Photography School

13. When you graduate photography school, you'll need to start out your professional photography career as a generalist.

When most aspiring professional photographers begin their careers in photography, they imagine being a specific type of photographer; a sports photographer, a fashion photographer, or maybe even a architectural photographer, but seldom do students want to become a “generalist” commercial photographer. 

They don’t seem to realize that very few photographers are able to go strait into a “specialty”, but need to start out doing all types of photography.  Then, later, They’re able to go into a more specialized field.  There are several reasons that novice professional photographers begin as generalist commercial photographers, and here are just a few of those reasons…

Money is one big reason to start off as a generalist in professional photography.  When you begin your career, you’ll need to earn some money to begin the process of accumulating your base of photography equipment. 

Some photographers start out with a small-business loan and are able to buy all they need before becoming a professional, but most of us started out by working with what they had and buying more “stuff” from the profits of the previous jobs.  Actually, I think this is the best way to go.  By working and then buying, you can more easily see what equipment is needed for the type of work you’re doing.  If you buy your cameras and lights before you actually start working, you’re much more likely to buy stuff you don’t really need. 

Since most photographers don’t live in markets large enough to support “specialist” photographers, and it takes a while to develop into a specialist.  You might want to be a fashion photographer, but if you live in a medium-sized city, chances are that there aren’t enough clients that need fashion photography to support a local specialist.

You’ll need to market to a larger area or even the nation.  And if you’re going to try to have people notice you when competing against a national pool of competitors, you’ll need to be really good!  It’s much more practical to start out as a generalist and then build into becoming a specialist because most beginning photographers have a difficult time finding enough clients to support their “photographic quality level”.

Probably the best reason to start out as a generalist is because you’ll be able to gain needed photographic skills that will enable you to be a better photographer, with whatever specialty you eventually choose.  Most specialists are better than generalists in their given specialty because they have tons of experience in that aspect of photography.  When you’re just starting out, you won’t be able to compete at that high level of photography.  You simply won’t have the skill and experience that early in your career.  As a generalist, though, you can more easily compete at the local level, and you’ll get better and better with every shoot.  Then, after a bit of time, you’ll be able to use your experience to do more and more of your desired specialty, and eventually, you’ll be able to compete in larger market. 

In other words, you’ll be starting out your career as a small fish is a small pond and then, as you get better, you’ll be able to become a big fish in a small pond.  The next step is to make the leap into the ocean, where you’ll become a small fish once again.  Eventually, if you’re skilled enough, you’ll grow into a larger and larger fish in the bigger body of water.  If you think you can start out as a minnow in the ocean, you better hope that you can swim fast enough to survive until you’re big enough not to be eaten…

14. You can improve as a professional photographer by looking at photos rather than taking photos

Yes, you can definitely get to be a better photographer by taking a lot of pictures, there’s no doubt about that…  But I can offer you a better way...  Look at a lot of pictures…  Really, really, really look at a lot of really really good pictures…  Look to see what makes them good or bad, and then incorporate what you’ve learned into your photography.

The best way I’ve found to become a better photographer is to find a source of really good pictures, like the “Black Book” or the “Work Book”.  Then I simply leaf through the book, looking at all the pages.  I look at each image I like and ask myself why I like it.  Is it the lighting, the pose, the color…? I try to figure why I like it so much, and then I move on to the next image.  I go from image to image and before long, I’ll come across a new question in my mind about a previous image.  Then I go back and find the answer to that question.  What kind of background was there?  Was the model looking into the light or away?  Was the lighting soft or hard?  Where was the light placed? Was the background flatly lit or was there a graduation?  What about the camera angle?  Was it extremely high or extremely low?  It’s amazing how many questions you’ll come up with about each image, and you’ll wonder how that question applies to other images you’ve already looked at… 

Basically, you’re learning to observe, and your observing the best pictures you can find.  So much of photography is learning to see and then applying what you’ve learned into your own shooting.

I don’t know if it will be the same with you as it is for me, but I actually learn more about good photography by looking at pictures than I do by taking pictures.  I guess the reason is that I can look at great pictures more often than I can make decent images.  I take the things I’ve learned and store them in the back of my mind for when I run into a similar situation.  Try it… You’ll find that you end up getting much better…

15. Success in professional photography is as much about marketing as it is about photography.

When an Art Director or VP or Marketing, has an assignment and needs the service of a professional photographer, they usually think of either a photographer they’re already worked with in the past or possibly a new photographer they’ve been wanting to work with, that they think would be appropriate for this particular job.

The client usually selects a photographer based on the special needs of the project verses the particular talents the individual photographer.  Some projects are very complicated or extremely important and require a very specific style.  Other projects are less important; there maybe a smaller budget, or the shots my not require a particular style.  Either way, the photography buyer make’s his decision based on all kinds of information.  The key point here is the word “information”.  If the photography buyer doesn’t have your information, or doesn’t know who you are, what you do well, or the style of your photography, then the chance of you getting the job is very small. 

Marketing is about giving potential buyers information.  They need to know what you do, what your style is, what your price range is, what you capabilities are, how difficult you are to work with, how dependable you are, what things you prefer to shoot, what you’ve shot in the past, and a whole lot more.  If they don’t have this information, then it’s a whole lot harder for them to make a decision about selecting you for their project, and if they don’t know you at all, then you’re out of luck.  They have to know about you to think about hiring you… 

One thing you need to realize, even if you aren’t a great photographer, there are still projects out there that you would be perfect for, but unless the potential client knows about you, you’ll never get the job. 

Market yourself!

What They Don't Teach In Photography School - Professional Photography 101 - Photography School - Photography Career Guide