Wedding Photography Is My Life, But So Is My Wife

Wedding Photography is my life, but so is my wife!

I love what I do, but I need to do it for the right reasons!

I wish I could say it’s no secret that I work hard. However, most people aren’t aware just how much goes into being a wedding photographer. That is unless they’re wedding photographers themselves.

Most of my family, friends and even clients who book me have little idea just how many hours a week I work as a Brisbane wedding photographer. It gets even more time consuming when I travel long distances to photograph destination weddings. In the past two years I haven’t worked less than 80 hours a week. I don’t resent that! It’s just something that’s required to be able to service so many people who want me to photograph their weddings. Even though I absolutely love my job, my home life often suffers as a result. It’s very common for me and my wife Sarah to miss out on spending the kind of quality time together other couples get to enjoy on a regular basis.

I’ll sit here editing my client’s images while she looks at the back of me. When she wants to talk to me, she talks to me while my face is pressed up against the computer screen. I photograph weddings up to three times a week shooting up to 12 hour days for each of them and then I come home to find her tired from waiting up for me. Even if I walk through that door at 1am, Sarah is waiting up for me just so we can spend a few minutes talking. She’s understanding and patient, but how can she ever feel like I’m being a great husband while I’m spending so much time buried in my work?

I love my wife so much, but working 80+ hours a week is not healthy for any relationship!

It’s this very reason Sarah and I finally decided to get away. We made the decision to leave everything behind for a while and do nothing but be together and enjoy our marriage! After I photographed a wedding in Melbourne last weekend we took a trip up to country Victoria. We stayed at a B&B just out from Myrtleford, and from there we took in as much of the surrounding areas as possible. We even found ourselves driving up to the highest public road in Australia – above Falls Creek. We were surprised to find snow still on the mountain tops in October. Wow. It was beautiful.

The best thing of all was I got to see it with Sarah. We finally stood side by side photographing the scenery together for the first time ever! That’s been well and truly overdue!

My wife is wonderful and I’ve publicly expressed many times how happy she makes me. Even though I know how lucky I am, I couldn’t help but notice our bond reaching an even higher level while we were away.  Going away together was the best thing that’s ever happened to us. Spending that time with her made me realise what we’ve been missing out on.

So I’ve made a decision to reduce the number of wedding photography bookings I accept until I’ve managed to halve the number of weddings I photograph each year. It’s very important for me to ensure my wife and I can spend more quality time together, and when I do work I want it to be even more rewarding. I want to know that what I’m doing is helping us build a great life together instead of hindering it.

Let’s face it – I’m a wedding photographer and I’m in the business of doing my little bit to help couples treasure their special bond. If that comes at the expense of my own marriage then I’m not doing my job properly.

I thought I would share a few selfies Sarah and I captured in Mudgegonga, Victoria yesterday.

Thanks for reading!
Tom Hall Photography