becoming a photographer

westley byford

westley byford

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westley
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hi, im recently new to photography but have had an interest in it for many years,
my profession is a builder and have been for 12 years since i left school.
now!!, if and when i bacome a good photographer how would i go about starting it as a profession (i know its just a pipe dream at the moment) as it will take many more years to acheive this.

but while im still young id like to start learning photography on a serious level and in time give up the building works as age takes it toll.

are there any companies out there that help you get your foot on the ladder so to speak? I:E help with funding, advertising, buisness plans??


as said earlier this is just a pipe dream at the moment but i want to take into consideration everything i'll need to do and avalible options out there..

regards wes?
:)
 
Try and do some freelance work, or just take pictures at the moment to try and gain as much experience as possible. Or you could work as an assistant for a pro photographer.
 
To get a few more answers matey .. Let people know what type of photography would you like to get into....

Do you want to be the next great landscape tog / portrait tog / motorsports tog / macro tog / ...? you get the idea

" Or even a wedding tog whisper this one ...."


MD
 
well i enjoy wildlife the most but thats what ive done most off, also enjoy portrait and landscape but havent really got the 'eye' for it yet..:( but im working on it..

not really into motorsport and macro etc...

and weddings... is there a stigma attached to it then?? or too much competition?
 
Weddings are just known to be extremely stressful to work on.
 
I would just stick at it as a hobby until you know what you want to do and are competent at it. Then worry about trying to make a business.
 
Pieface said:
Weddings are just known to be extremely stressful to work on.
Click to expand...

so are many photo jobs. Compared to some jobs, weddings are low budget and no pressure...

weddings are a unique mix of sales, presentability, pricing and marketing as well as photography - the end product is not, as may be the case, a set of JPEGs or TIFFs emailed or sent on disk to the marketing manager, as they may be for a commercial photographer, or ftp'd directly to an editor for a news photographer, but often vastly expensive print albums, and managing your relationship with the couple from start to end and handing over those print albums, while maximising your revenue, is partly why it is viewed as a bit of a different thing. There's a hell of a lot of 'not photography'.

There's also a lot of prejudice against it because infinite 'uncle bobs' hear about how much a professional wedding photographer charged their cousin, and decide to go into it, without experience, training or backup or adequate equipment, peddling themselves as a professional.
 
itsdavedotnet said:
so are many photo jobs. Compared to some jobs, weddings are low budget and no pressure...

weddings are a unique mix of sales, presentability, pricing and marketing as well as photography - the end product is not, as may be the case, a set of JPEGs or TIFFs emailed or sent on disk to the marketing manager, as they may be for a commercial photographer, or ftp'd directly to an editor for a news photographer, but often vastly expensive print albums, and managing your relationship with the couple from start to end and handing over those print albums, while maximising your revenue, is partly why it is viewed as a bit of a different thing. There's a hell of a lot of 'not photography'.

There's also a lot of prejudice against it because infinite 'uncle bobs' hear about how much a professional wedding photographer charged their cousin, and decide to go into it, without experience, training or backup or adequate equipment, peddling themselves as a professional.
Click to expand...


i know some people who have done this very thing!! not good imo..

i know business isnt as easy as people think it is to start up, i have a building business that i started up and i know from this experience it takes time, good work and recomendation.. i am just a hobbyist at the moment and will be for some time, i just wanted to get an insight of how to go about things for the future.. :)
 
Whoa Andycubin - that website you gave is cool :) tad expensive *** for a wedding course almost £300 for 2 days ;o
 
lol some of the better courses are £400+ for a day!

It's not cheap but quality is sometimes worth paying for.

You are quite right to have an eye on business from day one IMHO and your business skills you already have should stand you in very good stead. You will already know about such things as cash flow, equipping a business, client relations, delivering a product etc and there is a big crossover.

Take your time and find what you are good at shooting, then try shooting it like your dinner depended on it. If you still enjoy it then you may have found your niche. There are so many different ways to be a photographer that it will take time to distill that.

Have a look at something like BIPP (British Institute of Professional Photography) will give you an idea of what is out there.
 
Ali im a total noob at photography was just shocked heh , found a tutor in my town £35 per hour. He has a studio also which is what i want to get into (baby portraits)
 
Yeah, I agree it can come as a bit of a shock but there are some others out there I'd definately recommend. Have a look at Calumet, they run a seminar programme every year and I've seen some belting stuff there in the last few years that were around £30-£60.

Also check out www.phototraining4U. Mark Cleghorn's online training. very worthwhile and it covers studio work as well as location. There is some free content on there so you can get an idea of what it's like.
 
Seeing that you are in Essex, Jeff Turnbull is not too far away. Jeff does a bit of training. For a beginner like yourself I think you would find his training useful and you won't have to worry about booking B&B as he is easy to travel to.

I did attend a course myself. It wasn't the full 100% for me ONLY because I already had some expereience behind me, but I still learned several tips and was nice to see how an experienced photographer worked. I also went home afterwards thinking how great it would have been if I had taken the course earlier...would have made my learning-curve a lot easier. On top of that it is a very enjoyable day out.

http://www.photo-training.co.uk/

EDIT: Oh yeah, PT4U is greeeeaaat, But please use my link below rather than the one AliB has used.
If you decide to join and use my link I should get a bit of discount when re-subscription comes up! ;-)
 
Get a job in the industry... In a pro lab, in a studio, for a larger Photography business or a school tog company.

you will learn alot more than just taking photos. you can then decide if you want to work for a firm or go it alone.

Don't skimp on training if you want it. You get what you pay for. £300 for 2 days is not much. That course will save 20 times from cock-ups and errors doing it the hard way.

when working for others... soak up everything like a sponge. Remember what works well. and remember what does not work. Other peoples mistakes save you ALOT of TIME, MONEY and REPUTATION.

Good luck fella.
 
Just one last point Westley, photography is a brilliant hobby but as a job, well, I'm not so impressed, it's tough nowadays, highly competetive what with the stock libraries and many business people and traders shooting some of their own stuff.

I'd go for it in the building trade, train up in photography in your spare time and maybe develop it into a part time occupation and as time goes on who knows where it will lead.

One last word, Don't be persuaded to shoot a wedding until you've been assistant on five.

Good luck mate.
 
lol ok mate no worries, weddings dont really do it for me..

thats my plan as said before, carry on building whilst i become (hopefully) a good tog. and i realise this will take many many years. just thinking long term when im older and building becomes more physically demanding, although that said, if i could click my fingers and swap jobs overnight and be as good at photography as i am building i would change professions straight away, i enjoy photography, cant really say the same for building anymore, my family have been house builders for generations so as you would expect i followed suit, but now thinking i should have payed more attention at art/photography in school... :lol:
 
There are a few things you could do:

Go on a photography course and learn the theory behind the photographs, this is fairly important but can be done in your own time and out of a formal setting.

Talk with Business Link, as they provide advice when starting up new companies and businesses.

Go and build a portfolio. In the media industry as a whole, a portfolio of work is the deciding factor on whether you get a commission or not. It really depends where you want to take your photography. Do you want to do landscapes, portraits, weddings, photojournalism or still life? Try out bits and see which appeals to you, then start building a portfolio with your best images.

If you really want to take this on and become a professional, invest in yourself (photography courses) and equipment (it doesn't have to be the best, but it has to be able to produce good work).
 
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