The times they are a-changin’

It’s hard to know where to start when thinking about the year we’ve just had, and how to look forward. There’ll be a billion other blog posts talking about how awful it’s been (which it has, for many of us), how our lives have changed, and mourning those we’ve lost.

And for those of us in the UK, we’ve had the double whammy of our government choosing to take us out of a 40-year partnership with our closest neighbours to instead try to go-it alone in some grotesque, xenophobic reminisensce of British Victorian colonialism and exceptionalism.

(There, now you know which side of that fence I’m on.)

But, for all the shittiness, there are good things too. And I like to remind myself of things that have gone well. It’s good for the soul.

So, what has this year brought for me that I’ll be carrying on into 2021?

Despite getting into a museum to do photography only once this year (a blissful day in August at Bolton Libraries and Museum), I’ve continued to make progress with my photography plans, and I have some new projects coming up as soon as it’s safe to do so (hooray!).

Back in March, when we first locked down, I started up a free group setting a few fun challenges to help members work on their photography skills and to give them something to do during lockdown that could be done from home or on our permitted time outdoors.

It was a small group of us, but it was fun, and it was confirmation that I can help other people gain enjoyment from their photography and use it as a way to bolster their wellbeing.

I have also really started to get my head around my ADHD and ASD (which was diagnosed only in the summer of 2019). I’ve had a few sessions with a specialist coach from Genius Within – which have been really quite helpful – and am hoping to get a few more in the New Year.

This may not seem that relevant to you, but learning how to create systems and strategies for organising myself and my business in ways that actually suit my neurodiverse brain will help me make my photography business more meaningful and engaging for you.

So, with that all said, here are my plans for the first part of 2021 (see it as me publically declaring my New Year resolutions).

New membership and support network launching

The life of the self-employed is a double-edged sword.

It’s amazing to have control over my working life, and to be doing something that I’m truly passionate about, rather than just working to pay my bills (which I did for more than 20 years). However, it’s also the life of a one-(wo)man-band. Not only do I have my actual work to do, I also have to be accountant, sales person, marketer, website designer, HR person, and general administrator.

And I’m doing all this whilst also living with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, ADHD, ASD and dyspraxia.

But, I love my work – collaborating with museums to photograph their artefacts, often in new and artistic ways. I think I’m quite good at it. And I know that there are those of you who enjoy my photography.

However, making a year-round living from it is tough. I’m self-funding; I don’t earn a salary from a museum or university. And it’s not a service that’s easy to just ‘sell’ by phoning around companies, touting for work. Museums are often cash-strapped and can only afford specialist photography when they win funding for an exhibition. And those only come around once a year (less, when there’s a global pandemic running rampant).

But these museums have collections with thousands of artefacts, and I want to be able to keep photographing them and sharing them with you. So, I’ve decided to pivot my photography business from being that of a service provider to being a creator and collaborator. An artist (which is what I think I’ve always been, anyway). And that’s where you come in.

As the photographer Jack Lowe said recently,

… if we were interested in a topic back in the day, what would we do? We’d subscribe to a magazine or join a membership club. Something like that.

So why not now?

This year has highlighted to me how people are willing to pull together and help each other out, and that they’re willing to pay – be it a few pounds for a lecture or a small, regular fee to a Patreon page – to help support self-employed artists and creators.

So, I’m asking for your support.

I’ve set up a page on Buy Me a Coffee (kinda like Patreon) where you can either sign up to become a member from £3.00 a month, or drop me a one-off tip of £3.00. I also have a supporter page here on my website where you can make a donation of any amount you wish. It doesn’t matter how big or small – I only want you to give if you’re able, and then only what you feel comfortable with – everything helps and is appreciated.

If you can’t afford anything at all, you can still support me by sharing my stuff online with your friends or putting something from my online shop on your birthday or Christmas wishlist.

My hope is that I can make at least some of my annual income from your support. That way, I can keep going into the museums and photographing artefacts, but I can do it in my own way and in my own time, rather than always being beholden to short time frames and sticking to specific artefacts for exhibitions.

And remember: your support doesn’t just support me. It also helps support the museums. They get copies of my photos that they can use online to help promote themselves and their collections. My photos also help make academic study from a distance easier, and allows us all to see objects that might not always be out on public display in museum galleries.

Photography challenges

Following on from the fun we had in the spring doing our photo challenges, I’ll be posting monthly challenges in the members’ area of my Buy Me a Coffee page (if you choose instead to set up a recurring donation on my website, I’ll email them to you). These are fun, totally optional, no-obligation challenges – often with a historical twist – designed to help you improve your photography.

I’ve found photography to be very therapeutic, especially for my mental health (which can often take a knock, particularly with the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) and I feel passionate about helping others benefitting like I have, especially during such uncertain times. Unlike other creative pursuits, you don’t need to buy equipment – we all have a camera in our pockets these days – and we can all work on photographic projects, even when confined to our homes.

