When it rains, it pours!

Im angry. Im mad. Im pissed. Seriously. I have recently found out that another photography studio in my area has taken one of my ideas and run with it. Theyre even advertising it with girls that have been to one of the events I organized.

I was an idea that I couldn’t possibly patent so there was always a chance that someone would get wind of it and do it themselves but now it as actually happened Im mad. Really fucking mad.

I no longer have my photography studio which is, I guess, the underlying reason why I am so pissed off. Due to rising rent prices, an argument with my landlord about rain (long story. I shall explain), the beginning of a relentless recession and the tight fisted joe public who always want something for nothing, I closed my doors of the studio and went freelance once again. Im still doing weddings which are the bane of my existence but at least Im still behind the camera now and again. I miss my studio so much even though the roof leaked and it was freezing in winter, I miss the freedom and the creativity it gave me.

The argument with the landlord was because the roof was leaking. He refused to fix it saying and I quote “it only leaks when it rains one kind of rain”. See now please excuse me for my ignorance but I thought that there was only one type of rain. I thought rain just fell from the sky and got you wet but apparently there is more than one type and one of those types caused the roof to leak. Go figure! So because of this, when my lease ended, rather than renewing it and getting into the battle of the rain once again, I walked away, almost dry and with £10 000 worth of camera equipment that is now in storage (well most of it)

The announcement of a recession didn’t help. People did tighten their belts and we got less calls from people wanting me to do pictures in the studio. No point in having one when Im doing pictures out of it right? The people who were coming through the door became increasingly frustrating wanting ridiculous discounts, free prints and generally got on my nerves. I constantly found myself wanting to scream at them “ Im a business not a fucking charity”. I am a good photographer, scrap that, Im an excellent photographer and I do not rip people off. Maybe that’s why the studio on its own didn’t survive. One nationwide studio charges ridiculous prices for their photography and Im constantly hearing horror stories about what theyre asking for framed prints, so much so that I made a promise to myself and my customers when I opened my studio that I wouldn’t rip them off and there would be no hard sell but maybe that’s where I went wrong.

Finding a new place for my studio has been hard. Rents are high and I cant justfy setting up somewhere new right now. I havent ruled out that one day I will find the perfect place but until then I remain studio-less and constantly getting flyers through my door advertising other studios who have now cottoned on to one of the services I offered. Even though I know its completely irrational, I just feel like Im having my nose rubbed in it.