Am I really cut out for this...
Once upon a time, my photos hung on giant billboards in down town Brussels. Now, my phone pings at 2 a.m. with volleyball selfies from co-workers I’ve never met. This is the strange reality of my “day job,” and why I dream daily about trading it in for something that actually makes sense.
For years my bread and butter [almost literally] was depending on photography.
I've seen my work on display on the biggest billboards at the train stations in Brussels.
I've even worked with luxury watch brands.
One would imagine such a high level of clients would also pay for sparkles and caviar.
But as a matter of fact it didn't.
Truth of the matter is that just before the pandemic broke loose it was already a struggle to keep the photo business alive.
Cause over the years my special niche became flooded with hobbyists.
Hobbyists who already had a steady income from a complete normal job.
Hobbyists who were more than happy to sell [give away] their images for a byline.
These days I do photos for fun and have a "day job". At least that is how I choose to look at it.
There are so many other things I'd like to do instead.
Most of them cling on to the creative sides of life.
Such as landscaping, painting, writing, and maybe take up professional photography again.
Not all surprising since it seems I descend from a fine line of painters, carpenters and such.
My grandma was like the Taylor Swift of her days. Being a well renowned singer and song writer.
Her sister wrote poems.
My dad wrote poems, he was also a genius in most things creative.
He also spoke at least six languages fluently, and could easily swop in between US and British English in like a split second.
The language thing combined with some other stuff are all clues pointing to the direction of him being some kind of intelligence officer during the late 70s and early 80s.
Back to work
Anyhow, this was supposed to be about my day job.
It is a bit boring. But since I spend most of my workdays driving in between clients, it is not like I work myself to death.
While driving I listen to podcasts.
What I listen to? Mostly true crime.
But what I cannot seem to figure out is how ALL communication in between me, my bosses and co-workers is run via Whatsapp!
Let me tell you this, it is driving me crazy!
Cause some [most of them] of my co-workers, read people I never even met, have no boundaries.
They can send photos of themselves playing volley boll, visiting a football game or whatever.
ANY time of the day, or night I might add.
Seven days a week!!!
So the whys, and the hows are so many I don't know where to begin.
Even more weird, bizarre actually, is the fact I never hear from my bosses.
Unless proven otherwise, I will assume that's actually a good thing!
Even so, I did not have any kind of contact with my closest manager for THREE WEEKS. That cannot be normal...
But these things make me drift away and daydream. I daydream about the future, and a slight possibility of quitting my day job and do something else.
Let's start with the B&B, and take it from there. B&B = almost done!
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