Photography Career

Starting A career in photography requires a few steps before you begin. You want to make sure you can actually succeed and of course, make a living. At this time with the Coronavirus affecting every avenue of photography, you would think our options are limited. But the opposite is true, there are some area that have slowed down like wedding photography, whereas other areas have increased.

In the Photography field it can be difficult to have a stable career because finding work can be a hit and miss opportunity. There are loads of photographers out there and technology has made even the smart phone a suitable camera for many of the Job opportunities.

This means that your schedule for work could be ever changing between over worked and nothing to do. Getting paid for the work that you do can also become a bit of a challenge too.

The solution, to be more visible than the next guy with a phone camera. Clearly define what avenue of photography suits you the best, learn all you can about that niche area and build a photography portfolio highlighting your skills. Include samples of the diversity of your past work. Also include the variety of photography work you are willing to do. We will cover each of these thoughts today on your road to deciding a suitable photography career.

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What is a Photography Portfolio?

Simply put a Photography Portfolio is a collection of your photo work. It can take two types of styles. First it can be a for a job interview. In this case you would present a variety of skills and techniques related to the job you are applying for. You would include enough to show the flexibility in your style as well a variety of mediums to show your versatility.

The second type of portfolio is one you would make for a display or exhibition. In this case you want to show the link between each photo and the similarity in styles and mediums. It has to flow with one central theme for the whole collection.

Starting your Photography Career

Start with what you love. Write down all the aspects of Photography that you would like to pursue. If you place the words Photography Career in the middle of a blank page and then draw a line out with the word Wedding at the end of it. Draw another line and add the next word. Work your way around in a circle noting all the topics that you “think” you would like to try or know you would love. Use longer lines if you fill the circle to add as many ideas as you need.

I can think of about fifty types of photography careers that we could all try and they each can generate their own stream of income. You are capable of doing at least a few of these career types. Stock photography as an example can create a small, but constant income source. Also the stock sites are very particular, which can help to perfect the quality control of your images.

To help you get started with deciding what you would love to do (or at least try), I have composed a mind map below of 55 types of photography.pdf careers that can generate income. And in the blog 55 types of photography work, I explain what each one does and how you can profit from it. But for now, take inspiration from the chart below.

Picture of a mind map photo careers.

The next step to choosing the best photography career for yourself is to printout your photography chart (or the one I provided). Get a highlighter and mark all of the types of photography that you could confidently do right now. Generally, these are jobs working for other people or companies. In a different colour, highlight all the types you think you would love, but need some learning or practice.

For me, I love to do trick photography, but I am still learning new techniques every week. I don’t think I will ever stop learning.

The things that are left are future goals to learn about and maybe one day try. For now though, just focus on what you can actually do.

Decide on your Goals in Photography

You need to decide on a career path and focus your goals into a specific niche. One that you can use to create a photography career to sustain you.

Grab a sheet of paper (or a printer) and print out the following questions. Then take your time to answer each question with some detail. This will help you to focus and decide on the career most suited for YOU.

1. Who is your target audience?

• What topics did you select above that you love to shoot?

• What are your strengths and weaknesses in photography?

• Do you photograph emotional connections?

• Do you prefer B&W, colour or other film types?

• What are your strengths in post-processing?

• What is the best photo shoot set you have done to date?

• Do you need to improve an aspect of your work?

• Finally, Pick ONE photo that could sum up what your photography career represents, just one? Is it your own photo?

Once you have answered these questions you should have a fair idea of the career path you want to try first. Maybe there are a few career paths that suit you, that’s fine, work with them all. Research each type of photography that interests you to help you focus your career even more.

Have a look at other photographers’ doing the same careers as your considering, be inspired by them.

I have created another blog identifying some of the best photographers currently working on the planet in a blog I call “The top 50 Photographers on the Planet”. These people are all still alive and working to give you inspiration for your own photography career.

Who is your Target Audience?

One of the biggest steps you need to sort out before you progress, is to decide who you are working for? Who is your target audience? Is it one employer, yourself or a range of clients? If it is the latter, what type of clients are they? Mom’s, models, wedding parties, or company managers. Also, do you want your audience to be surprised, pleased or shocked when they see your work?

From the mind map and the questions above, you should be able to write down your career choice(s) by now. Now research the types of customers you can expect to use your services. Make a list of their qualities. Are they families, models wanting a portfolio, company mangers wanting corporate photos? Are they random people at the other end of an email or website like freelancer.com?

You get the idea, describe your typical customer. Why? It will help you to focus your goals in your chosen career. And it will help you to better please those customers, getting more work and higher payouts.

Use this information to create a theme, a consistent representation of your work. This will make you easier to find and stand out from the other photographers in your career path. You can mix up the textures with Black and White or Sepia for effect. DO NOT mix of photos and styles unless you have a really good reason. It just does not come across as professional. If you are focusing on portrait photography, keep your theme about the people. The specific people you want to capture in your portfolio.

The Next Step

Now you have a list of the types of photography careers that you are interested in. You have identified the audience you want to reach. You need to decide on how to reach these people and actually start your career.

If you are applying for a job or already have a job and are putting a portfolio together for your customer. Read the Brief Again. No matter how great your work is if it is NOT what the employer (or customer) is asking for then it is worth NOTHING. Read the brief – the job requirements – and follow them to the letter.

Freelance photography is a great place to start your career. At freelance.com you can register and browse through the job requests. Look for a simple (low paying) job and apply for it. They will send you the “Brief” and time frame. You complete the work and send them the finished product. The customer accepts and freelancer pays you. As you build your portfolio of work you can apply for bigger jobs that pay more. Some will cost you time and money, but the payout is usually worth it.

