Since last fall I’ve toyed with the idea of buying a medium format camera…. but had zero knowledge of them, how they worked, and most importantly what I should look for when buying one. Well, I’m still a novice but I’ve learned a lot since buckling down, reading, asking questions and watching tons of youtube videos! If you are wondering what a medium format camera is…. well, the main difference…. it takes 120 or 220 film…  it is 4x the size of standard 35mm film…. thus it makes higher quality images, with finer grain and larger prints can be made from it. Many of the photographers I highly admire shoot these kinds of cameras…. Jonathan Canlas, Jose Villa, Caroline Tran….  If you crack open a Martha Stewart Weddings magazine…. a lot of the weddings featured in there are actually shot on film (a tip, I bet you didn’t know!). So why film? We own really nice digital equipment… why spend the money to buy “outdated” technology? One word….. color. The color just cannot be matched (even though VSCO has come close- and we use it-… it just isn’t quite the same). You just can’t replicate the tangible quality film has, the excitement it creates when sending it off for professional development, the thrill of getting an email saying the scans area ready for download and the fact that it slows you down and forces you to be more deliberate with your images. Without further adieu, I introduce you to our Bronica! We cannot wait to use it this weekend at our next wedding!! (a big thanks to Seth with Feather & Stone  for recommending this camera!)  

I know you jumped for joy when you saw the title of this post 😉 I want to talk about being a small business owner today…. AKA how the government is sucking the life from my soul. Up until I started this business, I was a pretty apathetic American…. I didn’t have a good grasp on government, and how taxes effect the small business owner…. because…. well… I wasn’t a business owner yet. It didn’t effect me and I didn’t care. NOW I CARE.  I love the confidence my friends all have in me… “Jessica, you need to quit your day job.” “Jessica, you need to focus on photography full time, you can make it!” Or my most recent favorite from bride, Maggie…  (Maggie, I love you and so wish I could!) “Jessica, you need to quit your job and help me plan my wedding.” I’m here today to educate you. I know that most Americans pity those who do such important jobs, like teachers, firefighters, police, etc. and get paid such a small salary. Here’s why you should also pity those of us who are self employed (along with those other professions). _________________________________________________________________________________________ In 2011 my business grossed just over $32,000…. that sounds AWESOME… right?? Wrong. I spent about $13,000 in expenses… so that takes us down to $19,000 automatically. And just for clarification, our expenses are…. gear (we bought a lens, several flashes and batteries, etc.), rent (I pay $397 a month), internet ($80 a month), phone ($80 a month), pretty packaging to send your CDs, albums and prints in, office furnishings, shipping costs, sample products, hotels when we travel for weddings, etc. (oh yeah and GAS!… but we deduct mileage, not what we spend on filling our tank) THEN…. we pay sales & use tax each quarter… so that 7.25% we collect from you… yep…. goes straight to Uncle Sam. Use tax is tax we pay on all the crap we buy that isn’t taxed when we buy it. So that $950 lens we bought… wasn’t taxed…. cha-ching-cha-ching…. THEN…. we pay estimated taxes. You know when you get your paycheck & it has all that money taken out…. yep, we gotta pay that too. Currently we pay ~$1,200 to Federal and ~$300 to State… EVERY QUARTER. So… we had $19,000 left after expenses…. subtract about $500 each quarter for sales & use taxes (this is rough, I don’t have our actual numbers in front of me) x4 quarters… = $2,000 Now we’re down to $17,000 subtract about $1,500 each quarter for estimated taxes = $6,000. So, I only got to take home about $11,000 for all of 2011.   I can only think of how many hours and hours and hours I slaved over this business (building it, networking, shooting events, driving to and from events, editing, blogging, etc.) and how many weekends and nights I gave up free time…. time away from my dogs, my family, my friends…. to only bring home $11,000. And we wonder why so many small business owners fold up and quit after only a few short months or years?   So, when you hire a professional, legitimate, tax-paying photographer, and you think their CD of images cost a lot, or their prints are pricey…. understand the back end, and everything we pay for…. We too want to live above poverty.