Getting Started

I'm just getting started...I've been told I have a "knack" for this

photography thing, and I LOVE taking pictures. It's just been a

hobby of mine, but I don't know where to go from here. Right now

I'm just taking pictures with my 35 mm Canon AE-1...I'd love to

experiment with some filters, etc. but I just don't even know where

to start. My main focus has been taking portraits of friends and

family...but I'm really enjoying exploring landscape/still-life as

well.

 

In the next few years, I'd like to start making some money on this,

so I can focus on it full time. I'd love to sell some of my

landscape/stills (instead of continually giving them as gifts...I'm

running out of people and occassions! :) ). I'd also like to have a

small business doing portraits (not Weddings, though I understand

that's where the money is in portrait photography).

 

How do I go about:

A) learning what I need to learn to do this professionally?

B) entering contests, etc?

C) selling my work?

 

I know that this is a LOADED request for information, but I really

need some input from people who know what they are talking about,

instead of just my friends and family telling me "YOU SHOULD DO THIS

PROFESSIONALLY!!!" Thanks in advance for any help you might give

me!!!

 

(PS - Miscellaneous, not Misceleneous :) )

Please, I'd love it if some of you would look at my photos and give me an unbiased opinion of what I've got out there...I just loaded a few of my more recent things, as I'm new to photo.net.

I'm not a professional, so I'll let them chime in on what to do to become one. I just want to caution you about getting too excited over what friends and family think. Mine tell me I should do it professsionally, too. :)

 

First thing I would do in your situation is get your best work posted up here for review. Join a critique circle if they're still open. Or join a local camera club. Get some feedback from people who don't have a vested interest in your feelings. I know it made me look a lot more critically at my photos to have one I thought was really good be called boring.

 

If you can get strangers raving over your images, you're on to something. If you really want to do it professionally, I suggest business classes. From the other similar threads I've read here and elsewhere, the biggest part of a photography business is the business, not the photography.

 

Hope I didn't come off as too much of a downer. I share your sentiment of wanting to make some money off a fun hobby, but I know I don't have the head for business. I wish you luck in your endeavour.

PS... Just noticed what forum this is in. This is for getting help on Photo.net, so you may find this moved to the general forum.

Not a downer at all...and that is what I'm looking for...some unbiased opinions. Thanks!

First I would start with, I looked at your images and yes they are very nice. I can also relate, I've been getting back into shooting since the spring and I have gotten lots of people telling me "You should do this professionally", which of course swelled my head a bit and really got me thinking just like you.

 

I would agree with a lot of Michelle Cox comments. Start slow, for me I decided to go back to school and take the local colleges photo classes. I was amazed. I have learned so much, one thing of which was it's very hard to make money unless you're just the best. But I've also learned and improved my photographic skills, and I know now I'm a much better photographer because of it. I would also agree with Michelle about getting more of your photo's out there in front of other shooters and see what they think. And dont get turned off by low ratings, or no rating, or negative comments. Some people are better at comments then others.

 

One of the other things I found in taking these classes is just art. Both my Mother and Father were respected local artiest in northern Michigan so I could never understand why had no real talent for drawing and painting, we'll the answer was it just wasn't my form of art. Now I eat the stuff up. I can't stop reading and viewing photographic art, and photographic history. I'm looking forward to other classes on other forms of art and expanding my horizons there.

 

Another aspect of school that I had forgotten about was being around real people that share your passion for a subject. It�s also a great way to get into the local photo scene. Remember, network, network, and network. I don�t live in a large urban area so it�s a very close nit group to try to get into.

 

Another that Michelle Cox hit on the head was joining a camera club. This is also a great place to get your work looked at. The only thing I sort of got turned off on with our club was it seemed like people were more worried about hardware then pictures.

 

Something else I�ve had fun doing is assisting a known photographer. We have a few really great photographers in town, and sometimes they have a big job to do and need help. Sometime they pay you, some times they won�t. But you still get see and work in the whole photographic process which is why our there in the first place, so I guess that is payment. But remember not to pester them about if they need help, they�ll just get turned off by you.

 

Good luck and keep up great work.

 

Russ Riker

Cole, there are as many answers to this as there are people who'll respond.

To improve technique and find your niche (e.g. landscapes/ still life / portraits

/ etc.) shoot as much as you can whenever you're able. Always have some

gear on your person. Try to "feel" which genre(s) you prefer, that which really

delights you.

 

Really surf this site - don't get bogged down in the "high-rated images"

section, most of the best work seldom makes it there these days.

 

¥ Entering contests - in real life a local camera club ought to have details;

there are also contests on-line, some with neat prizes.

 

¥ Selling - one idea is to get together a sample, your "top 50 images," save

them as 100-200 kb images to disc or zip. Approach a couple of galleries in

your vicinity, the kind that print their own cards, posters, framed limited

editions, etc. Discuss with them their needs, and your ideas as to output -

look there are some wild ones : prints to wall tiles, coffee mugs, and

even...shower curtains!

 

Just some thoughts that spring to mind. Best of luck.