exhausted all the damn time. I promptly humbled up and watched a course on money rather than photography. It was life-changing from there. I needed a long game. So I started my plan and worked on nothing else, I hustled purely for that goal and nothing else.
It worked, in less than my original 5 years. I stopped book cover photography last October and am still easily covering my outgoings, investing some money and putting money into a SIPP also. I’m not really well off, I’m not ‘rich’ but I’m comfortable and not panicking. Yet.
My long game really paid off and I only realised this after speaking to my partner about creatives long game patterns. I had a proper internal proud moment, which as any fellow creative reading this knows are very very rare moments. We are our own worst critics and strive always for something better. But dammit I’m proud!
I encourage every photographer, hell any creative, to really really think about their long game. Dedicate yourself to it and shush away all the side fluff that might come along.
Now when the lockdown is over I can dive right into my next long game, a career I thought was a pipe dream. I cannot wait but I’m not panicking in between.