Alternatively look for jobs on employment websites. Now you know your photography career you can tailor your resume to suit the advertisement. Include samples of past work. Or go out and take photos specifically for this job application. Offer to tag along and assist a professional wedding photographer for a few weeks. They will appreciate the help and you will learn the tricks and tips in this field.

Things you thought you would love as a career path will change as you improve your skills. This is when you settle on your Niche, what you actually love and what pays the bills. The more little jobs you get, the closer you will be to scoring your dream job.

Choosing the Best Photos

If you are like me, every photo you take has some meaning at the time you took it. That makes every photo special. So how do you choose specific photos for your portfolio?

You are biased and don’t appreciate the photos for the beauty or the story they tell. Remember the “Brief”, you do not want the best photos. you want the ones that will make your target audience smile and pay you for the work you completed. Maybe even buy something related. You need to be objective.

In a survey of employers looking for a photographer. They decide if they want to work with you in the first 6 seconds of viewing your portfolio. Just 6 seconds is all you have to WOW your employer before they move on. Make sure you do.

Start with all the photos relating to the brief. Remove any that have a flaw or a focus issue, yes even if it is otherwise the best photo you have. Remove it. Then review again after re-reading the brief and remove any that are not exactly what the customer ordered. Your goal is to get between 10 to 20 photos for your portfolio. Remember 6 seconds.

Now you need to arrange the photos into a logical order. Again, try to get in the mind of your customer (employer), put them in the order they would expect. Chronological or an emotional feeling, or something else. This may reveal a few images that, although great, do not fit into the arrangement. Remove them.

The Exception

If you are planning to become a freelance photographer and you are just starting out, then this is the only time to break all the rules we just highlighted above!

You want to showcase your versatility in your freelance work. It is not just about the amazing still life of a bowl of fruit you can do. It also needs to include that amazing portrait you took last year, the wildlife shot you captured of a koala baby playing, the highspeed action shot of the rally race you went to. The list goes on, you know what your good at, and your customers need to know too.

Also include samples of post processing, colour, emotion, detail, montage, night-time, black & white, a theme or description.

Every customer for a freelancer is different and want different things. You need to show the variety of what you can do for them as well as the quality of your work.

A great option here is to link to a photography website about yourself and a gallery of your past work. Include details about you, your skills and samples of what they can expect. (more on websites below)

Consistency

Earlier we mentioned a theme. Being consistent make you stand out and easier to find again. Use the same background or border for each image you include in your resume or portfolio. It just looks a lot more professional if all your images have some similar features around them.

A Digital Portfolio

A digital portfolio is a webpage on your own website. There are various ways to start your own website and we will address some of those here.

It is not just about throwing images on to a webpage, you have to plan and put effort into the appearance and location of every photo you use.

This will show to employers and visitors alike that you are professional in your work ethic. You first need to choose a website builder that allows you to insert your own personal design, templates, galleries and themes. It needs to be fully customisable.

The problem is that most of the “free” website builders lock you out of much of o the design work as well as they place their own advertising on your pages, which will deter some customers.

There are several website hosting services that will allow you to do everything yourself and provide themes that are specifically related to photography careers and portfolios. There are also website builders (people) who will set the whole website up for you catering for all your particular needs. Places like Fiverr.com. If you know how to setup your own website then places like BlueHost.com offer hosting and a FREE website name for just $3.95 per month.

The other option is to take my FREE course on how to set up your own photography website and I will send extra information on turning it into a photographic gallery for your customers as well. Using the backbone of a WordPress Blog site can add an additional bonus to your business too.

Blog Websites are great in that they help your clients to know a little more about you. They increase the SEO features that allow search engines to find you with potentially new customers. You can document your photo journey as new images or stories develop in your life, building a repour with many of your clients. Establish your brand as an industry standard.

WordPress has an email plugin so that you could set up a regular email subscribers list. You could send an email every week to ALL of your clients showing the latest image or comment about your latest project. You could sell your work or promote a new product.

Who knows one day you might be listed on my top 50 photographers’ page!

Steady Progress

If you continually create photos of one subject, for example flowers, then you can send a copy of your digital portfolio to Landscapers, Garden Designers, Magazines, etc. You will get a reputation as the person to go to for quality floral designs and build your business yet again. The best part is that on the contact page of your portfolio, you can put links to your other works which will get more jobs for you as people pass on your information.

Be Active and Consistent

Just start and keep going. Right now, you should be out looking for that next great photo, especially at the Golden Hour (or Blue Hour) for great images and scenes. Finish this article first of course…

Be consistent, once you start, don’t stop. Keep looking for new angles, new idea and new scenarios to take photos of and expand your photography career. Try new areas, if one fails that is Ok, you still will have others that have succeeded and that’s where you focus your attention.

You can do it as long as you are consistent, persistent and always on the lookout with your camera in hand and your smart phone loaded with all your pdf resumes and portfolios.

In Conclusion

Building your photography career is a lifelong experience which will lead to a very rewarding career.  I personally love what I do and although I only started a few years ago, I have decades of experience in graphic design. I was always on the other end of someone else’s photos to edit. Now I take them for myself.

Another feature to attract more customers and to get your name out in the community is to leave a calling card. Have a set of postcards made with one photo or a collage of photos you have taken. Then when you meet new people or prospective employers, give them one. On the back will be your contact details (and website address).

Alternatively, a set of business cards in the same manner. These may appear more professional to some potential clients. The choice is yours. Also keep a digital copy on your smart phone that you can text or email to people you meet.

In fact, you should put your best photo in the footer of EVERY email you send. And a link in every SMS text or social post you make.

Just get it out there to everyone who will read it and appreciate it.  Send me a comment as to what you created (or a link), I and our other readers would love to hear about your personal journey.