I used to be CEO of a charity but retired very early to devote my time to looking after my 3 kids who have disabilities and special needs. I decided I'd had enough and it meant my better half can work and do what she loves - she's an emergency nurse.
I'm not artistic but I had a desire to create, I just didn't know what, and then I realised I could take photography further now I had the time to properly learn how it all works. I find it a bit difficult though as I love taking pictures of people not things, I've tried taking pics of places, landscapes, buildings, objects, but it just does nothing for me, I think it's because I feel that someone else can come along and make the same picture and probably better, and it's hard to interact with the subject. With people I can create something unique in that moment and I enjoy the conversations and relationships around the pictures.
The problem is I live in rural Devon and my family and neighbours are bored of me and my camera now, and it's hard to find new subjects! I'm dabbling with street photography, I get a bit of a buzz pressing the shutter release when the subject doesn't know, so I will see where it goes. Maybe a black eye and broken nose...
For me photography is absolutely a creative release, as a full time career life is very mundane, boring, mentally draining and ultimately not the best of lives or something anyone would ever choose to do. I used to get very emotional about it all and feel there must be more to life and have a real need to do something more fulfilling. Not instead, but as well, but with my kids it's basically impossible to work. I do a little voluntary work as I've found some organisations who can make use of my charity experience, but I don't get much pleasure from it these days.
Photography has quite literally changed my life. Not just the picture making, I enjoy learning, reading, watching videos, getting it wrong, researching, it's all part of the experience for me. In the near future I plan on launching a new project making portraits for families with children with disabilities and life limiting conditions, all for free - I couldn't charge them even if they could afford to buy the pics. I was going to try to do loads of 'fundraising stuff' to get the money to pay for the printing, but I hate fundraising and it won't guarantee the money to pay for the prints, so I'm hoping I'll be good enough to attract paying clients so I can use the profit from their sessions and prints to pay for my special families.
So that's me, although I guess I don't answer your question as I don't have a job as such!
