[Jim Bryant]

There’s not a day that passes where I don’t see a post concerning on how to start a photography business or some other such advice from someone who’s eager to jump into the pro ranks.

With all the multitudes Digital SLR thrown into the marketplace, taking good pictures is all within the reach and use of almost anyone who isn’t blind and can see. It’s so easy, in fact, that a National Geographic magazine once ran a cover photo taken by a gorilla (October 1978). It’s come to be that we all know photographers who must be related to this gorilla.

There is little doubt that the ease with which photography is being made today is also the reason many photographers hang out their shingles as professionals prematurely. These “professionals” more often than not do not have the photographic equipment, photographic skills and business knowledge, to be in any business, let alone those necessary to fulfill the far-ranging rollercoaster demands of commercial photography.

You need to educate yourselves; In order to compete in this business:
1: you need to invest in the equipment (photographic and studio) and know how it all works. Use the best equipment available, the best you can afford, that is for the job at hand. Just think of this as a parachute jump: the last thing you want to worry about is the equipment.
2: you need to take photography classes, attend seminars and workshops to learn what you camera and lenses can do for you in the non-auto modes. You can also do this by assisting, not seeking and accepting a job that you may not be ready to handle. If you attempt to learn any profession solely on the jog, the profession as a whole suffers a loss of credibility. If you can’t afford that, go to the library to check out books and the bookstore to purchase them. I’ll include a listings of books I have in my library.
3: Learn the business side of photography. You need a business plan! The real world calls these goals a business plan and you should have one, too. For most part this means writing down and evaluating your assets, capabilities, clients, and realistic hopes for their use, growth and profit. There is more to photography than the ability to make and sell great images. You must administer those images into profit, in other words, “take care of business.”

No matter how small, or which business format you establish, You should sooner of later get a business licenses. All cities and states have basic requirements for tax registration, licenses, permits and the like. Most, including the Federal government, will provide you with some sort of “getting started in business” booklet. They will also help you start a business format. Do not overlook these forms, as our local and national governments have plenty of time and opportunity to levy penalties for such oversights.

This includes record keeping system, forms, bookkeeping, banking, financial file/check systems, taxes, inventory and proper insurance, and equipment inventory.

Photography is always a process of:
1. Selling
2. Showing
3. Proposing
4. Estimating
5. Bidding
6. Negotiating
7. Producing
8. Delivering
9. Invoicing
10. Collecting
11. Following up

Some of my reference material:
The Big picture – Lou Jacobs jr.
ASMP’s Professional Business Practices in Photography
Building your Photography Business – Vik Orenstein
Best Business Practices for Photographers – John Harrington
Business Basics for the Successful Commercial Photographer – Leslie Burns-Dell’Acqua
The Real Business of Photography 0 Richard Weisgrau
How to Succeed in Commercial Photography - Selina Maitreya
Photography - Focus on Profit – Tom Zimberoff
The Photographers guide to Marketing & Self Promotion – Maria Piscopo
Lighting and the dramatic portrait – Michael Grecco
Business and legal forms for Photographers – Ted Crawford
The Photographers Organizer – Michal Heron

My suggestion to all those who want to take the leap. Educate yourselves. Join one of the professional photographic associations out there. American Society of Media Photographers, Wedding Photographers or Professional Photographers International. What you can learn by being a part of those memberships are invaluable. Going out and blowing a job because of non-experience will kill your reputation as a photographer. For those photographers reading this post, hoping to learn some quick and easy way to success in this crazy business, I wish you luck and good business.

The only suggestion I can offer the beginning and those want be professional photographer is the advice I follow everyday. Do what you love and love what you do. Live every day as thought it were your last and learn every day as through you will live forever. And always get a contract signed, cash up front, at least 1/2 of the amount, so you and bill the other half later.