Posts Tagged ‘professional photography’
Hey Amateur! Flirting with Going Pro?
A month and a week back this blog brought you a few caveats about going pro. Today, Annie Tao casts light on How To Know You Are Ready To Become A Professional Photographer.
Actually, she does a bit more than that: she proffers some very sound advice on those oft-overlooked prerequisites, those ‘must-dos’ before you take the plunge. Making mention of the plethora of books and courses on the subject, Tao’s goal is to provide “a short list of topline things” that will tell you when you’re “ready to make the leap.”
Tao’s seven-point checklist-style lesson starts off with “You know your equipment like the back of your hand” which she describes in two pithy lines.
Point 2 is the ‘Reality-Check Point’ (or ‘Reality Checkpoint’): Don’t forget that “Being a Professional Photographer means being an Artist and a Business Person” – the ‘and’ should have been emphasized. Tao gives you a heads-up that “a larger portion of your time” will be taken up with business-side – make that boring-side – activities, of which she lists some.
Points 3 and 6 are related and have to do with the nitty-gritty of the business side. The latter point, though its title talks about ‘documents’, enlightens you to the importance of things like contracts, business registration, separate bank account, and consulting with a small-business attorney. Point 3 advises you to get your business plan clear in your head “before you start your business” because changing course later can be difficult.
On these scores, it wouldn’t be out of place to mention that our Australian readers would do well to look up the AIPP for career planning from the very outset. For the pro who’s just getting started the AIPP can be a goldmine of guidance.
Points 4 and 5 are marketing-side items and it’s a pity they’re not fleshed out. It’s all well and good to advise readers that a good portfolio is essential and to use social media to share your images but how do you differentiate yourself from the crowd? Entering contests and getting a win or a recognition, face-to-face networking with everyone from fellow pros to friends, and keeping your own blog ticking with fresh content, are a few concrete ways to market your services and (try to) stand out.
Tao closes out her list with a “ridiculously simple, but . . . often overlooked” essential: Photographer, Know Thyself. She advises you to choose your speciality and do what you do best and love most in the field. Sound advice.
If you’re an amateur flirting with going pro then this very readable article is an excellent preliminary checkpoint.
Ideas from Two Pros . . . and Caveats about Going Pro
One month back we published an article about photographers drawing inspiration from works of art. Coincidentally, earlier today, Gina Milicia wrote, “Some people will tell you that it’s wrong to copy but for centuries, every generation of artist has imitated the masters before them” in an article about ‘5 Fail Proof Portrait Poses’.
It is more of a post than an article but Milicia gives a few sharp and unusual suggestions and illustrates each with a photo. Her post is not so much about static poses as commonly understood but includes dynamic ‘poses’ as well. The aim is to relax a self-conscious subject and get him/her ‘loose’. One suggestion: ask your subject to jump for joy!
Richard Bram is similar to Milicia in that he photographs people but dissimilar in that he shoots candids, “the quirkier moments in the events I was covering [which became the] beginning of the edgier street photographs,” as quoted in this interview with Bram on the Leica Blog.
Bram’s experiences in PR and personal bent are such that street photography is only one area that appeals to him – travel and musicians are also of interest to Bram.
This lengthy interview is worth reading for the in-depth ideas it conveys about a particular photographic approach and style in which the background is of vital importance and whose ultimate goal is to capture “the significant gesture.”
Bram says, “One evening at a party, I told a friend who’d run a fine art photography school in Louisville that I was thinking of becoming a photographer.” If you are harbouring the same intentions, then before taking the plunge, read 10 Myths About Being a Professional Photographer by Ron Longwell.
Many of Longwell’s ‘heads-ups’ are spot-on and to-be-expected, like “Professional photographers get to set their own schedule.” Yet others are equally spot-on but are surprising eye-openers, such as “The market is oversaturated with photographers.” Isn’t it good to know that that is a myth?!
One or two of Longwell’s ‘myths’ are a bit odd. For instance, “I need professional camera gear to be a pro photographer.” Hmm, methinks you do need pro gear if you’re going to be a pro . . . better not turn up at that ad agency shoot with a Coolpix or Cyber-shot – else that may be the first and last day of your pro career!
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