A day in a life of a full-time photographer with kids

I figured that since I ask you to get vulnerable with me prior to our photos, that I need to share more of my life and get personal with you here too! After all, we are all human and we share similar experiences and daily struggles, no matter what we do for work.

Let me just start off my saying that everything I have is the result of a lot of perseverance and a pinch of luck. Sometimes I feel like I am behind and sometimes I am soaring.

Today has been a super busy summer Monday as an entrepreneur and a mother. I took my two boys (12 and 10) to basketball camp early and I headed home to get work done.

I started by answering client emails. I think Mondays tend to be busy for all of us and the weekend sort of puts a lot of pressure to get things done. I often find myself answering questions, sending out new proposals and making new client friends on most Mondays. It’s a good feeling being busy, it means I am thriving as an entrepreneur and a creative. This makes me incredibly happy and I feel like I am successful when I am busy like this.

Today I had a client call with a potential elopement couple and was able to help them plan out their special day. They are from out of town so they needed some suggestions on places to stay while they are in town, vendors for floral and hair, and an officiant. I love feeling like I’m able to take some of the stress off of planning a huge undertaking. That made me feel really good.

I sent some outfit inspiration to another client who just booked a themed couples shoot with me. I offer up to two locations and two outfits for all my couples shoots. We can always add on more hours and spots/outfit changes too, The sky is the limit! We ended up adding a third outfit, because we booked a shoot for three locations all within a few miles of each other. We are going to start at the fort, then go to the picturesque Magnolia Street with all the hanging moss, and finish up at the beach right during sunset.

I was trying to organize and manage my money as an entrepreneur. I have been taking some finance courses which I watch mostly while I cook or eat and they made me very conscious about saving money and paying down all my debts. I still have a school loan that needs to be paid down and I have quite a few credit cards because the end of 2022 was no very kind to me and a lot of unexpected expenses came up. I had to repair some photography equipment, replace all four tires, and pay for an extended hospital stay for my skinny pig. That’s a guinea with no hair, by the way!

I spent about an hour assigning a couple of tasks to my virtual assistant. Her name is Aiza and she lives in the Philippines. I am so fortunate to be able to provide a work-from-home position to a mother overseas who helps me feel less overwhelmed in my own business.

In a blink, it was time to load up my eight year old daughter and head back to get the boys from camp. I learned that my oldest had his temporary tooth crown knocked out during play so I had to drop everything and schedule an early appointment for him for the very next day.

After dropping off the kids at home, I headed dinner groceries shopping. I am very bad at planning my meals ahead and it’s something I need to work on. It doesn’t help that my neighborhood Publix (grocery store) is directly across the street and I am incredibly spoiled to be able to load my cart within a few minutes of leaving the house.

My kids are picky just like any other kids and there are literally five meals they ALL agree on so I don’t spend too much time being creative with dinner on the days we have them. We are remarried and a blended family, so for half the week, the kids go to their other parents’ house and I get to make gourmet meals for myself. My husband does not like veggies of any kind, so he is just as picky as my children. :-P

Finally, I got home and cooked dinner - steak and chicken, mac n cheese, fruit. Just as I was about to wind down with a glass of wine after accomplishing only 1/25 of my tasks for the day - my daughter reminded me that we are supposed to see the new Little Mermaid and have a girls night.

Off to the theater we went! I loved the movie and thought it was well done. I may have teared up in a couple spots because I was reminiscing being nine and falling in love with Ariel. As an adult, I realized that Ursula was always my favorite Disney villain, and I was amazed by how well her character was portrayed as well.

I got home, helped put the kids to bed. I was ready to call it a night when I realized I haven’t spent any time with my husband all day!!! So we stayed up until eleven playing Diablo IV together. I probably would have stayed up longer because I’m a night owl, but I had a sunrise shoot the next morning…

I am not sure whether I took enough breaths all day LOL but I know these moments will be missed one day and I am going to soak them in as much as I can now.

Leave me a comment if you enjoy reading these kind of documentary posts about me! I would love to hear from you.