It's been exactly 24 hours since I made my complete exodus from Facebook.

Yes. I did it. Really.

And before you ask, yes, I'm okay! In fact, I'm better than okay. I feel great.

Why, you ask, would I leave Facebook? Am I still doing photography? How are you going to know what's going on?

Well folks, here's the long story I promised I would reveal.

This has been coming for quite some time, probably at least 6 months. I first toyed with the idea of leaving this crazy social network way back in the fall. But I worried about my photography business, and how it would be affected.

For so long, I have sought out other photographers on facebook for inspiration. Being fairly new to photography, I was searching for different ideas, and trying to figure out how to make them my own. I "liked" lots of different photographer's pages, including many of those photographers from the local area. My news feed on facebook was a barage of photos... not so much my friend's photos, but updates from photographers from all over... all their latest work. In fact, once you have so many "likes" on your facebook, you will probably start to notice what I did... that your real "friends" were hard to find! Still, I loved all the eye candy, the photos with delicious light, adorable families, bright colours, and unique props and backgrounds. It was constant stimulation of the photography senses.

That's when it started. One day I uploaded some photos to my photography page. These were photos I absolutely loved, and I was so proud of myself for being able to produce them. I thought to myself, wow, people are going to think my work is so awesome once they see these. The comments will come flooding in! Well, there were comments, a few anyway, but not tons like I had hoped. Then there was this other photographer I know. Well, she put up an album. I liked the photos, although they were completely different from mine. Not better or worse, just different - shot in a studio. (For those of you who follow my work, you will know I shoot only on location, using as much natural light as possible). The comments? Well, let's just say people were loving those photos. The comments were insane! I could hardly believe it! What did all these people like so much more about her photos than mine?

And that's how the self-doubt started. No matter what I shot, and how much I loved it (and my clients loved it), I was always amazed at how little "comments" I received on Facebook. I was always left wondering "why not me... aren't mine as good as hers?". I wondered if I should even be doing this thing called photography... if everyone loves her photos so much more than mine, why bother? I comment on hers, why doesn't she comment on mine?

That's when it hit me. A light bulb went off. Do I really need to look at all these photos for inspiration? What good is it doing me to look at all these other photographer's work, if all it does is cause me anxiety and self-doubt? I have expressed these feelings to a few good friends, and they wonder why I feel like this. They tell me how awesome my work is, and are amazed that I could ever doubt myself like this. So I took the first step in my facebook "detox" and I started removing photographer's from my facebook news feed. I didn't delete them, I just removed all their posts from my daily "gossip central". For awhile, it worked. I didn't see their multi-daily posts, and I was feeling pretty good. Then I started checking their pages occasionally, just to see what they were up to. Pretty soon I was checking them constantly again. And the feelings started to return. I thought to myself, I can't keep doing this. I need to take these people off of my facebook completely. That way, the temptation is removed for me, and I can go about my daily business. I might even get to see some of my actual friend's photos, like the ones from their trip, or their new engagement ring, or just what they've been up to this weekend. The stuff I actually loved seeing when I first when on facebook back in 2007.

Unfortunately, when you remove people from your facebook account, sometimes they take it personally. Of course, this was only personal to me, and had nothing to do with the people I  removed. It was to help me keep my own head on straight, and to help me focus on what was really important to me. Then I heard that someone had posted on their facebook wall about how I had deleted them. Obviously they weren't impressed with my actions. That's when the next a-ha moment came

Why am I even on here? Am I getting anything out of this anymore?

The answer is no. The only thing facebook was doing for me was causing me anxiety. Some people will laugh and call me crazy, but I bet if you talk to a few people, you will find I'm not the only one who wants to walk away from it too. It's a great place if you want to gossip, play games, and chat. But it takes up so much time in my day. And when you are busy (like most Mom's are), then you will soon realize if you weren't on facebook, how much more time you would have for other things.

I asked my daughter earlier tonight if she thought I spent too much time on the computer. "Yes Mommy".  What site am I on the most Emma? "Facebook". What if I told you I wasn't going to be on it anymore? "YAY Mommy!". Does that mean we will have more time together? "Yes! Now we can play games together or maybe even play on the Wii!". What's really important to me right now? My family and my friends. Obviously I still love photography, but I just won't be sharing it on facebook with anyone anymore. Of course, if you want to, feel free! Starting in 2011, I will be providing all my clients with a CD of web-sized, watermarked images, suitable for sharing on Facebook, Twitter, or just for e-mailing. So you may still see some of my work on there now and then :)  I will be posting my work regularly on my blog and my website though, and I hope you will all bookmark it and check it regularly to see what I've been up to! In the meantime, I want to share some of my favourite little person that makes everything I do worthwhile :)





I can't tell you how liberating it felt to deactivate my account. Although, if you do it yourself, be forewarned that they will do everything they can to keep you from completely deleting it. But once I was completely gone from it, it felt great. Of course, I'm not telling you to delete yours at all; but it was definitely the right decision for me, both personally and professionally.  Sure, I don't know what you had for supper, or what photos Photographer A or B did this weekend, or if you have played Bejewelled lately. But what I do know is this....

I'm ok!!

Call me! Email me! I'm not going anywhere, and neither is my photography. In fact, I can't wait to see what 2011 brings. I promise you, it's going to be the best yet! And I can't wait to share it with you all!