Getting my Name out there

<p>Hey guys,<br>

My names Tom Mason and I am a young wildlife photographer working in the UK. My question to you guys is how do I get my name "out there" ? At 17 I am balancing my photography and school work but I would love to turn professional eventually. Have you got any recommendations of how to expand my views and readership? <br>

I currently have a BLOG : www.tommasonphotography.blogspot.com<br>

but have you got any ideas on ways to make myself known to a wider audience?</p>

 

<p>Being in the UK it probably wouldn't hurt if you won 'Wildlife Photographer of the Year'.</p>

<p>Tom, your dream is the dream of 10,000,000 other photographers. My best rec is to enjoy photography as a hobby and not worry about it as a profession. If this were my only goal in life though I'd probably study all the nature photography masters figure out how they did it and then find a different way to do it myself.</p>

<p>At your age I would find a few professionals you really respect and love the work of and start seeing if they would be your mentor or work for them as an aid. (Even if you have to volunteer for a while) You will learn the fastest by doing that, and also by being politely aggressive towards your own work. You have nothing to loose, yes there are lots of other people with the same dream, but I've found the few things that separate the successful photographers from the hobbyist is the amount of time they commit to the work, and how persistent they are in always reaching for their goals. I’m now considered a professional and I’m starting to see my work take off, but at the same time I have two small children and a full-time non-photo job so the amount of time I can commit to the photography is less than I like. </p>

<p>You might want to post some photos on this site. I've sold 2 images in the last couple of years from people seeing my photos here. I know that's not much, but considering I don't market at all, that shows people are looking here. I really like the photos on your blog: you have a great eye. The professionals I know say it's really difficult to make a living just selling images, and they all do something else. For a really excellent web site and example of great marketing, I suggest you look at my friend Patrick Endres' website, www.alaskaphotographics.com. Best of luck to you. </p>

<blockquote>

<p>Have you got any recommendations of how to expand my views and readership?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Take unbelievably stunning images of things everyone has so far ignored and you will sell your work by the bucket load, and have lots of traffic coming to your site. In short order a load of your work will be copied as best as the copiers can manage (being copied signals the fact you've 'made it' !) and then you just have to keep that standard of innovation and momentum up.</p>

<p>Your images are nice, but not nearly compelling enough to warrant my return. Now that might sound harsh, so I'll qualify that - they are good, but not unusually good - in fact the bit of your blog that I REALLY like is the Great Tit in the tree guard.</p>

<p>Why? Its a little drama of nature, with human interaction and intervention. It has a story about man and the environment, and humans love stories. It has lots of potential to start a discussion on your blog too. What about?</p>

<p>Well how about ethics in natural history photography? Should you, or should you not have intervened?</p>

<p>Should you have left the bird where it was?</p>

<p>Is it acceptable to damage someone's private property with a knife to release a bird?</p>

<p>If another animal is able to get its snout in the hole you cut and trashes the tree is that a fair price to pay to rescue a small bird?</p>

<p>How much poorer might that environment be for the loss of that tree?</p>

<p>How many more birds might be impacted by the loss of the tree?</p>

<p>And so on and so forth. (FYI - I would have released the bird too.)</p>

<p>I think its great you have the blog - in that sense you've leaped ahead of the folks who want to do this, but do nothing to make it happen. My advice is to look for stories in your local area, practice your writing skills, make people come to your blog by combining images and words that entertain and inform them, and also challenge them and their preconceptions and misconceptions.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>Tom,<br>

I know nothing of how to succeed at being a professional wildlife photographer. I am not one of those. I set out to be 42 years ago but got deflected from my path by life. I hope you win where I failed. The little I learned from my failure that might be of use to you is that you must develop a very high tolerance for criticism. everyone who sees your images will have an opinion, many will give it to you, most will not make you happy. But the critic no matter how harsh is the artists best friend. It is your critics who show you where you can improve and improve you must in order to stand out from the very large crowd of "good" artists.<br>

Persevere.</p>

 

<p>Tom, I would find a mentor to work with and develop your over all skills and work to gain respect of your peers. It may sound naive but developing a strategic plan and setting goals for yourself may be helpful. Finally and most importantly, get a good formal education from the best institution you can get yourself into and use that as a back stop. Good hunting. Andy</p>

<p>Tom - for someone your age I think you've already developed an eye, and clearly have learned the value of patience or you would not have the types of shots you already show on your blog. Lots of good advice above - getting an opportunity to work with someone who is already an aknowledged expert is important, both for the experience and for your resume later. I don't know what education you are considering to support your dream, but certainly an arts / graphics program would be a good consideration - I think learning what makes for good composition and how to use light effectively will give you a jump-start, and you'll be around people with like-minded consideration which is an important part of learning your craft.</p>

<p>One more thing about one of the posts above is that you will hear lots of negative considerations about your chosen path. I think you will need to learn to listen to the good advice, and take the rest with a grain of salt. Obviously photography is changing, but you are young enough that you can choose to be part of the group that shows us where it is going, as opposed to falling victim to the views of those of us "old guys" who throughout these forums and elsewhere seem to be declaring that professional photography is dead. It may well be dead as we know it - but there's enough successful and entreprenurial practicioners to support my believe that it is not dead, but headed in a different direction. Nothing is easy, it's all about how passionate you are for this dream, and I'm sure none of us right now can tell you what that path looks like but I will say that more and more we need people out there documenting what's going on with our world, and reminding us that "nature" is something we ignore at our peril.</p>

<p>Thank you all so much for your advise and opinions.<br>

To answer the question about my education I am currently studying for my A levels. For my Subjects i have chosen Geography, Biology, Chemistry, Maths.As well as this last year (my GCSE year) I took photography AS level early and received an A and I am finishing the A2 course off over two years.<br>

