Anyone who has a job probably knows all too well the ways the ups and downs of workplace juju can effect our emotions, and sometimes even influence our sense of self-worth. When things are going really well at work we can feel on top of the world, but a really bad day can be miserable, even crushing.
Once, during my years working at newspapers, a journalist got so frustrated about the way a big story had been handled that he stormed into the publisher's office, resigned, and stormed back out again, slamming the publisher's office door so violently that windows rattled throughout the newspaper building. Another person I know refers to a place in her office as “The Crying Room,” a usually-empty conference room where she can go when she’s having a bad day and feels tears coming on.
I thought it might be interesting if I wrote a few paragraphs today about two pieces of client correspondence I received this week...one, I’m pretty sure most people would consider “good,” the other, I guess, “bad.”
THE “GOOD”: I received a handwritten thank-you card from a couple whose wedding I shot about a month ago. It was a We Love You note, the kind I’m happy to say I receive fairly often after I’ve worked for someone. The note said:
We would like to thank you sincerely for everything you did at our wedding. From the planning, preparation, pre-ceremony, right up to now, you have been such a pleasure to work with and know. Our pictures just arrived and we are thrilled. We can’t believe how much you captured! You’re amazing! Yours, ...
THE “BAD”: I also received an email from a couple I met with recently who are planning a 2013 wedding.
Thank you very much for taking the time to meet with us last weekend. After speaking about it, we have decided to go with another photographer that fits our style a bit more. We really appreciate you coming all the way out to Seattle and wish you the best of luck with everything.
So how to deal with these ups and downs? Well, personally, I remind myself of images like you see here today, the nonprofessional, everyday pictures I do that matter so very much to me. Though it goes without saying that my professional photographs are Serious Business, my personal pictures matter to me even more. If I get too pissy about some hiccup in my work life, my personal photography will suffer, and I don’t want that to happen. So I try to cultivate, within myself, a mindset of equanimity and calm. I try not to be too-freakin’ up, or too-freakin’ down, but calm. And thus productive.
As you can see here, equanimity can lead to some pleasing imagery.
