Photographers face a 100 mile per hour wind straight at their head the day they say, I’m a professional. It’s easy to make money in photography, opportunities are everywhere. That is one reason why so many people follow their passion and become professionals. Unfortunately, it’s hard to make money consistently, earn regular assignments that will pay all your bills and deliver the lifestyle you deserve. You must be at the top of your game to become one of the top ten percent of photographers who actually make a family supporting living from their craft. Below are three things photographers should avoid if they wish to pursue a joyful career in photography.
Avoid telling people you photograph anything and everything.
Develop a specialty. The reality is most photographers need more than one source of income. I’m not suggesting you can’t be a jack of all trades to earn money, but not when marketing your work. When you are explaining to people what you photograph, you are marketing. If I say I can photograph anything, I’m not special. Keep your message clean and clear. Share your specialty and why people should select you. Then stop, don’t dilute your message.
The same goes for your website and portfolio. Keep it focused.
I tell people I’m a food photographer because the message travels further. I make food look awesome so my clients can sell more. People remember because they don’t meet many food photographers. When they find an opportunity or someone in need of food photography, the competition for the referral is low.
I know, you think you will miss an opportunity for failing to tell them everything you are capable of photographing. Heck, one time because you shared a long list you got a job. I’m here to tell you; you lost more opportunities along the way.
In some cases I do share my three specialities. I photograph corporate people, food and interiors. Usually people take the speciality that is relevant to them. I’ve found that sharing one specialty is best and more than three will confuse your audience.
Avoid compromising your best for clients who don’t have photographic vision or care.
I’ve had clients who really don’t want highly creative images. They want everything straight on, with a large depth of field and don’t you dare cut anything off around the edges of the frame. Shadows? heck no, keep it clean. They hire me for my portfolio, but don’t want any character in their photos. They play it safe.
This is a common development for regular clients. You know what they want, so you leave your creativity at home. I found this situation when photographing for some magazines. The editor played it safe and rarely printed my creative images. Eventually, the magazine management would shake things up. More than once a new editor would inform me that my services were no longer needed. I would ask why?
We are going in a different direction. This is code for we’ve seen your work; we think you suck.
I’ll ask what direction they are considering. The fresh, new, energetic editor will explain their vision or share a style of another photographer. I’ll ask them to look at the work I submitted that their predecessor didn’t use. The work is usually in their archive or I will happily share some samples with them. Eighty percent of the time, I earn the client back.
My solution is to photograph exactly what the client wants and then create a few more exciting images, just in case. I don’t compromise my vision, but I do wish to be paid.
Avoid equipment being the focus of your craft.
Equipment is fun, but it doesn’t make you a better photographer. I’ve created incredible images for international campaigns with a Canon Rebel and only two mid-grade prime lenses available. That is a story for another time. Despite the equipment I used, my vision, skill and the imagery delivered was not compromised.
Good equipment and toys are helpful. They can support you in creating your vision. You should be able to compete with most any photographer using a base model camera, 50mm lens and one light. It’s true, photographers such as sports and wildlife professionals should invest in a longer lens, but it doesn’t make them a better photographer. It takes work, but you can still shoot sports and wildlife with a 50mm.
Be a specialist, never stop developing your skill and let your equipment be the support — not the master of your vision.
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