Tog On Two Wheels- Motorcycle Photographer

Hi there
My name is peter (aka Tog ) and I would like to share my story of being a self employed photographer during the pandemic. For a while at the start of the pandemic and various periods throughout I have been unable to work as a photographer at weddings, events, portrait sessions ect. This has taken a huge impact on my financial situation like many in the UK . I unfortunately also lost my photography studio I opened at the start of the pandemic due to the lack of grants and simply the ability to work while under lockdown. This extended to my weddings clients having to rebook also or cancel all together. This is a business I have poured my heart and soul into for all my adult life. making sacrifices along the way to make sure my family (fiancée and 3 young children had a roof and food in their bellies). Having bought our house 2 year prior and having to put all savings just to afford the house deposit left me with not much left once the pandemic hit.
Some being me (a stubborn man who won't give up easy) I tried doing doorstep photography which was okay but really didn't manage to pay off many bills during the first lockdown . Then when the nightclubs and pubs opened up I was then able to resume my nightclub photography gig's even though restrictions where put into place. I didn't make too much but it was enough to make sure all bills were paid off which I was more then happy about. Then the closure of all hospitality venues at 10PM and table service only really made my job even more difficult to generate an income. This was about October time 2020. Feeling I was a failure to my family and myself I fell into an extreme depression and felt there was no way out of this but kept it a secret until I simply couldn't hold out for much longer. I contacted my doctor and explain how I was feeling mentally at this point in time but rather then speaking to me and giving me the time to fully explain my feelings I was then given a set of tablets which really didn't do me any good. I tried a weeks worth of medication which made me feel much worst so some might say I'm stupid for doing this but I decided to throw them away and work on myself to make me feel better by doing things I liked doing by taking photos up the Brecon Beacons of wildlife ect. This is when my life changed ...a new me was about to be born.
As a keen biker, I have used my motorcycles to travel to different destinations around the UK for a number of years. One of my favourite places to stop by is Llandovery and in Llandovery a friend of mine owns a cafe called ''The Owls Nest''. I have been in two minds for years about doing motorcycle photography but did not think there was anything worth doing as a career. I spoke to the owner and friend of mine Ian who gave me the advice to try it out to see if it would work as I was not doing much right now . So I did ! To my joy it was so fun just to pick up my Canon DSLR again and do photography. As bikers would pass by on the A40 I would simply snap them as they went by. To my surprise a lot of people on motorbikes love having their photo taken while riding on their pride and joys, all polished up , gleaming under the Autumn sun. I set up my Tog On Two Wheels page for photography so people could view their images and a few people wanted to buy them which I was so happy about. I was once again able to make some form of income (at first it wasn't much but then started to gain popularity in the local biker community ) . I was really enjoying myself until the dreaded Lockdown came into place December 2020 which did not stop me from traveling to work but stopped other bikers from coming down to have their photo taken. With weddings having again to be rebooked or cancelled I was back to where I was. But an interest was still there for me to continue to peruse the biker photos. I took my time away from the road side to get to know the other bikers online so that once the time came I would have a small but loyal following to which I have managed to secure some lifetime friendships for the pure love of motorcycles and people.
With the support from Ian (Owls Nest Owner) and other biker Facebook pages I felt there was hope. As soon as restrictions lifted I was out taking photo's of bikers around Brecon Beacons from March all the Way till September. Making new friends and learning so much about a great bunch of people the Tog On Two Wheels brand made a small but steady income. Which is purely on a commission basis selling digitals, prints, ect. Hell we even came out and supported our fellow bikers on Charity runs, funerals ect as that is the right thing to do. Normally we would spend about 5-8 hours a time on the side of the road in multiple weather conditions ranging from snow to blistering sunshine. While on my adventures around Brecon Beacons I did my little bit to help tidy up people's discarded rubbish that was throw on the sides of the road and in fields, along the way we helped fellow bikers who had also broken down on some really secluded places. tried my best to do the right thing where possible.

We were asked by a lot of people (when I say we I mean me ) if we were doing the photography for magazines ect . This gave me the idea to try and push our photography to the next level as at this point we are currently at 2K followers. Not bad for a guy with a camera at the side of the road . What we want to do is create more content for our YouTube page. While the winter months and possible further travel restrictions will disrupt our work we still want to be able to work and do what we love. We are not asking for much but would like to raise some funds just to help keep us afloat and help towards making new content for our loyal followers. We will invest our money in new camera gear , fuel for our motor vlogs, advertisement and also gifts for the people who have been the most loyal to us ,

Although we started to do pretty well and built some great communities the Covid struggles and regulations are once again soon to affect us, We understand this is a tough time for everybody and we will be thankful for whatever anybody can help us with.

 We also want to take this time to thank every single person that has supported the Tog On Two Wheels photography page over the last year and the ones who continue to support us during these tough and challenging times. We will try our hardest to keep on making this a fun, enjoyable motorcycle photography business and YouTube page ! After all I am nothing without you guys which means the world to me. Thankyou all who have helped me support my family . The friendships I have made will last a life time. Be safe everyone and have a Merry Christmas
Kind regards Tog