Photography as a Profession – what you need to start with?

With coming of high end mobile phones and great DSLR cameras, easily affordable by people, everybody loves to take photographs, and photography is hobby of every second person. Few artsy candid clicks from different angles, lot of editing done in Photoshop or Light room, and boom…everybody is a photographer.

 RESEARCH AND FOCUS

The first step of being any kind of professional is that you need to research on the profession you want to take up. Focus is the key to perfection. Once we know what exactly we want from our photography, we know how to make it our profession. There are no hard and fast rules in photography because it’s an art and art is all about discovering and finding, but researching about photography, its history, its techniques can make you discover great things. Always remember, research is the foundation of new things.

YOUR CAMERA IS YOUR BABY

For any artist to create a work of art, he or she needs to know its tools and techniques. So to be a professional photographer, it is very important to know their gear inside and out. Your camera and your equipment’s are like your baby. You need to know exactly how to get maximum usage out of it and keeping it safe and clean for a longer and healthier life.

DECIDE YOUR SPECIALIZATION

For any photographer to be a professional, it is needed to decide a forte in which they can excel and create wonders. Experimenting new things may seem like a good idea for an artist, but to be a professional, you need to think practically like a pro. Deciding your forte tells others that you are not a lost wandering photographer and you can work with perfection. You can be great at portraits, weddings, food, baby, or street photography, all you need to be is master of one and no jack to all because your specialization makes you special.

BUILD PROFESSIONAL PORTFOLIO

The first step of being professional is to look professional and for that, a professional photographer needs to build up his/her portfolio showcasing all their strengths and abilities. A portfolio is a like a first impression and it should always be the best. Therefore special emphasis should be laid on it, showing of variety of work you can do with your lens.

MAKE IT BUSINESS

For treating photography as a profession, you need to start thinking of taking pictures as a form of your business. Set up your rate cards and prices, make contracts with your customers and handle deals properly. And always remember that if you are providing your service for free, you are going to incur losses in your business.

GOALS GIVE YOU A DIRECTION

For any business to prosper, you need to prepare certain goals which would make you work towards them in a better way. Goals and objectives give you a direction and a path to walk on and get fruitful results.

MARKETING AND ADVERTISING

A renowned photographer once quoted that a good picture is 10% creativity and 90% marketing. So every Professional Photography   needs to learn to market and advertise their skills in a way that it brings in more customer and make your work visible to people.

JOURNEY OF LEARNING

For a profession, which requires skills, it’s important to keep learning all throughout the profession. It’s a long journey of learning of being better and best. A professional photographer needs to learn the new technology coming up and keep themselves upgraded by the new things happening.

Last but the not least…LOVE YOUR PROFESSION 

For any photographer to be a professional, you need to love what you do. Because it’s only then that you get to have great results for the work you do. If you treat photography just like a medium to earn, you will never be successful. And to be successful, you need to love this art and keep working on being better because once you become the best; there is no scope for improvement.
So love what you do, and keep clicking because the more you work towards your skill, the more you will learn. Happy Clicking!