Self-Advocacy

So I'm just getting started again in my photography journey, and the game has changed quite a bit since even Miguel was offering shoots. Social media has become a staple in any small business owner's plan, and it almost is seen too much as a competition.

Now I'd like to think that I'm NOT selling myself short when I set the prices I have set for my sessions; I feel like it's unfair to charge a lot of money for my developing skills at this stage. So as I'm in my BFA, I find I am pretty affordable compared to more experienced cosplay photographers.

So this blog is about self-advocacy and my journey to get the courage to advocate for myself.

The Worry of Not Being Seen

So I have always felt myself to be a pretty shy person. I think part of it is my disability. It causes me to have a lot of anxiety over things someone would be able to overcome easily, such as sending food back to the kitchen if it was made wrong (I just eat it and keep quiet). This makes me very self conscious that someone didn't take the time to get my order right, so I get anxious that I'm not being seen enough for someone to take my order correctly. I'm continuously trying to train myself that this isn't the case, but that's one thing about my disabilities: they can be unpredictable.

Putting Myself First

Because of my disability, it's hard for me to realize that I need to take time for myself. Some people are able to take some time to themselves to do things they want to do. Anytime I'm discouraged in anything I'm doing, I go into a shell of myself until I feel like I'm safe enough to come back out. The most recent occurrence was today. I offered my still developing skills in photography to my theatre department at the same university I'm taking classes at, but I found out the 2nd show already has a professional photographer taking the photos from it. All I want to do is stay in my house and not do this anymore, but I know there are things I can do to get myself out of that mindset.

What I'm Doing

So combine the fear of not being seen with the incident today knocked me on my butt. Hard. Best thing is to continue to advocate for myself and my skills to its fullest extent. I'm hopeful Nekocon ends up being a great weekend, so if you see me, say hi! You can go to my booking site and book me from the link above. Can't book? No problem! I'll be giving out cards to everyone I do hall shots of and will be posting those alongside my paid shoots. I'm also co-hosting a couple of photoshoots (Critical Role on Saturday and Demon Slayer on Sunday) so those shoots will be posted as well!