Pixalo Photography Community - View Single Post - Starting out

Summerleft · 14-08-2007, 14:45

Starting out Part 1.

I’ve been asking questions like a woman possessed on this forum relating to starting out as a professional photographer

Dabhand16 (Ill blame him 100%!) thought that (and I agree) some of you might find how I’m getting on useful, the following is just my personal experience. I’ve tried to write this from my beginner’s perspective and hopefully not treading on the toes of Gary’s excellent guide.

So here goes I’ll start part one and if it gets enough interest then I’ll add a few more

Quick background:

Like most starting out I always had a bit of an interest in photography, from using my dads camera (whatever his fetish was at the time) to the old throw aways and later on my own DSLR’s .

Getting the canon 350D for my birthday started things rolling 2 years ago but had to sell due to loosing my job and it felt like the worst thing in the world.
Luckily months later dad upgraded and gave me my current E300 Olympus complete with 50 million page manual (I kid you not, well maybe a little) 14-45mm and 40-150mm lenses (but apparently and I didn’t know this at the time Olympus is 2x so the lense gives the effect of 300mm) velbon tripod, quickly outgrowing the swordfish bag, and some filters 1x to 10x nothing else fancy or special just the basics, and as we are always told on Pixalo you don’t always need fantastically expensive or complicated equipment.

Anyhow as animals are my thing I started to take pictures, at first they weren’t all that but finding forums such as pixalo and being able to get critique was a god send, without sites like this I think I would still be fumbling in the dark.

Deciding to attempt a career

I love it there’s no question so trying it as a career was the natural step, but how?

Well first off start building a good portfolio with only the pictures I and others think are the best, I show everyone my pic’s, I post on all forums I’m a member of, get them printed take them to work , everywhere - after all they are the people who are eventually going to buy, talk about thus spreading your reputation.

I think the best thing that has happened to date was after having some prints done and taking them to my then job, I didn’t say I had taken them just to get an unbiased opinion and the comment ‘ did you have these done professionally’ will stay with me forever *beam*

Secondly I owe a fair bit to our own pixalo resident Les Meehan his advice short and simple,’ be annoying!’ Well that was my interpretation, Les your free to add …. Before you go running for the hills….

So that was the idea ask everyone , everywhere and then wait…….

Thirdly be confident, a colleague once said to me ‘be confident and everyone will believe you’ I’m not saying go out and lie but if your starting out and know you can do the job don’t tell people your new.

They wont know what you need to do to get a good picture so why tell them you’ve never done it /only done it a few times before either? That goes for contacting people too if your going pro that’s what you are no questions asked, just make sure you keep up the good piccy taking .

What do I need

I have the equipment (enough for now) so what else

I needed something to show or did I?

Well I got my self a website, nothing fancy and added some gallery and space for a lot more also a checkout for people to purchase prints later on and as I mentioned earlier photobox give you 30 free prints 6x4.5 when you register so I took advantage of this and use those as examples as well.

Business cards are a must and with your web address on it’s a worth while cost and you will use them, even if you just hand them to friends at first.

So I’m half armed and feeling brave

Firstly advertising my site, it won’t do it on its own, friends, family, guy in internet café to gauge opinion,

that went well so time to enquire

Now this is the bit where it depends which path you want to take but I contacted every company I thought might be interested in my style and within a month I had request from a well known animal magazine, an equestrian society (I’m now their area tog), and a few folks for general family portraits and covering their track days.

All the above wont pay hugely but will add to my portfolio and reputation (this is the point where you start quivering and hope that something doesn’t go belly up on the day) and as we are always told HAVE A BACKUP CAMERA! *ahem*

All though this all seems great it doesn’t yet feel real, so I decided to ask around about an assistant position, mostly met with no’s but persistence paid off and I got put on one local tog’s list to help with weddings so that will be good experience.

Anyway enough from me for now I will add a part two if there’s enough interest and anything I might have missed please feel free to ask or throw eggs.

