A note from my Husband {Being married to a photographer…}

What’s it like to be married to a photographer? Well it’s kind of like fighting a hurricane while sitting in a kayak adrift at sea surrounded by sharks with fricken lasers! We go on a trip, every few miles she has to stop and take a picture of something. She scours Craig’s List looking for interesting articles of furniture…and then she buys them. I get up at 5 in the morning to go to work, she comes to bed at 2 or 3 or 4 a.m…lenses, cameras, bags, data cards, computers, ipad’s, smart phones, the calls don’t stop and the emails are relentless. She’s married to the job; I’m just the guy who holds her stuff. Like I said fighting a hurricane while sitting in a kayak adrift at sea surrounded by sharks with fricken lasers…but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Besides if this pans out, I might just buy me a kayak or a shark with fricken lasers on it.

Bobbi has this unique talent to make everyone feel at ease. She is a fantastic photographer and she’s only going to get better. When I look at her pictures I am in awe that 1). She decided to marry a schmuck like me and 2). That she can take such beautiful works of art and all she is doing is having fun. It’s rare to find a job where not only can it be a good way to make a living but it’s also something you enjoy doing and it doesn’t seem like work. She’ll spend hours editing people’s pictures, making cute packaging for her clients, picking and choosing prints for her print company to print out (that’s enough of the word print…), or consulting people on what their perfect wedding day will look like. And through all of this, all she is doing is having fun. That’s what it boils down to, she’s having a blast. Since Bobbi’s been doing photography as a professional photographer, I cannot recall her ever saying she has had a “bad photo shoot.” That’s an accomplishment in itself to photograph 1000’s of people in 1000’s of different shoots and not have a single bad shoot. The cool thing is that after every shoot before she does any editing, all of her clients already look like movie stars. I chalk that up to her unique talent of making everyone feel at ease. If I had only one complaint, besides the fighting hurricane with kayaks and laser sharks, it would be that because she spends so much time with everyone else she doesn’t have any time to spend with me… at least in the busy season.  The long Wisconsin winter brings normalness back into our life.  But if that’s the only complaint I have, I think that’s more than okay. Besides, all this alone time has really given me an opportunity to think about what it’s like to be married to a photographer.

It’s not bad, this thing called marriage. It’s a compromise just like anything else in life. Being married to a photographer, though, well it’s kind of like running a marathon while holding a camera bag full of equipment. One moment I’ll be relaxing in the man cave and the next it’s almost as if a bomb went off. Example:

“Okay…I have two shoots in the afternoon, a wedding on Saturday, a family session on Sunday, three seniors and a pet session on Wednesday…I’m getting up to go the gym on Friday, I also have to work at my regular job this week…let’s see…a maternity shoot Tuesday afternoon, kid shoot and an engagement shoot Thursday…meeting with a client Thursday…ready break!” then she turns around and leaves. Whoa…holy crap. Did she just tell me her weekly schedule or call a play for the Sun Prairie High School football team? I sit back down after the chaos had interrupted my baseball game and I wonder if I have anything going on that week…turns out all I do is forty hours a week, exercise, walk the dog, and sleep. Man, compared to my wife I’m a loser!!! But, again, I wouldn’t have it any other way. How she manages to pull it all together, I’ll never know, nor do I want to ask. She doesn’t need to sleep, eat, or use the bathroom…all that stuff can wait apparently.

 I love my wife, don’t get me wrong. I don’t think she has bitten off more than she can chew, if I did I would tell her. I think what she is doing is awesome, and I think her clients are awesome, and I think this whole wild ride is awesome. She’s doing what she loves to do, what she wants to do, and for that I am truly grateful. This could have turned out completely bad if she hated what she does. I am thankful for the fact that she loves it. Absolutely, without question, hole heartedly loves every minute of what she is doing. And it shows. It shows in her work, in her demeanor, in her attitude, in our daily life. So that makes it worth it. It’s a lot of work, a labor of love, but to see her smile everyday as if she has a joke that only she knows…that my friends makes up for the long hours, the sleepless nights, and whatever else happens to come along during our normal weeks. When I see her smile and when I see her so happy to make other people happy well then being married to a photographer is kind of like a watching a Pegasus fly over a hoard of leprechauns who are dancing on a double rainbow… and that makes me happy. (My favorite part is that Pegasus’ are clearly referenced as real.)  I am in love with this woman who bleeds for her hobby turned profession. I wouldn’t have it any other way, even if there are times when all I do is hold her gear.

                                                                                                              {Jon Petersen… aka, the original “Salty P”}