My plans for this year

Well, I did NOT get the position at the University of Oulu. Financially and in terms of the CV it's of course a disappointment, but on the other hand it means I don't have to leave Helsinki. Luckily I have found five other opportunities to apply for at the moment: two museum guide jobs (one full time, one part time), in addition to which I'm going to send an open application to the Helsinki adult education centre for teaching tasks in their Latin courses. Then there are two research grants to apply for until February 15th. The first three I'm writing the applications for this week, the two last mentioned I'm going to wait with, should either of the two articles I'm waiting to hear from be accepted.

My aim is to find SOME form of employment/source of income by April, which is when I'm due for my next control visit to the unemployment office. The money situation is not my main motivator. It's rather the desire to get rid of the control. I became exasperated with it in the past two weeks, having to try and get a hold of the owner of the photo bureau for a receipt for 36,5 euros (prior to taxes) worth of photo sales, in order to send it to the National Insurance Institution. The thing is, if you get unemployment benefits, you have to report any such income that is regarded as work income, however small, and it affects the amount of unemployment benefit they pay. The photo bureau pays photo sales to a photographer in May if the photographer's portion is at least 100 euros, and in December with any sum. Should I in the meantime collect photo sales for at least 200 euros, I can ask for payment anytime. But as it is now, I have to do the maths very carefully, because if any benefit gained from photo sales is eaten up by the reduction in the unemployment benefit, it's not really worth it to ask for payment.

My second goal for this year is to see my photo sales through the photo bureau increase so much that each individual sale will cease to feel special. Last year and the start of this year has shown promising development to that effect: six picture sales so far, four of these appearing in the sales list between November and now. I'm particularly pleased about the latest sale, which was a picture involving some artistic ambition (as opposed to being a basic documentative picture) (LINK). This desire to see the picture sales increase is not about greed or purely about the money only (although that is nice). It's the idea of gaining some income from your creative work and finding that others like your pictures enough to buy them. It's fun to see who have purchased your pictures. So far it has been private individuals, the ministry of environment, a medical journal, an advertising firm and the Helsinki Commission (Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission).

I have also since a few months begun to participate in what photo competitions I come across if I happen to have or take pictures that are appropriate for the themes of the competition. It's a good, alternative way to try and get some visibility for your pictures, especially as pictures that might be successful in a photo competition are often different from good, i.e. sellable photo bureau photos.