How did ya?
goldilocksandmy3bears
Registered Users Posts: 423 Major grins
Ok I think this question can go under here.. What was your "technique" in starting your photography business?
Heres my thoughts tell me what you think...
Since I am just starting out, once I learn my way around photoshop I would like to call a few people and tell them " I am taking a photography class and need a few subjects (which is true), would you be interested?" Then tell them they can have whomever they want in the picture : their kids, their family themselves, etc. Tell them along with being my subject I will give them a free picture (maybe a 5x7 or something), show them all the pictures that were taken and if they like any others they can purchase them. From there, I get exposure and experience and perhaps they will pass the word. What do you think?
Heres my thoughts tell me what you think...
Since I am just starting out, once I learn my way around photoshop I would like to call a few people and tell them " I am taking a photography class and need a few subjects (which is true), would you be interested?" Then tell them they can have whomever they want in the picture : their kids, their family themselves, etc. Tell them along with being my subject I will give them a free picture (maybe a 5x7 or something), show them all the pictures that were taken and if they like any others they can purchase them. From there, I get exposure and experience and perhaps they will pass the word. What do you think?
Courtney
0
Comments
I am just a few steps ahead of you in my venture. For years I did free stuff for friends ( not photography) making ads, flyers, program books for local pageants, which involved photos and computer skills. Now an empty nester I wanted something to do that might make a little money.
I began with a few online classes. I have a friend with 3 children that wanted me to take their pictures. I have done this a number of times, always for free and she has been telling her friends. That was great practice. She was my guiney pig. Then I got a website to show my pictures to anyone that was interested, and of course got business cards with the address and a photo I took.
I attended a baby shower and as a gift I gave them a certificate for free baby photos.
My first "paid" photoshoot was really a trade. I have a gentleman that sprays my Arizona home for bugs once a month, and I always show him my latest work. He has 4 children, he offered to spray my house free for two months to take photos of his wife and kids. I did, and later booked a family that saw those pictures and then another family that saw theirs.. And then my "bugman" booked me again.
I post photos from these events online at Kodak and let them buy them direct, I only charge a small fee for the shoot and the editing. This way they can send the link to friends and that is the key, they show their friends! And I can email the link to my friends.
Right now I have very low prices, and since Kodak is so affordable for prints anyone can afford me. People seem to like to get the prints that way.
My daughter lives in Colorado, after showing her friends my work, one of them booked a shooting with me when we visited at Christmas. Now she has shown those to people at work and I may have more clients when I return in April for the birth of my grandson.
So my advice is to offer freebies for friends to get the pictures out there. Give people a lot for the money. Keep your friends and family updated via email of your recent favorite photos. Hand out your cards everywhere you go.
Recently I had lunch with two former pageant girls. They both had children so I snapped away. One of them is into photography a bit herself and she lives in town. When I emailed her a few edited pictures of her children she loved them and wants me to photograph her new baby.
A friend booked me to make a printed photo album for a Christmas gift for her husband, he is a builder and she wanted to surprise him with pictures from all the homes he built in this area. When I ordered hers, I ordered an extra one for me, I take it every where.
My husband thinks my prices are too low, but I disagree for now. That is what is getting the appointments. These people otherwise would not be getting family photos at all, so I have a little niche started.
Good Luck!
Trudy
oh, one more thing, I take my camera everywhere.For example when my friend with 3 children invites me over for a party or whatever, I take photos and people ALWAYS want to see pictures of thier own children, so I edit and post a few from the event and she emails them to her friends. She is planning a day for me to come out, she lives an hour away, to do her girls again and then hopes to book her friends for the same day as long as I am out there!
www.CottageInk.smugmug.com
NIKON D700
Well.....
My Dad was a pro wedding photographer back in the 70's early 80's so I have grown up around photography.
A few years back I purchased a Canon 350D (Rebel to you guys in the USA) with a standard 17-55 lens. My Dad gave me a few pointers beyond the basics that I already knew, I headed off to the local park and snapped at a few ducks and plants went home and I was amazed at how I had done. The camera was left in 'fully automatic' mode for the first few weeks as I got a 'feel' for it but I knew that I wanted to go that little bit further and fully understand shutter priority etc.
Over the years I have upgraded to better cameras and lens and really appreciated the transformation between the upgrades. I got to a point were people that saw my photographs said, "Hey, you've really got a eye for this, do you do portraits etc". I had never even thought about offering my services never mind selling any of my work.
One day I sat down with my wife and explained that I really think I could make some money doing photography. She was behind me 100%, I would need a few more lenses, studio lights, back drops etc. What did I have to loose apart from a little money and some of my personal time. I then had a good chat with my Dad about wedding and what was expected dealing with clients, the poses, the up and downs and everything in-between. He explained that todays weddings are more natural than the classic poses he used to do, however... "I have every faith in you son, you can without a doubt do this". He advised me to study websites, learn the poses, look at how other people do it, understand lighting, exposure of the brides dress and so on.
For 4 months I studied poses from magazines, shot over 4000 photographs to test lighting, visited local churches just to make sure I was able to do this.
It was obvious that if I was going to offer a professional service I would need a second shooter to cover the candid shots of the wedding party. I managed to train a close friend in 3 weeks to shoot in aperture priority mode to cover the candid shots, she had very little SLR experience but she listened and understood everything I told her. To this day I am amazed at how quickly and well she picked it up.
Then, it happened. A girl at work asked if I knew a wedding photographer. We stepped up to the opportunity and offered to shoot her wedding for no fee. I explained that it would be our first but comforted her showing her some of my shots inside churches etc. The wedding day came and we shot the wedding, everything went to plan. I was VERY nervous but all the practice without a doubt came in very handy, all the shots came out exactly how we expected them. The photographs were given to the bride a few days after the honeymoon and as she looked at them for the first time the tears flooded from her eyes. Only then did I know than we had done a OK job.
