I realized about two months ago it was time to flex my thinking.
The hard fact is that I was retrenched from my job…
Thinking pragmatically, it is what it is – right?
The tricky part when faced with a bump in the road is how you deal with it.
Trust me there have been moments of doubt along the way, and yes, I’ve become a bit of an expert at second guessing myself.
There have been days when I’ve been down and struggled to get back to a positive mindset, but in the grand scheme of things I feel like I’ve been doing okay.
However, I am fortunate in that my biggest cheerleader has been behind me 100%. Judy has been an absolute rock!
Very supportive of where I am emotionally, kicks me into gear when I’m swirling in self-pity and always available to listen and provide guidance.
It is too easy to play the victim in this situation and hence the considerable focus on self-reflection to understand the full picture.
My role had been to save the company a significant amount of ongoing IT operational expense while setting them up for future success with the right type of flexible global infrastructure, and for this I was very successful.
But like most things either you fall out of favour, or your impact begins to lessen as you clear the major hurdles.
And so, after this reflective period I’m able to see the value of my contribution and feel good about the situation.
So, what’s next?
Interestingly, roles like the ones I’m looking for are few and far between in the job market in and around the greater Brisbane area.
Time to flex my thinking and broaden my thoughts on what I can do to earn money.
One of the first things I did was re-kick start my photography business.
I’m so happy that I did!
Not surprisingly, the universe is doing its job and began providing me with new clients from the beginning.
In the last two months I’ve had the opportunity to meet and photograph broad range of people from all walks of life. Each looking for a photographer to capture their essence to fulfil a specific need.
From an Olympian to an engineer, from family and group photos to new business start-ups and LinkedIn profiles.
Such a wide range of professional photography needs out there…
The most amazing thing of all is that I’m allowing myself to go with the flow. Not getting too far ahead of myself, but at the same time focusing on bringing out the best in the people that I photograph.
Using this time to flex has also enabled me to help provide guidance and in some measure instil a level of confidence in the people I’ve been able to photograph.
For many, who have never experienced a photoshoot I think it’s important that I help guide them through this process and help them shine.
Many people are nervous when having their photographs taken so it’s been important for me to talk about the best possible outcomes and usage of the photos post shoot while at the same time instilling confidence in them.
One of the methods I’ve used to great effect have been posing cards.
Asking them to review these posing cards prior to the photoshoot so that understand and identify the types of images and poses that they want from the session has been amazing.
Prior to the photoshoot we discuss these looks and the outfits that they want to use.
In many cases I’ve also spent time on location prior to the photoshoot gathering places that I think would be optimal for the best types of shots.
I then marry these up against the person being photographed, and although I’m not tied to any of these it provides an excellent opportunity for a discussion with the participant.
Over the course of a one-hour photoshoot I often take in excess of 500 photos.
I generally use a high-speed setting with up to 10 shots per second so that I capture each movement as the subject moves within the shot.
Clearly, the challenging part is the post production curation process which, depending on the number of photos can take up to 48 hours to review and process.
This obviously depends on the volume of other photoshoots I have on the calendar.
Fortunately for me if I wasn’t able to take the time to self-reflect and flex my thinking I would still likely be cycling around in my head without a way forward.
Life presents these moments for us to step beyond our comfort zone to move forward, and in many cases provide us with the opportunity to reinvent ourselves.
I think I’ve lost count of the number of times over the course of my lifetime that I’ve had to flex and reinvent myself in some form.
However, this time it’s been a different experience as I’ve had the love and support of my gorgeous wife Judy.
Until next week
Ciao!
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