I’m barely holding on right now, Steemit. I’m at the end of an 18 hour day. I’ve been working since the moment I rolled out of bed. Four shoots today, and between shooting, I sat for hours editing. I was one of those overdrive freelance days that remind you the price of working for yourself. So many advantages over a muggle job, but there are days where everything you can give is required. Why am I still making a Steemit post, considering I’m glaring at this screen through one bloodshot eye? Firstly, I think it’s important for us to post often, even when things are down. I feel like we’re the roots that hold the Steemit foundation together. Secondly, this is my chance to wind down. A few minutes to reflect.

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This was an insane day. My first shoot arrived at 9:00a.m. We shot for about two hours, and I took a break long enough to run some banking errands. My second shoot arrived at 1:00p.m. My third arrived at 4:30p.m., and that ran closer to three hours, and my final shoot arrived at 7:30p.m. due to LA traffic coming from San Diego. During the breaks in between, I sat and made use of my time editing photos I’ve owed clients from ages ago. I hate that I still have so much work owed beyond a reasonable amount of time. It hangs over my head and causes me a tremendous amount of stress. Tonight, even with that kind of shoot schedule, I was determined.

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I went back to one of the clients I’ve owed the longest. I hang my head in shame to admit this, but we shot together last October in Toronto. She’s a beautiful Canadian pinup named Julie Gems. I’d received an email asking for a timeline on the last of her photos. She politely reminded me that it had, in fact, been a year. If there was ever a client that had every right to be a mean, it was Julie. She wasn’t, though. I decided in that moment, I was going to finish her edits as soon as humanly possible. She was the catalyst for me deciding to fit these edits in between four shoots today. I checked, and I only owed her four more.

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For the duration of the night, after my final shoot left at 9:30p.m., I’ve sat here, at times almost falling asleep, finishing what I still owed Julie. It was the right thing to do. I’ll be able to wake up tomorrow knowing that she’s finished. Down the road, when I have time, I’ll be sending her a few more additional edits just as a thank you/apology for her patience. I’m sleepy eyed, but I can rest tonight knowing I was able to close the gap of old work, to new work just being shot today. Thanks for reading. For more photography, art, illustration and the stories behind the work, follow me here @kommienezuspadt!