We then shot another wedding for no charge, again the results were good and at this point we decided that we really should be charging for our services.
We put up a website, we advertised, we gave business cards to everyone we knew. After a few weeks the bookings came in. We were busy, mainly portraits and a few wedding bookings. It was an amazing feeling, we were doing something that we both enjoyed and we were making good money doing it.
Being busy turned out to be a massive problem. We would shoot a portrait session on the Saturday and spend most of Sunday processing the photographs, uploading them to the website, sorting out previous print orders. To be honest it all got a bit too much, it was killing our family time as we both had normal jobs in the week. One day I had had enough, I have a 7 year old daughter an awesome wife and a family who were getting neglected. I spoke at great length about this to my wife and my business partner and the decision was mine, we either continue or we stop. I decided to stop !!
All of this happened a few months back and today I find myself still been asked about portraits, commercial, wedding etc. I still do the odd occasional photography job but I do not advertise my services anymore. At present I would say I am doing 2 maybe 3 jobs a month which is nice.
If I was to offer advice it is:
- Stay on a forum (here is great, other forums are full of ego maniacs)
- Look, read and understand how people have done a certain look
- Ask questions
- Post photographs and ask for honest opinions (don't be upset if its harsh)
- Take photographs by the bucket full
- Understand each and every camera feature
- Learn how to use your camera and switch to and from various settings quickly.
Above all, have fun and thoroughly enjoy what you choose to do.Few wedding photographs from the, 'I'll shoot your wedding for free' days.
More available [HERE]
Scotto, that is a fantastic post that I hope MANY people read. And, not at all by the way, I'm not surprised you were booked solid - those are great photos!
Here's a supplemental question (I'm not turning pro, but the comment piqued my interest so I'll jump in with it for others who read this thread): in another thread, somebody wrote: ".... is no pro obviously, if she was pro she wouldn't have to work elsewhere"
Is this really the case? I would assume that the majority of professional photographers actually hold down other jobs as well, the same way that plenty of "working professional opera singers" also have concurrent income sources to their performance gigs - only a small percentage of professional singers live *exculsively* on their performance income (I'd guess it's 10% or fewer). Granted, for many of us it's singing-related work (ie, teaching alongside performance commitments) but I'm still wondering if there's a similar parallel in photography.
Discuss
My feeling on the professional accolade are the same as yours.
You do not have to do a profession exclusively to be classed as a professional. If you are offering a service regularly and you are getting paid for that service I would class this as 'professional'
From dictionary.com
pro⋅fes⋅sion⋅al –adjective
1. following an occupation as a means of livelihood or for gain: a professional builder.
2. of, pertaining to, or connected with a profession: professional studies.
3. appropriate to a profession: professional objectivity.
4. engaged in one of the learned professions: A lawyer is a professional person.
5. following as a business an occupation ordinarily engaged in as a pastime: a professional golfer.
6. making a business or constant practice of something not properly to be regarded as a business: “A salesman,” he said, “is a professional optimist.”
7. undertaken or engaged in as a means of livelihood or for gain: professional baseball.
8. of or for a professional person or his or her place of business or work: a professional apartment; professional equipment.
9. done by a professional; expert: professional car repairs.
Perhaps a separate thread for this subject, I would love to continue to read how people got involved and progressed
After deciding to give up the coin habit, I agreed to keep photographing the coins. This led to my old clients asking for small product shots of their various businesses.
After many days of contemplation, I decided that it may be a good way to keep busy. Plus it is something that I enjoy. The hardest transition was and still is taking pictures of things/people farther away than a few inches. Being in a position of not having to work allows me to control what I shoot and for whom.
I focus on product photography as this is what I know, and slowly I am branching out to other areas. I have shot a few sports and a couple of events. Getting the work (at least for me) has been the easiest part.
Having spent my entire adult life in management or business owner I have built a great number of contacts around the nation.
Being a business person 1st and a photographer 2nd, the transition to this field has been a simple one. Most of the photographers that I have met seem to forget or never learned about the business end of it. For me photography is a learning experience and one that I enjoy studying. I am thankful that I got lucky twice in my life. I get to earn a living doing what I enjoy.
Website
Great post Scotto.
My Images | My Lessons Learned and Other Adventures
Excellent point and one with which most struggle.
My Images | My Lessons Learned and Other Adventures
So true, so true.
My background and prior career included marketing and public relations. That eventually evolved into a PR consultancy and freelance writing business. I got into photography almost of necessity - my editors wanted photos to accompany my articles and I had a yen to do it. My first foray professionally was at the World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany, four years ago.
Since then I've taken courses, studied, bought and read books on both photographic technique AND the business of photography (which is not unlike any other business in that respect), and practiced, practiced, practiced. I'm just venturing out beyond equine event photography into family and pet portraiture and SOME wedding photography (only if the wedding will be relatively casual. This forum has been very helpful and I agree with a comment made by someone else earlier in this thread about egomaniacs on some other forums.
For myself I shoot landscapes and make posters for my friends and family.
And I love what I do.
http://www.imagesbyceci.com
http://www.facebook.com/ImagesByCeci
Picadilly, NB, Canada
Interesting and possibly quite valid. I have a business background, so for me to turn 'pro', all it really took was taking my existing photography and deciding to make a business out of it --- invest, business plan, updates, marketing plan, etc. I'm happily ingesting business books with more glee than I did in college, that's for sure
Wow. Great story. You certainly do have a lot of talent there but I do wonder. Why did you stop? You could easily turn this into a full time career and be happy doing something you love. Your work is amazing. Hope that you continue shooting....