The idea behind my subject choices was to study zoology or ecology so that I will have both a creative and academic background linked to the natural world.<br>

I entered the wildlife photographer of the year competition last year and managed to get through to the final of the young competition with two of my entries that gave me a great boost and encouraged me to want to turn pro.<br>

Thank you all once again for your great and welcomed advise!</p>

<p>Hi Tom.</p>

<p> You were a finalist in the "WOTY' WOW! Forget my first comments. But as others have stated it isn't easy, especially for Nature Photography.</p>

<p>Tom,<br />one way to get into these sorts of jobs is from the inside. You might look into getting yourself taken on as a gopher for one of the established wildlife photographers such as Simon King or Heather Angel. I don't know how these people work in terms of hiring assistants but you might try checking out their websites and writing or emailing as many wildlife photographers as you can find. Ask if they have any internships. My son has just done this as an industry year in his 3rd year at Uni though his course is computer graphics. The games firm he is going to be working for mainly recruit permanent posts from their past interns Money will be derisory at best - think minimum wage.</p>

<p>This also seems to be how people get into most media stuff. Get a job as a runner and work your way up. If that does not work your range of A levels looks impressive so I suggest you have a Plan B up your sleeve. There aren't many Simon Kings.</p>

<p>If you do cantact any of these established wildlife photographers even if they cannot help you directly they may be able to point you in the direction they think is the best way forward.</p>

<p>Oh, and start building up a portfolio of work. Stills, video. People need to be able to see the product.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

Become obsessively fascinated by your subject, learn about a wide range of photography beyond your current central

interest, study visual imagery from all sources including those outside photography, be open to changes in your goals

since you are very young, make many photographs and learn happily from your mistakes, become part of a community

or communities of photographers, find a personal mentor, do not neglect your study of other things that may seem

unimportant right now, be patient and persistent, understand that it can be as much about you as about your

photographs, avoid getting seduced by equipment or "looking like a photographer," become seduced by photographs,

be idealistic, be realistic, don't listen too much to curmudgeons but don't completely ignore them.

 

Dan

<p>Almost more than obsessive about photography I think you also need to be obsessive about wildlife too.</p>

<blockquote>

<p><em>"Almost more than obsessive about photography I think you also need to be obsessive about wildlife too."</em></p>

</blockquote>

<p>Which is why I <em>began</em> with, "Become obsessively fascinated by your subject..."</p>

<p>Dan</p>

<p>Dan,</p>

<p> apologies, I understood .....<em>'your subject, learn about a wide range of photograph</em>y....' to refer to photography rather than wildilfe.</p>

<p> cheers :) Colin</p>

<p>Just like in music, find your own voice and say something. The writing and photos together is a solid suggestion. I am not a "nature" photographer, but I have seen enough of it and studied enough about it to know that you have talent, so follow your dreams and promote yourself and try to get published maybe with an article or other contribution. I really like your blog. There are many great young violinists who work in supermarkets, that's the trap you want to avoid, because then that's the time removed from your craft. Try to keep a clear head, find a mentor, create new things, keep your expenses under control so you can pursue your craft rather than working in supermarkets to pay off loans and other foolish spending. As you become older, you'll see that all these things play into each other. I hope to see your name in some great places.</p>

<p>Tom,</p>

<p>I know it may not be your intended area but these people are right at the top of their particular tree and do work experience placements :</p>

<p><a href="http://www.oxfordscientificfilms.tv/index.php">http://www.oxfordscientificfilms.tv/index.php</a></p>

<p> </p>

<p>Buy yourself a copy of "Business of Nature Photography" by John Shaw. It's a bit outdated since it was written in the 90s and he talks about how to store slides and the importance of having a fax machine. But he talks a lot about how to run the business end of a nature photography career. Among other things, he suggests picking out a subject that would fit the interests of a particular magazine or newspaper and not just taking pictures but writing an article to go with it. Most publications don't run pictures by themselves, and don't have a use for your pictures -- no matter how good they are -- without an article to go with them. If you can offer up the complete package, you have a much stronger chance of making the sale. You can also sign up for workshops with established nature photographers. Here in the U.S., I took a class with David Middleton at the Maine Photographic Workshops a few years ago. He was very friendly and the type of guy who could introduce you to potential clients if your work was good enough. As for assistants and internships, that's not something I've heard of in the nature field. I think most nature photographers work alone both because it's the nature of going out the in the woods looking for pictures as opposed to being in a studio with a crew, and also because there isn't necessarily enough money it it for most to be able to afford an assistant.</p>

<p>Hey guys thanks for all of the great feed back it has given me a lot to think about!<br /> I have just joined Twitter to open up another opportunity to get my name "out there" and make connections with a few pro's. my twitter is TomMasonPhoto if you want to follow.<br /> Also i have updated the look of my blog and i was wondering if you guys could give me a little feedback on how it looks? do you like it? would you change it?<br>

blog is :<br>

<a href="http://www.tommasonphotography.blogspot.com">www.tommasonphotography.blogspot.com</a><br>

<br /> Thank you so much for all your great suggestions and i will get out and take some more pictures</p>

<p>Tom--some nice pictures there. Other than the stock/publication field, have you thought about selling prints at craft fairs/art shows? Since you are shooting locally, pictures like these from a popular park/nature area might have local appeal. Get yourself a booth at the local fair, print and matte your two dozen best pictures in a variety of sizes and see if they sell.</p>

<p>Hey Tom,<br>

I am one of the fortunate few who have made a successful career with nature photography. And, I do not take it for granted, thanking those who helped me get here at every opportunity. I am currently on location, but would be happy to have a phone conversation with you upon my return in mid-May. Shoot me an e mail and I will get back to you after the 10th.<br>

Chas<br />www.shootthelight.com </p>