The spouse's influence on your LF work: significant, slight, or none?

[jnantz]

my wife is great, supportive, artist, photographer, landscape architect
.. the whole shebang

[Bob Sawin]

My wife does not understand my photography at all. She supports me all the way though, as she knows I am a better person for pursuing my passion. I can't ask for more.

[DG 3313]

My wife is awesome. When we travel and I bring a big camera (that is what she calls them) she brings a book. She knows how much it means to me and that means a lot to her.

[c.d.ewen]

Yes, this is an actual quote from my wife:

"Why can't you take ordinary photos, like everyone else?"

Sigh.

Charley

[Jim Fitzgerald]

Well, my first wife and I are in the middle of a nasty divorce right now! She has been dragging it on for 13 months now at a cost that is unreal. Three years ago now I met the love of my live who supports me as an artist, educator and sports car enthusiast. I mean what woman will carry your 8 x 10 camera for you ( June is only 4'8" tall) and my backpack is almost as big as her, go camping in a tent, cook for me, take care of me and as a bonus polish the wheels on our car..... and loves to do it all! I'm the luckiest man alive. I'm going to court again and I hope to get a trial date today so I can divorce my bitch of a first wife and retire in October and live a happy life with my new spouse forever. I am a happy man!

[Tin Can]

I changed the title from wife to spouse.

+1

[John Kasaian]

I remember a few Springs ago she was very excited to tell me that she'd heard that Sonora Pass had been opened for the season and that I should get up there with my big camera

[Kodachrome25]

My wife encourages me in my photography, is not biased towards any particular format…kind of like how I am to come to think of it…..

She knows it more than pays the bills and affords us the amazing lifestyle we have in our famous little ski town. She has modeled in lifestyle shoots, received all kinds of great clothes, ski passes, dinners ,awesome wines….and met gobs of famous peeps.

In fact, when we met in Yosemite I was in the act of photographing…so she knows it is who I am.

My wife is my number one fan, backer and supporter. I shall return the favor by working extra smart / hard so she can retire early.

[Doremus Scudder]

I'm lucky to have a spouse that is my partner in many things leisure, artistic and business. Many couldn't work together with their spouse all day long and still have a great relationship, but that's exactly what we do. She and I are both classical singers and have done a lot of singing together. We studied together for our doctorates and now we teach together at the same conservatory in Vienna, Austria. She's actually my boss there, since she's the artistic director; I'm a voice teacher and choral director there.

We also run a small business leading English seminars and doing translations for banks and natural gas and oil companies in Austria (I'm the boss of that company...). We team-teach days at a time, no problem.

As for photography: not only is she supportive of my "third career," she encourages me to get out and photograph, to spend time printing and to get the gear I need. She even sets up appointments with galleries for me. She loves wilderness camping, hiking, cold-weather camping (we've spent many winters out in a tent for 4-6 weeks at a time) and other "finding-photo-related" activities. When I stop to set up a shot, she has something to do and enjoys the break.

She is one of my best critics, and pulls no punches when it comes to evaluating my prints (and my singing, teaching and directing too...) or nudging me in a direction ("you should do more abstracts," etc.). On printing days, there's usually a time for a cocktail and a print viewing, which is something she enjoys, not an imposition. Her feedback comes from a purely visual and non-technical background (art history, etc.), but no photo-technical specifics, which often helps me to get away from the technique and focus more on the subject and how it works for non-photographers. Nevertheless, she has very strong opinions about contrast, tonalities, composition, etc. Bouncing my work and ideas off her is the first thing I do. It helps me with editing myself and clarifying my own ideas. We disagree about some things, but I find her opinions and insights invaluable.

Plus, when hiking, she often willingly carries an extra lens or a few extra filmholders for me.

I'm fortunate that she likes what I like in so many areas and that what I do she enjoys as well. "Happy wife, happy life."

Best,

Doremus

[appletree]

Yet to be married, but interesting to see the comments/discussions in here.