Going Pro - Monday, June 15, 2009 9:00 - 25 Comments

Preparing Yourself for “Getting Out There” as a Professional Photographer

(This is part one of a continuing series on starting out in the world of commercial photography. I am a commercial photographer, not a wedding shooter, but most things would be similar in that genre as well. )

Even in these uncertain times, there are those intrepid souls who want to join the ranks of the professional. From baseball players to race car drivers, there are people working hard at their craft to get their work to the level that it will be their entrance into the ‘big time’ – or, hell, even the medium to small time… but that gives them a chance to go a bit farther if they can.

Recently, at the behest of one of my clients, I looked at four photographer’s books for an upcoming shoot. They were not prepared. Not for any kind of job. Now, the work wasn’t bad at all. But the presentation was awful for all of them. I called each and offered some free consulting if they were interested and most jumped at it. Good.

I posted this adventure at a Flickr Forum with the title “What is a Photographer” to see if we could spark some healthy discussion. We did. Lots of questions raised.

I decided to get to work on a set of posts that would help straighten out my thinking into something coherent on how I would go about getting started today. I did it my way back then. Made a lot of stupid mistakes, and I made a lot of really stupid mistakes. Oh, yeah, I also did some stuff right and that helped get me over the really stupid mistakes.

I think these posts will be long and still may not even brush the surface of what must be done to get ready. But they will get you thinking and planning what needs to be done. And some things will be so easy to say, but so damn difficult to execute. That is the nature of the beast, I guess. There are challenges at every turn, and people ready to sell you a shortcut around every corner. There are no shortcuts and challenges have to be met. Head-on sometimes, and other times you sneak around the back of them and cold-cock the sob’s. Ya just do.

Workshop Information:
Workshop this weekend (June 20, 21, 09) in Missoula, Montana. Not too many workshops come to that part of the world. Don’t miss this one. We have 2 openings left. Come on out and learn to light in a small class workshop atmosphere. Seriously.

Some good writings on other overall important parts of this business… and it is a business from Ken Rockwell.
Ken pulls no punches and this post is excellent. He also has this to say about what level a professional can achieve.

Education:
I am not big on photography schools, or university’s for photography. I don’t really want to debate that issue, so I am just telling you that a $65 – $100K or more investment in a photographic education at most of these institutions will leave you with a mountain of debt and in a daily competition to become an assistant with those who didn’t go to school and incur the debt. This is of course, a matter of personal decisions. If you choose to go to school, work your ass off. Do more, print more, shoot more and participate more than anyone else at your school. The top, I mean the VERY TOP, can move into first assistant positions at some of the larger photographic studios. If you aren’t doing something photographic, be sleeping. And do that as little as possible. Got it? Good.

We will not be dealing with the issues of being a business in this post either. That part you need to work and research on other blogs and online sources. Harrington’s is one of the best. And of course, David’s wonderful Strobist blog and his “Lighting 101″ is a great spot to add to your photographic knowledge.

Well, let’s get on with this initial post on “Getting Out There” as a professional. You can create a PDF of this post online here.

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