Article written by Dawn Norris, of Be Youtiful Boudoir

Somewhere and at some point a few years into this profession and addiction, something changed, a seismic shift occurred…  It got busy, out of control, and the art of photography got left behind kind of like the way things start to look in the kitchen when you are in the midst of creating a culinary masterpiece for family during the hectic insanity of Thanksgiving serving 20 plus people.  I started to loose the passion for the art of photography and got stuck in the morass of measurements, pleasing the guests, and the stress, let’s not even go there!

Then, several months ago, late at night in my 2,200 square foot dream studio located in an old mill building on a raging river in Amesbury, Massachusetts, I had enough – it was 2:30 a.m. and for the umpteenth night in a row I was there – with my loyal guard dog – hungry (who has time to eat when they are running a photography business), exhausted (ditto), not at home, not with my four year old twin girls at bath time, and having not kissed my husband goodnight in weeks – that was my “aha moment”…  To my peers I was becoming a local hero – I had the gorgeous studio, the clients, the volume of work, the staff, and I was MISERABLE.  I lost my life, my friendships with those outside the photography world and worst of all, myself.   If I didn’t change things soon my life and my art would be lost forever.  Yep, pretty dramatic and I felt every ounce of artistic heartache at the mere thought of having to leave it all behind but then again, I was already at the beck and call of the clients, my staff, and my time was no longer mine.  The art of photography had turned into a systematized chaos of cranking out images for clients that no longer seemed like friends and more like enemies or needy children that were all suffering from colic at the same time.

I had to ask the question of myself in the five minutes of quiet time I could wrangle out of the 24 hours of the day: How do I make it stop?!

After weeks of trying to listen to my heart I heard an answer – take a sabbatical – go back to the basics and get my life back in order.  So I did – but not by leaving the entire photography world behind, especially not after seven years of hard work!  I am addicted to this incredible profession after all.  I knew I wanted to work – but lighter volume, lighter work flow, and in a way that made an impact on both my creativity and my subjects.  I desired a true sabbatical and the goal was to get back to the (he)art of photography.  I wanted to seek out the best photographers to learn from, travel a little, create more, push myself artistically and technically, and separate myself from the pack of newbie competitors who were subverting me on price alone.  Oh – and getting my life back was a given!  I made a plan to focus on ONE specialty in my existing photographic offerings: BOUDOIR.  If I was going to be creative with lighting, posing, and true beauty – I might as well do it in an area where my heart sang and recently these sessions were filling that desire – I could give women a once-in-a-lifetime experience, be creative with lighting and posing, feel great about the work I was creating, be an ambassador of support for women in general, and I could do fewer sessions which would free me up to get my personal life back in order.

I treated myself to both a workshop with The Boudoir Divas AND a my own boudoir session with The Boudoir Divas.  These two steps got me started on the right path – everything changed after this trip to the holy grail of boudoir education!  I was inspired by Kimberlee and Marissa and the other workshop attendees.  I jumped in and asked all the questions I could, I pushed myself when working with the models, and I made a new business plan by looking at all the mistakes I made running my own studio previously.  I also made a refreshed commitment to myself to start with me – my own boudoir session.  I could feel stunningly beautiful for the day and give back to myself so I could give back to my clients, my friends and my family.  Why not have the same thing that took the life out of me give my life back to me?!

When I returned from the workshop I didn’t obsess about the millions of things I was going to change and do – I just committed to one thing: living my life through my art NOT by my art.  I had announced my sabbatical to clients prior to departing for San Diego, made a plan, got to spend time with my non-photography friends again, and most of all I got to reconnect with my husband and children.  I felt like I had it all without loosing it all.

I leveraged an offer from a local boutique hotel to use their rooms for my boudoir sessions occasionally and found two gorgeous gals to model for me for a few hours one day.  I asked my assistant to join us.  The models were tickled pink with the results and I felt like I got my artistic groove back!  You know when you can actually breathe life into your images, the clients have your attention, your dedication and skills are in every – single – image.  What I also discovered by letting go of the chaos was that other opportunities presented themselves to me in the very area I wanted to delve deeper into with boudoir.  Partnerships with local business began to come to me, seek me out, better clients found me (and dare I say it: appreciated me!), and I found the (he)art again in both my work and my personal life.

Our industry is ripe with chaos – we can buy in or try it a different way.  Having it all means balance now – not being the photographer who does it all but does it well, in one or two related specialty areas in a committed dedicated artistic way.  We owe it to ourselves as photographers and our clients who seek us out to do right by them and create art not snapshots.  I became the photographer who can love her art and her life – now that is truly having it all.

Dawn’s photography business resides in Massachusetts.  Check out her Boudoir International listing by clicking HERE