Improving my online shop

As many of you may know, I have a store on my website. I use a print-on-demand supplier because buying and storing stock when you don’t have a bricks-and-mortar shop or warehouse is expensive, and gets me into trouble when the children find themselves tripping over boxes of stuff. When someone buys something from my shop, the print-on-demand company print the item and dispatch it for me, making the process efficient and environmentally friendly.

I’ve recently been reviewing my print-on-demand supplier. The company I currently use aren’t photography specialists, so I’ve sourced another company that have high-quality photographic papers in a variety of sizes. They also have print houses in several locations around the world. This not only further reduces the environmental footprint when you buy something from me, it also helps lower postage costs for many of you.

And, it mitigates any future problems or extra tariffs caused by Brexit.

So, over the coming weeks, you’ll see a better choice of prints, mugs and cushions in my store.

Annual book

Photos should be printed. Digital is great and accessible and cheap. But, there’s nothing quite like holding a printed book in your hand.

Because many of my photos are either used just digitally, or for a single museum exhibition, I want to start publishing my photos in books.

Digital printing has become good enough now that printing a relatively small number of books is not the vast expense it used to be. It’s also better suited – quality-wise – to printing photos than more traditional printing methods.

So, at the end of each year, I’m going to produce a book highlighting the photography I’ve done that year, which I’ll put on sale in my online shop. If you’re in my membership paying at least £10 a month, you’ll get a complimentary copy when it’s published.

Streamlining my social media

As a self-employed person, I feel pressure to be on all the big social media platforms. On Facebook, on Instagram, on Twitter, and even on LinkedIn. Every day.

This is OK for companies that employ marketers or social media teams. (Or for the extroverts who love spending loads of time bouncing between platforms.) But that’s not me. I’m one person with limited hours in the day. To try to be everywhere is … well, exhausting. And I end up spreading myself too thin.

So, I need to streamline.

And the way I’m going to do this is I’m not going to be posting on Facebook and Instagram and just focus my social media time on Twitter, where it’s easier to engage and get conversations going. Where we’re on an equal footing. I’m not going to delete my other pages right now; I just won’t be there much.

Why Facebook and Instagram? After all, Instagram is the place for photographers, right?

If you’ve never run a Facebook page or had an Instagram business account (which give you metrics on your views and reach), you perhaps don’t realise how much we’re shouting into the void. If I don’t spend advertising money with Facebook/Instagram, my posts will, on average, reach around 5–10% of those who follow me.

And Instagram, in particular, is awful for referring people back to my website. Followers and likes count for little if they don’t translate into solid support.

It’s galling to put so much effort into these places for so little return.

I’m not alone in this view, either; Jack Lowe wrote about his divorce from the Facebook family in the summer of 2020.

You could argue that the more places I’m in, the more people I reach, right? Well, I guess. But, my energy levels are limited, and if the time I’m spending there isn’t up to scratch, I’m just not going to make that connection with you. This way, I can concentrate my efforts to really do my best for you and make meaningful connections.

Alongside Twitter, I’ll be posting both public and member-only posts on Buy Me a Coffee (you can follow me there without having to sign up for my membership); publishing my usual blog posts on the website; and sending a few emails a year out to my email list.

The long-and-short of it is that I want to be able to actually connect with you, rather than having to pile all my energies into fighting the algorithms. So that’s where you’ll find me:

• Buy Me a Coffee
• Twitter
• This website
• My email list:

I hope you’ll be able to continue connecting with me in at least one of these places.

And I hope you’ll understand my position on Facebook and Instagram, even if you’re a real fan of them. It’s all about personal choice, after all.

That’s not all, folks!

I have other things in the pipeline, such as an upcoming course at the University of Liverpool’s Continuing Education department, a whole bunch of older blog posts to rewrite and make more relevant, and a few other things I want to work on over the coming year, but these are the changes you’ll be seeing over the next month or so.

I hope I’ve piqued your interest and that you’ll come along and join me for what should be a very interesting year.

Thanks for reading,

Julia

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. If you’ve enjoyed it and would like to support me, you can like/comment, share it on your favourite social media channel, or forward it to a friend.

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If you feel able to support me financially, you can:

• become a patron of my photography by subscribing for £3.50 a month or £35.00 a year
• gift a subscription to a friend or family member
• or you can tip me by buying me a virtual hot chocolate (I’m not a coffee drinker, but load a hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows, and you’ll make me a happy bunny …)

With gratitude and love,

Julia

Unless otherwise credited, all photos in this post are © Julia Thorne. If you’d like to use any of my photos in a lecture, presentation or blog post, please don’t just take them; drop me an email via my contact page. If you share them on social media, please link back to this site or to one of my social media accounts. Thanks!