Beginning Your Career in Still Photography - A Realistic Introduction

Your job is okay, but you find yourself wanting more out of work and life. You read about photographers who earn a living by selling pictures doing the same things you love to do. Often, you find yourself dreaming of the day when someone will be reading an article about you and looking at your photos in print.

You've invested a pile of hard earned cash into your camera gear and you love taking pictures. Your friends and family are telling you your photos are awesome and you should start selling them and making money. You'd like to do this more than anything but inside you know there's something missing. A lack of confidence perhaps, a feeling there's more to learn or the fact that you get great images sometimes, but not as often as you'd like. You’re not alone.

With a growing number of people dissatisfied with their job, or forced to find other means of income due to layoffs and cut backs, many people are using photography to bolster their shrinking dollars. High quality digital cameras have become less expensive and the technical skill required to create a passable image has declined to the point where many people now view photography as an easy way to supplement or replace their day job altogether.

Word of advice: Look before you leap.

It’s not easy to quit a job that provides the security of a steady paycheck, paid vacation and health insurance to take the gamble of becoming an entrepreneur photographer. The failure rate is unquestionably high but the rewards can be substantial when accompanied by a well thought out and executed plan. Most photographers who do fail do so for this reason; they don't posses enough technical knowledge, business sense and marketing skill to consistently produce and provide clients with a quality product and service.

If you've been laid off then the above discussion is rather moot. You have nothing to lose. Or so you may be thinking. The truth is you must have a well developed technical, creative and marketing skill set if you are to succeed at the business of photography. Be cautious when reading articles on how easy it is to make money with your camera. Most of these articles leave out or gloss over the necessity and importance of the investment in personal time and education involved to create images that set your work apart from others.

If you live in an area with high unemployment then chances are good that there are several people thinking the same as you and reading the same articles about photography as an easy way to earn money. How do you plan to set yourself apart from other photographers in your area? Don't say style. Unless you've been photographing professionally for years your style will most likely be a duplication of someone's you admire. Don't say price either. That's a road you really don't want to go down.

If enough people place comments asking me why I feel it's not a good idea for beginning entrepreneurs to use style and price as ways to set one's work apart I'll be happy to write an article totally devoted to these two subjects.

If you are gainfully employed at a day job and are supplementing your income with your camera you must still learn the skills required to provide your clients with high quality images so you can charge them for the professional service and product they deserve. The most sophisticated programmed camera in the world cannot take a photograph as well as someone who knows how to properly evaluate light and subject. If you don't believe me I've got an easy exercise that you can perform at home to prove my point.

It takes hard work, great photos and a keen sense for marketing and sales to create a successful business from your passion for photography. A couple dozen weddings, portraits, or sporting events don’t constitute a career. To be successful you have to consistently create photography people like and want, know how to properly market it and do so often enough to keep you busy year round with money enough in the bank to pay all those monthly bills that have nothing to do with photography.

It takes education and knowledge to run a successful business. Unless you have the financial resources to hire specialized outside help you are responsible for every aspect of your business from creating the photographs to keeping a detailed accounting of your finances. You have to wear many hats, and not all of them will fit perfectly. When they don’t fit you either have to gain the knowledge needed to get things done or hand the task over to someone who specializes. Live by one rule: If you think you already know it, rest assured that someone will come along and prove you wrong.

Take courage; and lots of it. Courage is what is needed to run a successful business, no matter what that business might be.

Gain knowledge; the more the better. Seek out a peer to mentor and coach you. There will be a cost involved with this, perhaps in money but most certainly you will be required to invest your time. Whatever the price it will be a mere pittance compared to the cost in mistakes that could have been avoided had you invested in someone’s expert help.

Nurture respect; once you summon the courage and acquire the proper knowledge to be successful you can start putting this new found knowledge into practice and begin honestly earning the respect of your peers, community members and clients.

Give back; it’s the right thing to do. It always requires the help of others to achieve our goals, whether from clients, family, friends or peers. Never cease thanking those who help you and never hesitate to lend help and support to those who are at the beginning their own journey. It always comes back to you in a positive way.

There are no shortcuts to running a photography business. There are no shortcuts to learning what you must know about your craft in order to provide the service and quality your clients deserve. If you take shortcuts you certainly hurt yourself, but even more importantly, you deprive your clients of what they are actually paying you for. You may vainly believe it’s your photography but it’s not. When a person comes to you they are paying you for the promise of preserving a precious and personal memory.

A word of caution: Don’t mess with people’s memories. They don’t like it when you do. If you do then that is what they will most definitely remember and I don’t believe this is the memory you wish them to recall.

Many photographers who come to me for coaching have experienced at least one major technical or creative failure and don’t understand why. Unfortunately these failures often involve paying clients. The photographer followed the camera’s manual and made the settings just like before. They didn’t change a thing. So, why didn’t their photos turn out? Had they invested time and effort in learning the basics of photography and not simply memorized a number of predetermined camera settings they would clearly know why.

Before doing anything for pay, pay for the time and cost to learn the technical and creative basics. Then, and only then can you be fully confident in your right to charge someone a fee for creating photographs for them. What ever you do, never stop learning about and perfecting your craft.

My purpose for this article is not to discourage you from taking your passion for photography to the next level by turning it into a business. What I do want you to consider is the reality of the situation so you will be better prepared to succeed. This is a major decision and the moment to seriously consider the cost involved is now. Money comes and goes in life but your time can never be replaced. If this helps you in your decision making process then my time writing this article is time well spent.

The next step is really up to you. At this point only you know if you have what it takes to succeed. Passion is a start, talent helps, but knowing your craft inside out, up side down and backwards will see you through when your passion is waning and your talent falters,and take it from me, you will have those days.

The basics of your craft are the foundation on which everything else is built. Lay a good foundation and whatever you decide to build upon that foundation is sure to survive.

If this article has been helpful please leave a comment. If it hasn't been helpful, give me some feedback and leave a comment. If you'd like to read more articles about the technical, creative and marketing side of beginning a photography business please leave a comment.

Leave a comment telling me what you would like to have a photography coach and mentor write an article about. If there's a consensus I'll be happy to oblige.

Oh, and did I mention? Please leave a comment.

If you need help and like what you’ve read feel free to contact me. I offer 1:1 coaching and will be honored to discuss a mentoring plan if you feel it will be of value to you.