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.

[windrider86]

Be prepared for a lot of hard work. First you need equipment and you'll need to learn how to take photographs, next you need to learn to post process them. These are basic steps. You'll need to decide what your niche is and in what direction you are wanting to take your new skills.
Photojournalism? art? Will you work for someone or freelance? There are plenty of wonderful books out there on getting started.
I would do some Google searches and start by doing research and reading.

[sybren]

Welcome to the forum! I think you've found the right place.

Many times I've heared the question "I want to make money with photography" answered with "get a well paid job, and do photography in your free time".

Before even thinking about making money and starting a career, how about starting with photography first and worry about the rest later? The best career move is learning, enjoying and living photography. Who cares that it's not where the money is coming from? By shooting just for yourself you only do what you want to do, which is good fun.

If you're good, people will be drawn to your photos. Just focus on those photos first.

[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

[Jim Bryant]

Educate yourself.......not just in photography, but marketing and business. You spend at least six hours a day drumming up business and only two or more actually taking pictures.

Read Jim's thrice daily columns on how to give all your time and money away to something that will probably never love you back.

[kencaleno]

Originally Posted by 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

"How long is a piece of string?" is a valid question,and the answer is: " Twice the distance from the centre to one end."

[DannyF1966]

Head over to www.zarias.com and look at some of the critique videos he's posted there. You'll learn a lot from your own mistakes, but those who are good at what they do (in whatever field) learn from other people's mistakes as well.

And if those critique videos don't put you off for life, go for it :-)

[Jim Bryant]

Originally Posted by maxharvard

Read Jim's thrice daily columns on how to give all your time and money away to something that will probably never love you back.

Hahahahahaha.....they are just UBI's Useless bits of information

[RexK_Cozumel]

Honestly the first thing you should do is learn how to take properly exposed, technically "correct" photographs. Once you have that down try to get an apprenticeship with a photographer that shoots the field you are interested in. Learn as much as possible about the industry from that photographer and hopefully along the way you will have picked up a style of your own. Then learn as much as possible about how to run a business and marketing/networking. Hopefully through the apprenticeship you will have developed some contacts in the industry and will have it easier when you start your own business.

Note that this is a long process and depending on who the photographer is you might have a lot to learn from them or very little. While I would not leave an apprenticeship too quickly, I would also not hang around too long if I felt that I knew everything that the photographer had to teach. I would say between 1 year to 5 years of apprenticeship should be enough.

Photography is a very tough business and it is only getting harder as more and more people can afford dSLRs. The fact of the matter is that while some people appreciate the hard work and art of a good professional photographer and will pay accordingly, the majority of people out there just want "ok" or "decent" images at a inexpensive rate.

It seems, and I know Jim Bryant and a couple other pros here on DPS will agree with me on this, that nowadays everyone is going out and buying a $400 dSLR and calling themselves a "Pro". While these people are no where near as good as someone that has spent years of his life perfecting their trade. The fact of the matter is a lot of clients will go with these people because they are "friends" or the client does not care about the quality if they are saving thousands of dollars.

While I am not saying that you or anyone else on this site is like those people. The fact that you are here and wanting to learn is evidence of at least a little bit of interest in becoming better. There, unfortunately, are a lot of people out there that are exactly like what I described. In fact I think one of our members got a very rude e-mail from one of these people. There was a post about it here in General Chit Chat yesterday I believe.