Now

• Still working my day job as an English teacher, which I need to keep my immigration status. Looking to make my exit as soon as that’s doable.
  • Y’ALL THE END OF THE DARK TUNNEL OF TEACHING ENGLISH IS IN SIGHT. Earlier this year, I got married (on Valentine’s day!). My wife is Japanese, which means I have since been able to get a spouse visa. This means I no longer have any work restrictions and can do whatever I want. This page is going to get a lot more interesting from here on out. 
    • UPDATE: Last day was July 12. I’m on my own now. 

Given the above change, here are my current areas of focus: 

• Pivoting back to photography. It’s what I’m good at. It’s what I love. It’s the thing I’ve been shoving into the back seat for entirely too long. This entails:
  • Building a new portfolio to help me find commercial clients, as well as the actual seeking of commercial clients. Here, I will be primarily focusing on product, still life/tabletop, and some amount of food photography (the last of which will be easier once I have my studio space).
  • Returning to work as a photographic educator and coach. It’s not enough to do the creative work myself, I want to help others succeed in their own endeavors as well. 
  • Rebuilding two websites. This one, which is where fine art work, personal projects, and blog will live, and davidrmunson.com, which will be my main commercial portfolio site. They’re both kinda broken and incomplete, and right now page loading times and SEO absolutely blow on both of them.
  • Exploring portraiture as a possible future direction to take more seriously. It’s an area I’ve long been interested in, but as a shy introvert find it difficult to tackle. This will require personal growth. Which is good. 
  • Making a plan for my studio workspace, which I intend to have up and running somewhere in Saitama City by the end of the year.
  • Building print sales. Currently increasing the selection of prints available in the print shop. Also looking to expand to more domestic sales once I have that studio workspace and can do more production myself. Marketing is a challenge for me here, but I’ve got ideas. 
• Teaching English, but differently. My current day job will end mid-July, 2024. I will continue teaching private lessons, but will focus on a different client group than is represented by the small children I currently work with. I’ll be focused on teaching business English to a small but committed group of clients. 
• Entrepreneurship. Nothing public about this area just yet, but I never want to rely on a single income stream. I also want to get my overall income to a level where my wife can quit her job in favor of doing something the actually enjoys. 
• Getting fit, healthy, and strong again. I’m 42, I’ve let some things slip. Gonna get it back under control. 
• And, as always, enjoying life with my wonderful partner (now wife!) and absurd cat.