Charles T. Low Photography
Blog
Retiring
(not shy)
Summer 2026
Blog #105
Stephens Lake – Winter
I made that photograph ...
... and note the photographer's parlance of made
, not took
...
... in December of 2025. I go to such far-flung (cold!) places because of love, and in this case I mean for my children
. I have never had such a wonderful adventure as raising my own family.
At the time, I hadn't quite reconciled, within myself, that I had already retired.
So, things turn out the way they do, and I accept full responsibility for how my photographic career has wound down.
I have photographed as well as I could.
I have not marketed myself aggressively, because
- my nature does not encourage that — if the public wants a product or service, then they do, and if they don't, then why would I try to push it on them? (Sales-people do not understand me.)
- I have attempted to inform the public about my services.
- frankly, I don't need to.
It's still a lovely hobby.
I hear this quite often, and although true as far as it goes, I have long striven for a commercial presence, until recently.
Now, when I photograph, I do it just for me, but now I can also follow other dreams, which I had previously relegated to the some other day
category.
But I hope that you will view the following as humorous, as I intend it.
If I'm only famous posthumously, then I'm going to be really ticked off.
Forest at Fløyen – Bergen, Norway
I will still have a camera with me when I travel, as above.
I have done a lot of dawn photography over the years, going back at least four decades.
Dawn River Sky Cloud
I did a private commission, which challenged me. My patron wished a certain building photographed (I can't show it: private), and the structure had little to recommend it, on purely artistic grounds, plus had an awful background. And then, he wanted some people inset into a corner, and I had only an old, casual snapshot from which to work; no formal sitting allowed, for good reasons of his own. This took several trips to the site, and several meetings to show my preliminary work and see what pleased him and what didn't, and then the day arrived for me to deliver the large print, which I did over coffee at Richard's Coffeehouse.
The man grew silent, and looked very sombre. He leaned back in his chair, as if thinking of how to let me down gently. "I've just got to tell you," he said at length, "that you have far exceeded my expectations."
So, that kind of thing happened.
I liked it.
But I have always considered myself a general photographer.
Along the way, I have had at least two magazine covers, and one article, illustrated with my own photographs.
I have attempted to respect light — sometimes I can control it and sometimes I cannot, but I can always accept or reject it — and to think consciously about backgrounds and borders. I have long known to do more than find something appealing, line it up and click. I have agreed to do photography for clients, but sometimes not in this light
; I go back at a time of my choosing.
I have learned how to edit.
I have sold art-pieces.
I have done portraiture.
I have photographed dancers, both in the studio and in performance (the most difficult photography I have ever done, but so worth it). I will always have a special place in my heart for Aaliyah.
I still submit a monthly photograph to The Fishwrapper, as the sponsor of their outdoor-art column originally requested of me.
I have done commissions. I had a lot of fun with the last two, and ... had too little freedom. I could have done better, in both cases, had I declined the terms presented to me, and insisted on standards. In one case, we had two hours of work booked, and after the first hour they all repaired inside for a break, from which they never recovered. I was just getting warmed up!
I have had a small cadre of devotees, art-lovers who would buy another work from me every year.
Largely serendipitously, I have had the unparalleled gift of a friendship with Peter Bryenton, a gentle fellow whom I call my lighting coach
. What that man doesn't know about light isn't worth knowing. He has given of his time and expertise freely and compassionately.
Other Random Observations
True, at my last exhibition, in December of 2024, I did use that as a test, and after spending a weekend at my booth, I could say to the other artists that I had sold eight pieces.
They all gasped in astonishment.
Yes,
I continued, maximum price: $15.
I had my bigger works listed in the $250-$400 range.
I can think of better ways to fame and fortune.
People say all of the right things, and they have the absolute prerogative of whether to take things further.
I have posted hundreds of photographs on social media. (Check out my Instagram account.)
The art-community said, Publish a blog
, and I have enjoyed doing this, but I don't see that it has brought in any business.
I know a talented photographer who works very hard, at marketing and sales as well as at the actual photography, and one year she said, I grossed $15,000 last year,
much to the amazement of the several of us there at the time. Subtract expenses, and you know that she has a private income. Only an infinitesimally small proportion of artists — many of them, like me, having retired from some other career — can make a living at it.
River Sunrise – I see new beginnings
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Or don't. I have fewer expectations now.
I find it quite freeing, on one level.
I may do more blogs. I may not.
See ya down the road.
Charles T. Low
Photographer
Blog #105
2026-08-21
I got a lot of support
At the risk of omitting some very deserving people:
- Arts Hub Brockville, and amazing resource for local artists and art-lovers, has treated me very well.
- I had my first show in 2018 at Hang Ups Creative Picture Framing, since when they have commissioned other works. I find Anne and Jessica unfailingly great to deal with, and ongoing promoters of my work.
- To all of my clients: thank you for your patronage, for your confidence in me, and for making me a better photographic-artist.
- I consider the world-class curator and art-gallery owner, Dennis O'Connor, a friend, and an advisor. He runs the O'Connor Gallery in Gananoque — go see it! — where he still has three of my works, so better snap 'em up right smartly before I go get 'em myself and bring 'em home.
