Absolution (Patreon)

Oh, Pittsburgh... it's been much too long! I've revisited the bustling city streets of Philadelphia a few times since this session, but I don't think I've been back to Pittsburgh... That definitely needs to change this year. I'd love to work with Maggie again too, both in front and behind the camera. This church was a beautiful find that another photographer had shared with her. It had so many amazing corners and staircases spiraling around being flooded by gorgeous natural light.

Touring is hard. It's exhausting. So much hesitation and anxiety comes with planning trips that only succeed upon numerous cold calls or loyal customers from past work. I've sent out hundreds of emails (or so it feels) to clients for my next trip to the Carolinas at the end of the month. It still isn't filled out.

I struggle between finding the line of networking too early or too late. I've heard others have this difficulty too, especially if they suffer from crippling anxiety that makes opening and responding to emails a genuine pain. A glass of wine always helps.

I was going to try extending my North Carolina tour up the east coast, but I decided to wait for a few reasons... one being the fact that I didn't give myself ample time to prepare and the second reason being a similar and very popular model announced dates at the same time I would have. Unless we're touring together, you have to kind of look out for that sometimes, especially if your competition is much better at their craft than you are. And that isn't a slight at anyone, nor do I mean competition in a bad way. It's just something to be mindful of when you're trying to have a profitable business trip. Maybe one day I'll have enough demand or passive income to travel with more ease and without fear of financial struggles. The days we are in surely don't help.

People have been really kind about my raising rates. I'm happy about that, at least.

Anyway, this session was amazing and it was a pleasure to meet another modelographer along my journey, especially one with such a great inside scoop on this location! It is just a pitty to see how it has been treated. Kids will be kids, eh?

Photography by Maggie Tracey
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 2021