Separating business from pleasure

[Leftyplayer]

I started out as a hobbyist. Set up a facebook fan page so I could have a place to show friends and family my photography (I didn't want annoy disinterested friends by putting all that stuff on my personal page, this way those that were interested in looking could "like" my page). Anyway, I've shifted this year into semi-professional work, doing portraits of kids and high school seniors as well as a few art prints that I'll be showing in galleries. For my professional work, I've adopted a business name -- when I set up my fan page, it was just "first name photography".

The thing I'm noticing is that my fan base continues to grow on my hobby page. Nothing major, but it has expanded outside of my family and friendship circle as they tell THEIR friends and family to check out my page. The clear solution is for me to merge pages, which would be easy to do at this early stage in the game. BUT, my fan page has always consisted of my personal work that I deem my favorites and want to share. My "professional" page is there for marketing my professional photography services and to show off client favorites that they may share with their friends and family. It has a more consistent look, feel and style because it's got a "branding" approach to it. My personal fan page, on the other hand, will have a macro of a flower one day and a ghostly bride fashion shoot the next.

How do the professionals among you balance showing your professional work in a cohesive manner against having a "fun space" to share your personal projects and experiments?

 

[12sndsgood]

When I started doing this I just kept it simpe. I kept the professional stuff on my business page, and any fun.personal stuff I keep on my own page. But if you have a hobby page who's to say you don't keep it. people on your hobby page may not be your customers. I just dont have the time to put into several diffrent pages.

 

[tirediron]

...How do the professionals among you balance showing your professional work in a cohesive manner against having a "fun space" to share your personal projects and experiments?

Don't put anything on the Internet with your name on it that you don't consider to be up to your own personal standard, regardless of where you put it. If people see your name associated with sub-par images, even if they're only family snaps, they're going to question your ability in the much the same way people would wonder about a dentist with bad teeth, or a mechanic with a broken down car. If you do want a place for holiday snaps, etc, then start a new page which has NO association with your DBA.