Amanda {Pair} : Chicken soup for the beginner's photographers soul.

All of the following advice was given by Amanda {Pair} a photographer from Alabama. I read it and thought, this is just too good not to pass on (or forget about, for my reference) Thank you so much Amanda for being so open and honest with your readers =)

http://www.amandapair.com/

 

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So for those who are just starting out and wondering what the heck to do next, the following is a short list of what I recommend. This is by no means the only way to make things happen. My hope is that it gives you a little insight into what has worked for me.

TEACH yourself to shoot manually. Full manual mode, full time. I remember how hard it was to mentally manage all of the aspects of a session when I first started. The ONE thing that could be controlled for me was my camera. I took advantage of that thinking and my images suffered because of it. Shooting in manual is the only way to have complete control over the final look of your images.

INVEST in a good website. Your website is the world’s first impression of your business and should present your work with it’s best foot forward. Template websites are great when you are just starting, but you can set yourself apart ten-fold with the introduction of a custom site. I use Showit as my website platform which allows you to create and manage your own site easily. I’m not a designer by any stretch of the imagination, so I hired Spilled Milk Designs for my design. The switch from template to custom has been one of the best business decisions I have ever made. So many new photographers get caught up in what lens they should buy next or what equipment should be part of their next upgrade. We all know that professional equipment AIN’T cheap. If you have $1,500 to spend on an L-series lens, then you have $1,500 to put toward the launch of your brand new custom website. Trust me on this one! 

PROVIDE your clients with a great experience. When you are first starting out, it’s easy to doubt that a client base will appear out of thin air. But remember that all it takes is one cool client (or really good friend whose session you shot for free) to recommend her cool friend and now you have two cool clients — yay! Providing good customer service to the clients you do have is extremely important. I won’t lie, there are some clients that I have mentally fired in hopes that don’t call me again. But knowing when to bend over backwards for a client I value is worth it every time. I’d venture to say that 95% of my business comes directly from my current clients in the form of repeat business and referrals. The rest comes from random places like Google (see tip #2) and Facebook. 

ATTEND workshops and seminars. If I compare launching my new website to my discovery of tools, then attending Melissa Jill’s workshop last year sparked my invention of the wheel. Does that even make sense? What I’m saying is the education I received at her workshop and the other I attended last year changed the course of how I manage my business. I learned so many things that put me light years ahead of where I had been in this little journey of photography. It is important to know how to shoot accurately and consistently, but it is even more important to know how to run a successful small business. But BE CAREFUL. There are a lot of photographers out there offering workshops. Make sure that you do your homework and don’t fall into the trap of “celebrity” photographers looking to make a few quick bucks.

REACH OUT to other photographers. The microcosm of the photography world can feel a bit like high school. It is intimidating to reach out to other seemingly-established photographers and ask for advice or try to set up a coffee date. In regards to my business, I have always lived by the you-don’t-know-till-you-try rule. Sure, I’ve been met by the occasionally snobbiness, but more importantly I have made most of my best photography friends through the exchange of e-mails and blind lunch dates. Reaching out to other photographers (especially those in your area) and offering to buy them lunch or assist them is the best way to build those friendships.