Advice please

[mickyjordan11]

HI all

Im new to the forum and just would like some advice if possible.

Im interested in becoming a photographer but I have no experiece and know nothing about the field. Im 28 and just wondering how I can get into this career. What are the best steps to take, contacts etc.

Also please can you advise me if this is a profitable career move and is there a lot of work out there for photographers.

Sorry if these questions sound a bit silly, Im just trying to find a new direction in my life.

Thanks in advance for your replies and help.

[gordon g]

There are a lot of different photography careers. I know several photographic professionals, only one of whom makes the majority of his income through actually doing photography.
Examples: landscape photographer, who runs photographic courses as the main part of his business. Owner of a small IT business who does all his company's advertising images himself. Lecturer in photography (to be fair, he used to run his own portraiture business). A couple who run a business selling holiday postcards. (They do make their own images, but only for a day or two a month.)Forensic photographer and videographer for the police. This last friend is the only one who regularly uses a camera as to make his living. Myself, I am an amateur who gets commissions - usually unpaid for charitable concerns that I have some connection with.
From conversations with my friends, and other professional photographers, it seems to me that understanding and enjoying running a small business is more important, and certainly a larger part of making a living, than photographic ability. If you're going to make this a career, then you should enjoy setting up and running a business, advertising yourself and your services, working with people (even if you are a product or technical photographer, you'll still need this to make your business work) as much as your photography - especially as it wont be your photography, but images for someone else!
Assuming you have the photographic skills, then learning the business, for example by assisting a professional, would be a good learning step. Also build a portfolio to sell yourself on - potential employers and customers are all going to want to see what you can do. Only one of my friends has a formal qualification in photography (the lecturer), two were journalists and the couple ran a printing business.
Profitable? probably not, at least to start with, and always a lot of work. No idea how the business in the States, but so far my friends, whose businesses are well established, are doing ok through the slump.
Hope that helps!

[jameshudson45]

This is one of those 'how long is a piece of string' questions I'm afraid.

There are many ways to establish yourself as a photographer, and everyone does it slightly differently. But without a doubt one of the best ways into photography as a career is the old fashioned way - by working as an assistant (which is what much of this site is about - have you read the articles?). Studying photography at a college or somewhere certainly helps too, but isn't crucial. Some of the very best photographers are self taught, or have learned while working with someone else.

Photography is hugely competitive, and becoming increasingly more so. Without a doubt, the rewards are there for you to reap them, but you need to make sure you can keep your head above water. You'll know I keep banging on about this if you've read many of the other posts or articles, but I can't emphasise enough how important it is to have good business and marketing nous. In my view, if you want to have a successful photography career (rather than necessarily creating photos that will go down in history), you'd be better off studying something like business first, or at least getting some real life experience of working in a business environment before you launch yourself into the photography world.... And while you're starting out it certainly doesn't harm to have a sideline in something else to keep the cash coming in as it can be a slow old business building up your client base.

Having said that, photography is the best job in the world, so if you think you have even a chance of making it, you should give it a try or you might spend the rest of you're life wondering what you'd missed out on.

Hope this helps

[ikandiggit]

Good points brought up.

If you want to become a professional you have to realize that it is a business. That includes marketing, dealing with clients, paying bills, and producing the finished product.

You have to be competitive and very good at what you do. Technical know-how is a must because you may not have a choice of what lighting, subject matter, or location you will have to work with. You need to know how to get the best results under the worst conditions.

Know your equipment. Is it the right equipment for the job. I've known photographers that had the bare basics and they could out-shoot anyone just because they knew the limits of their equipment and worked within them.

Some photographers develop an "eye" or have it naturally. They can see beautiful or incredible shots that set them apart from other photographers. Do you have an "eye" for photography? Look at some of the great photographers (past and present) and see what it is in their pictures that makes them great.

Find an area that you are interested in and study it.

I had an interest in antiques. I made a side-line business documenting artifacts for small museums who had very limited budgets. Eventually, it led to a contract for a major museum and I did everything including photographing artifacts, shooting pictures for exhibits and providing photos for promotional material.

I also photographed female models. They needed a portfolio to show to agencies and I needed photographs to show off my talents so I did first-time models for free. After seeing my work, the agencies began hiring me to photograph models for their clients.

Being a professional photographer is a terrific career choice and can be very rewarding.

Good luck!