back in december, on a few moments’ notice, i was called upon to photograph a holiday party that seemed like one i couldn’t pass up. the party was being hosted at a photo and video studio in bushwick, and was for a global organization of non-fiction and documentary filmmakers called video consortium. they loved my photos, and afterward, the group’s founder reached out and said that she wanted to talk to me about working together in the future.

yesterday, we spoke over the phone, and she told me that the group hosts well-attended monthly networking events and that they’d love to have me there photographing these on a regular basis. the pay is significantly lower than i would accept from any other client, but given that there is a high likelihood this gig could open up other an unknowable amount of other opportunities for me, i am not bothered by that at all.

aside from that, though, purely from a monetary standpoint, something i learned from my three days working with greenpeace several years ago is that a subscription model is always preferable to a one-time transaction. so despite the fact that i will be getting paid less per event than my typical rate, i can loosely count on this gig to bring in a set amount every month. between this job and my other recurring customer, i now have a recurring base income of $400 per month from photography alone, and the jobs i’m doing have a very minimal impact on my calendar (one lunch break per week and one weeknight per month). that means i can still book gigs during my prime time for photography on weekends.

of course i can’t depend on these two gigs to continue indefinitely, but i can celebrate the fact that whether or not these clients retain me for the long term, my work was good enough for them to ask me if i would want to work with them on a regular, recurring basis. that, in and of itself, is a big win.