I’ve never been a girl to do anything the easy way…
7 years ago, after turning 30 and realising I needed more from my life than just my day job, I set up a small photography business and started photographing people – portraits and weddings mostly. The last 7 years have been an incredibly steep learning curve – 30 or so weddings, countless numbers of couple and family portrait sessions, figuring out how to run a business from accounts to admin to workflow to packaging and beyond, as well as continuing my training to become a Paramedic, moving house, getting married… it really has been a bonkers few years!
But changes are coming… the hubby and I have made a huge decision to emigrate to Canada in the next couple of years. We’ve started the process of form-filling and planning and I’ve come to realise something pretty big for me. After dedicating almost half my life to working for the Ambulance Service, I’ve decided a career change is what I need. So why not use this emigration to affect such a change?
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been doing a lot of soul-searching, thinking and discussing with family and friends and, in the last week, I have come to a decision… I have signed up to start studying for a degree. Specifically, a BA Arts & Humanities (Creative Writing) with the Open University.
This decision comes on the back of one particular thought – as much as I love being a photographer, capturing amazing people with my camera, I know I still don’t want to make it my full-time profession. I’ve always worried that, by making it my main profession, I would start to lose the love for it and that is something I just couldn’t deal with. Photography has been such a massive part of my life for almost 20 years now, I’d like it to continue to be for many more years yet.
So, why have I deviated from my usual blog posts, sharing my work, to tell you all this? Well, firstly, I want you all to know that, while all this is going on, Sarah Wayte Photography will be continuing. I’ll still be photographing people in the only way I know how. I’ll still be booking weddings and portrait sessions and personal work just as often as I possibly can.
And, secondly, because Sarah Wayte Photography is going through a change as well. You won’t see it straight away (I’m working on it behind the scenes currently!), but the website is going to be changing pretty massively. Currently, it’s geared very much towards wedding and portrait photography and I’ve decided that this is not the be-all and end-all of my business and I want my website to reflect that.
Ultimately, I’m a photographer. Taking photographs in just about any capacity is what I love to do. People are my focus – whether that’s family sessions, portrait shoots, couple shoots, boudoir, weddings and beyond. But I also have a love of capturing images on my travels and sharing that work.
So yeah…! Expect some big changes round here in the coming months as I figure out exactly what I’m doing. This feels like an exciting time for me and I can’t wait to share more with you all. In the meantime, I hope you’ll all bear with me and continue to follow my crazy little journey. And, as always, if you’re looking for a photographer then you know where to come! 😉