Every online photography guru I’ve ever listened to will tell you that you have to choose one direction in photography. Not because you can’t or shouldn’t dabble in other genres but because it’s easier for your potential clients, as well as your fans, to find you and want to hire you. So I chose to stick to portraits. Very quickly I learned that that decision was a mistake. Not only was I struggling to get clients as a portrait photographer but I was rapidly losing my joy and passion for photography. It’s time to make a change.

While I only started Patricia Gakis Imagery in 2020, I had already been doing lots of portrait work both as part of a studio and freelance photographer in the 2010’s. When I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease in 2019, I turned to photography and music for healing and yes, for a few dollars. I knew it was going to be difficult. Everyone and their dog does portrait photography now. Some are good but I see a lot of bad online. And always very expensive. So I thought I could jump this hurdle by offering quality photos at good price. I was very wrong.

One problem for me is that I’m not really a social kind of person. I’m an odd ball and us odd ducks don’t have and aren’t really able to make strong personal networks that, in theory, then lead to other people. That’s not to say that I haven’t had any help. I’m very appreciative of my friends and family who have taken me up on offers of photo sessions and who have passed my name on. I will never forget that! Of course, there are limits and I reached that fairly quickly.

Okay, at this point, you’re probably yelling at me virtually through the screen saying that I just need to get on social media. It’s not as simple as it sounds though. Once your friends list/followers know that you’re available, your job has only just begun. Finding a new group of people to target is tough. Social media companies have become obsessed with algorithms and even if someone is following your page/account/channel, not everyone is going to see your posts. It makes no sense but that’s what the frustrated social media managers have shown us small businesses in countless talks.

Getting around those algorithms is possible but even there, I struggled a lot. I joined numerous Facebook groups and posted comments all of Instagram as well as doing targeted advertising with little to show for it. In fact, many moderators in various Facebook groups made it impossible for me to post anything yet I’d see similar ads from other photographers (and music teachers.) I have no idea what I was doing wrong because when I’d contact the moderators privately, I was shut out. It’s too much for anyone to deal with let alone for someone living with chronic pain. It was grinding me down mentally, emotionally, and even physically.

I’ll always be available for portraits. I have no plans what so ever to sell off my lighting and background kits but I need to find my eye again; my way of the world again. I’m a person who is passionately curious about the world around her. Being an odd duck means that I see things differently and that’s what I intend to share with everyone. I’m not sure exactly where this will or can go but it’s a journey that I’m excited about and I haven’t been excited about photography in a long time. It’s time to do things my way!

So, here’s a taste of what I’ve been working on this summer: