This may not be the right forum for my question but I didn't get a response when I posted to r/jobs.
Here's the backstory.
I work as a graphic designer for a non-profit. Part of my job (about 20%) is photography and videography and the editing of those things. While I am mostly a graphic designer, I do have some experience in photography (several college courses) and while I am not AT ALL an expert, I have gotten complements from my coworkers, friends, and family on the quality of work I've done in this job. I'm not trying to brag about it. I'm actually not super confident, but I'm just trying to illustrate that the quality of my work has not been an issue at all.
I got a new supervisor last fall and photography has been an issue with her since she started. While she is technically my supervisor, her predecessor treated our relationship very casually and would not interfere with my work unless I had a specific question or sought advice. And while this is generally true with my new supervisor, the exception is photography.
She was once a freelance photographer and has talked a lot about how much she misses it and wishes she could do it again but doesn't have the time or resources. Since she has started she has attempted to come to every photo shoot she can despite her admitting to being overwhelmed with her own work (she is our program's marketing professional). I am not opposed to learning from her but she is not a good teacher. She rattles off technical jargon and doesn't stop to ask if I understand or even explain what she's talking about. Sometimes it's like she's not even talking to me, but to herself. She will come to a photo shoot and literally stand behind me or next to me and ask me questions like, "Are you sure you have enough light?" It feels very intimidating and not a comfortable learning environment. She wants us to set up lighting hours before a shoot. This is ridiculous to me and a waste of our time and resources. She has also criticized photos that other people have praised and that I really like. I get that she is viewing things through a professional lens (pun intended) but we're a grant-funded nonprofit whose audience is people in extreme poverty. We're not a magazine. I actually worry sometimes that if our look is too slick it will alienate our audience.
This all came to a head last week when she came to me and asked to take over doing photography. She framed it as her taking something off my plate that I don't want to do. The truth is that I would enjoy it, if she would leave me alone. I said no and she took that okay but has continued to aggressively insert herself into anything photography related. We have a lot of projects coming up that are going to need photos and I'm really dreading it. I do not want her to come along to every shoot or insisting that we spend an entire day on one shoot. We literally end up using 1 or 2 photographs from each session for our materials.
I feel really disrespected by her asking to take over part of my job. I have a lot of things I could learn about photography, but rather than giving me tips or resources for learning, I feel like she's trying to push me out of doing my job because she has a personal desire to do it herself. I could understand if being very hands on were just her style of management, but this is the only part of my job where she acts like this.
I am planning on approaching her about this again, but I am trying to decide how to frame the conversation. As of right now, I am thinking of leaving all emotion out of it and just talk about the use of resources and time management, but she is a very emotional person and I can see this conversation going pear-shaped pretty fast.
How do I set boundaries with her in a way that I feel happy with and doesn't piss her off?
TLDR: Supervisor is stepping over her job boundaries and trying to nudge me out of my responsibilities. How do I have a productive conversation about this that will get her out of my hair?
Submitted September 26, 2019 at 08:51AM by SandwichOtter https://ift.tt/2m4yPJk
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