Arden Prucha Photography

I have been asked this a few times in the past and and most recently by Jennifer Veitch on how I ‘DO IT ALL with balance?”

So, I asked her to shoot me some questions so that I can expand a little on the topic.

Let me preface this by saying:

I will be the first to admit…

(Is Everyone Listening???)

I do NOT have IT ALL together!

How many sessions do you schedule a week, or ideally how many “could” you?

So this depends on the week.  I will go through a couple of weeks with down time.  Then be thrown into the next week with 2-4 shoots, some being weddings.  Ideally?  I would love to shoot twice a week maybe three times here and there…  for each month. (so I would like 8-10 shoots per month, some months have more, less or that amount and it keeps me as busy as I WANT TO BE)

How do you find the time to edit it all?

Editing is the HARDEST thing of all – and most clients don’t truly grasp that – no fault of their own.  I get home from a shoot and immediately upload my images on an external hard drive.  I find that I need to rate them ASAP in order to make editing go more quickly.

The sooner I cull them down into favorites, the sooner I pull them into LR and do basic post processing.  I do all sessions in order, unless there is something that is super time sensitive – like a Save the Date, launch of a website or deadline – then I will haul booty and get those to my clients as quickly as possible.

How long do you take to get the images back to the client?

A great turn around will be 2 weeks and I can only do that during slow season!  Typically it will take 3 weeks to get the images ready and posted on the blog and uploaded to Pictage.  Doing it super fast is not part of my process and I really wish I would do it – but know it isn’t reality and I am okay with that. My clients are very cool about it. I just make sure to live MY LIFE in the midst of my business life.  I will have a much faster turn around once I put outsourcing into full swing.  The thing about out-sourcing… it costs MORE money, which means: RAISING YOUR PRICES, BUT it will relieve so much stress and pressure.

When do you fit family time in?

Whenever possible.  If we are invited to a ranch one weekend I am open, we go!  If we want to head to the burger joint on a Sunday afternoon to chill… we do.  I do most of my editing and posting during the day.  Sounds opposite of most I am sure.  Our family time is pretty laid back, we don’t plan all of these fun activities, we just live.  We also bring our kids to a lot of things.  We get babysitters for date night, or for grown up only events.  Our friends host a crawfish boil, the kids come.  Want to go for a long walk to the park… we drop everything and do it.  This is why my turn around time is NOT 1-2weeks.  We have a lot of last minute invites or things that we just want to do, so we do it.  Life is too short to work work work – this time with little ones will be gone before we know it.  🙂  Plus, I enjoy living away from my desk!  Don’t you?

A typical day:

During the school year, I get my kiddos up at 7am… I fix them breakfast, watch the news, enjoy my coffee and make Pierson’s lunch.  Then we drop him off at school (three blocks away).  We come home and Parker is ALMOST ready for a nap.  She typically naps 1.5 hours after she wakes up.  So she plays a bit, maybe will put some cartoons on and by 9am she is ready to go down.  I then am able to work from 9-11ish and edit, blog, email, etc.  She wakes up, I fix lunch and hang with her and she plays for a bit – often times needing another nap around 1:30-3:00, when we go pick Pierson up.  So I have had more time to work in that nap time.  Then Pierson is home and he does homework, I fix him a snack and Parx is running around being a tot.  They sometimes go out back and play, or just play inside.  Usually around 5pm we may head out front to get fresh air and let them run around, bike, scooter, etc.  Paul gets home and it’s dinner time, kids get ready for bed and bathe, etc.  Paul and I do a little bit of computer time, but for the most part crawl in bed together each night around the same time.  There are nights where I am enthrawled with my images and do not want to step away… but I have to know that I belong in bed with my husband.  I do not have a relationship with my iMac, though iMac may think so. 😉

FYI: It’s summer and I am just hearing my little one talking, it’s 9:50am!!!  Both of my kids are amazing sleepers, like me. 😉

Some women photographer’s issues are: guilt of being away, keeping my house clean, spending time as a family and not editing the night away!

Listen, I told Paul after we moved here and I quit teaching: “Look, I am not a great housekeeper, I know that.  If we want this house to stay clean and want to stay sane, we MUST hire a housekeeper!”

We tried every other week and it just didn’t work.  We are much cleaner and happier people if she comes EVERY SINGLE WEEK.  We hold ourselves accountable and know that every weekend our home will look nice should anyone pop by!  Now, I realize this costs money, but the money is worth not going insane and fighting about a messy home.  So my jobs every day include:  Dishes, tidying up, organizing and laundry (oooooh I hate laundry!).  I don’t have to worry about scrubbing, vacuuming, cleaning the oven, the microwave, the bathrooms… it’s nice and takes a bunch of pressure off.

I don’t have guilt about being away anymore, but really I am home so much more than not.  I used to teach and second shoot a TON of weddings and was basically working many 6 day (50 hour+) weeks, before Parker was born.  That is when there was guilt and sadness.  I was dating Paul at the time and felt like I was working too much and never seeing Paul or Pierson until nights.  Once we were married and knew we were about to welcome a baby, I quit teaching and was able to focus on: our babes, my husband, our home and work.  I choose not to throw myself into ‘wedding photographer’ mode only, because I really enjoy having weekends open and want to enjoy the weddings I do book.  Weddings typically include: engagements, bridals, meetings, tons of emails, wedding day and then a bazillion hours on the computer…. not to mention creating albums, books and fulfilling print orders.  I also don’t shoot a many portrait sessions on the weekends, so I can keep them open for events with my family or husband.

I’ll end this by recommending that you get YOUR life the way you want it.

Who is more important in the end:

The Client     OR     Your Family

(no offense to my wonderful clients – I LOVE YA, but I am sure they would agree that their family is more important than their boss or clients)

Reading people’s blogs, FB, Tweets, etc. can be very dangerous.  It appears that people have these perfect businesses, a perfect life, amazing kids – with a wonderful husband and support group.

Let me just say, it’s not always as it seems – in fact often it isn’t.  People paint a pretty picture on the web.  Which is good, because you don’t want to have this nagging, griping, negative outlook that make people feel icky.

Just don’t forget that none of these people are perfect and I would bet that NONE of them have it ALL TOGETHER!

One reason I wrote this post and this one a couple months back – because I felt so lost, drained, beat down and didn’t know what to do, but knew it was a season that would pass. I wanted to be… REAL!

Find what makes you happy, what balances YOUR life and business, but please please promise that you will do your best to keep your family and YOURSELF happy.

As a woman, we have MANY MANY roles to fulfill: The housekeeper, the cook, the cleaning woman, the wife, the mother, the worker, the laundromat, the boo-boo kisser, the fixer of all broken hearts, the healer, the lover, the smile and make it all look like it’s easy and simple – even though it is a whipping!

Business is just business, but life and love… now that’s what makes this world go’round! 🙂

My main role in life is to keep our marriage strong and healthy… and our children compassionate, loving, intelligent and well!