On the road... is there light at the end of this tunnel???

On the road and growing more weary by the moment. Life isn't easy being a nomad hired horse show shooter. There are times, I would give away the camera for the asking (an act of generosity I try to bring to the job, which perhaps is more of a personal curse than a blessing)  and go home and have some personal privacy and have some sort of a life....luxuries that life on the road rarely offer.  The money is attractive when you are my age and offers are getting lighter and lighter,  but in many cases white slavery is the trade off.  Lunch breaks, rest periods, all are foreign concepts to the employer of the horse show photographer. In fact at the most recent show, we had a fifteen minute break in the morning and an hour off at noon for all three days of the event and the general commentary was "I won't be able to pay your full rates for such a light show". It just doesn't make the money.

Well how very generous of you to not be able to do it yourself then?????????? Hello! Sorry. Speaking a foreign language I guess.

I often wish I could turn back the clock and have the days when photographers were photographers and not a mobile factory on wheels being directed by those who often don't know one end of the horse from the other.. Everyone has a different business plan. Some are pricey. Some are simply flooding the market. What does the future hold? I think we may be in trouble, but I probably won't be around to see it. The clock is ticking on my end for sure.

 "Yes but you don't have the worry of the business." I have heard that line a few times as well. It seems ironic that after more than 37 years as a photographer, my fate is to answer to all the opinions of those who neither have the experience to be in the position they are in, nor who the eyes or insight to be holding the positions they hold....but they have the means and ability to impress with their electronic toys and know how/ Add to that a bourgeois attitude and a twinkle in your eye and presto you are "in command".,

Oh well, I obviously am aching in more parts than I can express and it all seems to matter little on the grand scheme of things. Such is my life today.

A peaceful place.