14-08-2007, 14:45	#1 (permalink)
Summerleft Feet under the table Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Derbyshire, UK Posts: 1,618	Starting out - my own experience guide Starting out Part 1. I’ve been asking questions like a woman possessed on this forum relating to starting out as a professional photographer Dabhand16 (Ill blame him 100%!) thought that (and I agree) some of you might find how I’m getting on useful, the following is just my personal experience. I’ve tried to write this from my beginner’s perspective and hopefully not treading on the toes of Gary’s excellent guide. So here goes I’ll start part one and if it gets enough interest then I’ll add a few more Quick background: Like most starting out I always had a bit of an interest in photography, from using my dads camera (whatever his fetish was at the time) to the old throw aways and later on my own DSLR’s . Getting the canon 350D for my birthday started things rolling 2 years ago but had to sell due to loosing my job and it felt like the worst thing in the world. Luckily months later dad upgraded and gave me my current E300 Olympus complete with 50 million page manual (I kid you not, well maybe a little) 14-45mm and 40-150mm lenses (but apparently and I didn’t know this at the time Olympus is 2x so the lense gives the effect of 300mm) velbon tripod, quickly outgrowing the swordfish bag, and some filters 1x to 10x nothing else fancy or special just the basics, and as we are always told on Pixalo you don’t always need fantastically expensive or complicated equipment. Anyhow as animals are my thing I started to take pictures, at first they weren’t all that but finding forums such as pixalo and being able to get critique was a god send, without sites like this I think I would still be fumbling in the dark. Deciding to attempt a career I love it there’s no question so trying it as a career was the natural step, but how? Well first off start building a good portfolio with only the pictures I and others think are the best, I show everyone my pic’s, I post on all forums I’m a member of, get them printed take them to work , everywhere - after all they are the people who are eventually going to buy, talk about thus spreading your reputation. I think the best thing that has happened to date was after having some prints done and taking them to my then job, I didn’t say I had taken them just to get an unbiased opinion and the comment ‘ did you have these done professionally’ will stay with me forever beam Secondly I owe a fair bit to our own pixalo resident Les Meehan his advice short and simple,’ be annoying!’ Well that was my interpretation, Les your free to add …. Before you go running for the hills…. So that was the idea ask everyone , everywhere and then wait……. Thirdly be confident, a colleague once said to me ‘be confident and everyone will believe you’ I’m not saying go out and lie but if your starting out and know you can do the job don’t tell people your new. They wont know what you need to do to get a good picture so why tell them you’ve never done it /only done it a few times before either? That goes for contacting people too if your going pro that’s what you are no questions asked, just make sure you keep up the good piccy taking . What do I need I have the equipment (enough for now) so what else I needed something to show or did I? Well I got my self a website, nothing fancy and added some gallery and space for a lot more also a checkout for people to purchase prints later on and as I mentioned earlier photobox give you 30 free prints 6x4.5 when you register so I took advantage of this and use those as examples as well. Business cards are a must and with your web address on it’s a worth while cost and you will use them, even if you just hand them to friends at first. So I’m half armed and feeling brave Firstly advertising my site, it won’t do it on its own, friends, family, guy in internet café to gauge opinion, that went well so time to enquire Now this is the bit where it depends which path you want to take but I contacted every company I thought might be interested in my style and within a month I had request from a well known animal magazine, an equestrian society (I’m now their area tog), and a few folks for general family portraits and covering their track days. All the above wont pay hugely but will add to my portfolio and reputation (this is the point where you start quivering and hope that something doesn’t go belly up on the day) and as we are always told HAVE A BACKUP CAMERA! ahem All though this all seems great it doesn’t yet feel real, so I decided to ask around about an assistant position, mostly met with no’s but persistence paid off and I got put on one local tog’s list to help with weddings so that will be good experience. Anyway enough from me for now I will add a part two if there’s enough interest and anything I might have missed please feel free to ask or throw eggs.