The Decision To Not Work Together

There seems to be an ever increasingly popular "trend" of couple wedding photographers. So many photography studios these days seem to be made up of a husband and wife team. And to be honest, there are lots of times where I sure am jealous!! I'd love the chance to work with my husband on weekends, to spend our Saturday's together, to steal a dance or two on the dancefloor.

And there was a time that Dave and I did in fact work together. Did you know that when I first started out Dave was my right hand man. He helped me grow my business, was my second shooter and helped balance my Quickbooks. (Who am I kidding....he still helps me balance my Quickbooks;)0.

But as the business grew I kept relying more and more on Dave for certain things. Eventually we had to sit down together and have "the talk." I remember asking him if he wanted to be a part of my business, to take on more responsibility, to shoot with me every weekend. Dave loved shooting but it wasn't his passion. And it wasn't fair of me to ask him to do something his heart just didn't want and then go and work a full time weekday job.

We made the decision that I would go it solo, as in we wouldn't move forward as a husband and wife team. It can be really easy sometimes to follow the trend, to copy what others are doing. And I've been tempted to do just that. It sure can seem very appealing to tempt my husband into becoming a husband and wife team. But ultimately we had to make a decision that was best for our family. And what was best for our family was to have separate careers doing what we loved. For me it is photography, for Dave it's being an engineer.

So where does that leave me? Well instead of working with my husband I pull together a team of photographers to work with throughout the season. And Dave gets to spend his free Saturdays playing with our baby and watching copious amounts of college football in the fall. This is what works for us. I absolutely love working with the people I have had the chance to work with. I love spending my Saturday's celebrating with my clients and bustin' a move or two with my second photographers on the dance floor.

We may not be a team of two when it comes to my business. But we sure do work together as a team when it comes to our family. Do I wish sometimes that Dave was my right hand man again? Sure! But I'll leave him to do what he loves best: being all smart and engineer-y and lovin' on our son!