We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sarah Middleton a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Sarah, thanks for joining us today. One of our favorite things to brainstorm about with friends who’ve built something entrepreneurial is what they would do differently if they were to start over today. Surely, there are things you’ve learned that would allow you to do it over faster, more efficiently. We’d love to hear how you would go about setting things up if you were starting over today, knowing everything that you already know.

As a self- employed artist, my biggest regret is attending a very expensive undergraduate program instead of investing my time and effort into business education and going somewhere more affordable. I have always known that i wanted to be self-employed and to own my own business or arts non-profit. However, I had very little real world knowledge of how businesses are run or how much student debt can impact us. Because I’d grown up in a culture that promotes higher education no matter the cost, I always thought my student debt would pay off in the end or be forgiven at some point. I ended up in about 70,000$ worth of student debt that my family and I have had to work to pay off over the last 9 years.

When I looked at colleges, I received full rides to state schools and other liberal arts programs, but I thought having a top name arts degree would help me further my career. The biggest thing I wish I’d known is that degrees only matter if you’re trying to work for either large companies in that school’s network or you want to work in museums or other arts institutions. The doors to galleries, museums, and large production companies can be easily opened because of your degree name, but the program itself does little to help independent artists and leaves us in a lot of debt to work around while trying to get started.

There are many things I recommend to young artists looking at their options. First, try everything. I studied classical painting, web design, graphic design, fashion and textile design, theatre, and event coordination before finally finding my passion as a fine art wedding photographer. I truly feel that I was able to take off and create my business so quickly because of my multi-dimensional background. As a painter I understand light in a way that others don’t; as a fashion designer I understand how to style and pose my clients from consuming media and working on garments; from theatre I learned to direct which is a huge part of working such a hectic job.

Secondly, I recommend making the most out of less expensive options. I find that this applies to so many things in life; when you live in New York you have to work so many more hours to afford to live there and you can miss out of traveling and experiencing life. The same applies to education; if all your money goes to being at the college, you can’t afford to travel abroad, take on extra projects, or spend more time figuring out your passion.

For those of us who want to work for ourselves and build a creative career, the path lies in saving or investing your money, finding your passion, and figuring out a niche where you can be successful and fulfilled.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My name is Sarah James and I am a wedding photographer and content creator. I worked for years in the creative industry as a fashion design assistant, graphic designer, stylist, model, and event coordinator. However, I always felt something was missing. I was tired of being overworked and under-appreciated. My fiance posed the question to me: What would you do if you never had to make money again? My answers were: create content, travel, style or curate projects i’m passionate about, and that I LOVE weddings and would likely want to be involved in them somehow. Through that conversation, I realized that wedding photography made sense for me.

That was in 2019 and I’ve now grown my business to a 6 figure company. I mostly shoot weddings so that I can focus on my personal content creation and traveling. I shoot about 30-40 weddings per year and engagement shoots. In addition, I style magazine editorial classes for photographers to attend to grow their portfolio and multi-day retreats for photographers 5-6 times per year. I have a studio in Baltimore where I host the classes and networking events through one of my new passion projects @collectivelybaltimore and I’m looking to expand my photo business this year into a hybrid wedding photography & education collective called @ritualunions.co. I shoot all across the country and in Europe.

My photography is definitely rooted in fine art as I have a classical painting and fine arts background. I think my understanding of light and tone have a lot to do with how often I am booked as opposed to other photographers who skew more light and airy by using filters and trendy pre-sets. I also use 35mm film and polaroids and aim for my editing to reflect the true to life colors in film photography.

I pride myself on bringing an experience and an ease to my couples’ big day. I love the fast paced environment of weddings and my background in theatre and styling helps me effortlessly switch between directing large groups of family members, and a capturing important moments documentary style. I befriend all of my clients and want the general atmosphere of working with me to feel fun, candid, and authentic.

The other part of my brand involves my content creation. I’m have a tiktok channel @underthecapricornsun which is completely separate from my photography business but that also generates monthly income and will hopefully be turning into a podcast/ youtube channel in the near future. However, just because I don’t make wedding content doesn’t mean it isn’t a valuable networking tool. I’ve been able to meet so many creatives, be included in amazing jobs and projects, and have multiple European trips planned to create content through that channel. Having hobbies and creating a work/life balance is intrinsic to success and everyone should put emphasis on finding things that feed you in addition to a career. I am of the mindset that your career should be something you love but not your only passion. Working in weddings gives me energy and is a great way for my adhd brain to focus for a day and make great work, but content creation is what I truly love. In a way, I am also making content for others through being a photographer and that makes me happy too.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I always thought that as your business grows you need to expand and outsource. In the past year my business has gotten so big that I started to struggle with keeping up with a lot of online tasks: social media posts, rebranding, updating my website, etc. I was feeling so overwhelmed, but when I spoke with companies to outsource, it just didn’t seem like a good financial decision. I spoke with some of my other photographer friends who have similarly sized businesses and they all said they needed to outsource those things but complained that they still didn’t have time to do everything else they needed to do.

It took a conversation with a good friend for me to have clarity on how I was approaching it all backwards. My friend asked me ” what doesn’t get done in your business, what do you struggle the most with?” and I explained that my physical space and house get overlooked because I’m constantly focusing on my online presence. So, by making time for cleaning and my physical organization, I’d run out of time for the online tasks that are less pressing. She pointed out that the reason I was struggling is because I have bad ADHD and while it helps me accomplish a ton virtually and I can handle a lot of work loads mentally, sometimes I become paralyzed when I’m cleaning or doing something physical and monotonous that requires a ton of attention. By having this conversation, I realized the most beneficial way to outsource for myself is to hire someone to do physical organizational tasks at my studio and handle things that take up huge amounts of my physical time so that I can focus on my work and then also have free time when I’m off.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

One thing a lot of people wouldn’t assume about me, is that I’m chronically ill. There was a period of time before I started shooting weddings where I genuinely was looking into disability benefits and trying to come to terms with my numerous chronic illnesses. I have MCAS and fibromyalgia in addition to nerve issues in my hands and neck and at the time I was experiencing neurological motor problems because of exposure to mold while living in NYC.

There was a point where I was experiencing dead leg as I walked at random and was in and out of the hospital and I struggled to work a 9-5 job. Even now, I am so thankful for my schedule and my work because it allows me to work about 50 days per year and otherwise be home and take care of my health.

Before the pandemic, when I was first starting out as a photographer, I worked a 4 day 9-5 in addition to shooting on the weekends and I was miserable. after talks with my doctor and a lot of inner searching, I realized that the best schedule for me involves a lot fo rest and time at home and it also involved me taking the very best care of myself that I could.

I moved back to my home state and found ways to cope with a lot of my symptoms. My doctors had said that the biggest issue was the high stress 70 hour work week lifestyle I’d been forcing on myself. And finding a career path that’s helped me care for myself and gives me time in abundance to rest has been lifechanging.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sarahjamesmiddleton.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahjamessphotography/ ///// https://www.instagram.com/sarahjamesmiddleton/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SarahJamesPhotographyDMV
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@underthecapricornsun?lang=en

Image Credits
Shot of me by @rachelvkinglifestyle all other images taken by me