1. Just Start
Don’t wait for better equipment or a bigger following, just start! The best camera is the one that you already have so don’t feel like you have to upgrade right away, just get going first. Start taking photos of anything and everything and put your work out there, the right people will find you.
2. Get Ready to be an Influencer
Okay, so you don’t exactly have to be an influencer to work in a creative industry, but you will need to use social media to market your business and build connections, so you can’t be totally offline. Unfortunately, posting your work to your website just won’t cut it anymore and you will need to post across social media platforms as well to gain traction. But even if you’re not posting videos all the time and putting yourself front and centre, there’s so many ways to create social media content, so do what works for you!
3. Do Admire, Don’t Compare
It can be really easy—especially in the beginning of a photography career—to find other photographers while scrolling on social media whose work you admire and start to compare yourself to them. But chances are they have several years of experience that got them to that point and they are probably critical of their own work as well, looking to others that they deem “better” than themselves. So when you feel the need to compare your work to someone else’s, remember you are not getting the full picture and use that admiration to consider how you could improve your own work. Do you wish that you had their eye for composition? Creative posing? Whatever it may be, use your admiration to fuel your work.
4. You’re Still Working Customer Service
Like many others, my first job was in a customer service role and the constant repetition of my small talk script of “Hi, how are you?” “Do you have a rewards card?” “Your total is…” “Have a good day!” was not my favourite part of the job and I was surprised at just how social of a career photography can be! There’s back-and-forth communication with clients to arrange sessions, directing clients throughout their session, and follow-up communications to deliver the final gallery. But every session is a little bit different so you’re not just making small talk, but getting to make a genuine connection with everyone you meet.
5. There’s Always More to Learn
In the beginning, there’s so much to learn about photography like “what shutter speed should I be using for this shot?” or “how do I create a preset?” but once you’ve nailed the basics of photographing and editing, it might seem like you’ve learned it all. But there’s always more to learn. That’s why it’s great to find other photographers whose work you admire and why scrolling social media on your photography accounts might not be such a bas thing. Oftentimes, photographers will share behind-the-scenes footage of how they created a shot or post a helpful Lightroom editing tip that will make your workflow easier or discover a tool you didn’t know existed! So know that there’s always room for improvement and seek out ways to learn something new!
6. Try Photographing Everything, You Might Be Surprised!
When I first started taking photography seriously, I wanted to be a fashion photographer (and I still do!) but when I started working for a portrait photographer who did everything from family sessions to one year cake smashes, weddings to maternity sessions, I was surprised to learn what other types portrait of photography I enjoyed. I think working for a photographer has been the best way for me to gain experience in photography but even just being open to trying something new will get you further than not trying at all, positive or negative, you’ll learn something that will help guide your career path.
7. Not Every Session Will Go Well, Don’t Get Discouraged
It’s just how life works. Not everything will go well or according to plan. I’ve had sessions where I’ve gone in with a plan and ended up feeling like the session was a complete chaotic disaster (even if I did end up with some good photos). Eventually something will go sideways whether its an equipment malfunction, an upset kid, or your brain absolutely blanking on poses—the best thing that you can do is to have a system that will help prevent these things from happening and not letting it get the best of you when they still find a way to happen. One bad session doesn’t mean that you’re not cut out to be a photographer.
8. Your Skillset Will Improve With Practice
I am always shocked when I look back on my past work and realize just how much I have improved since I first started out in photography. Yes, upgrading my equipment has helped but the changes in angles, poses, editing, etc. had nothing to do with buying the latest photography gear. You probably won’t even notice the incremental changes and how they’ve contributed to how vastly your skillset has evolved over time, but take a minute to look back on your older work and you’ll see it and be encouraged to keep going because improvement only comes with practice.
9. Photograph Some Things for You
When you’re working a lot, doing paid sessions, you might start to miss when photography was just a hobby. This is when you should take an opportunity to photograph some things for you. Whether that’s creative directing your own photoshoot or capturing the beauty in the world around you, picking up your camera for you instead of for a client every once in awhile is sometimes all it takes to keep the passion going.
10. The Impact!
Before I started photography I only thought about how I liked taking photos but not as much about how the person receiving the photos might be impacted too. It has been absolutely amazing to see how my photos hold memories for others. For example, I think that photographing one year cake smashes is really fun but it’s also amazing to think about the parents who keep these photos and will look back on them years later, remembering that stage of their child’s life before they grew up all too quickly.
