October will always be a special month for me, it’s the month 4 years ago where I left the City and became a full-time photographer.ย It’s also the month that, last year I held my first gallery.
Going from working in an International Banking job to running your own business is quite a change but …as the old saying goes if you don’t try you’ll never know.ย If I’m honest I actually thought it might last a year and I’d have to go back to my old ways.
If you had told me I would have taken over a quarter of a million photos across a range of bar and bat mitzvahs, weddings; portraits; taken pictures of the Chief Rabbi; held a gallery and this year started to enter competitions I would have laughed in your face…
If you Google reasons not to become a photographer this, or others like it is what you get
- You’ll do your back in carrying the gear
- OK, it’s true that the kit bag is a bit of a beast but frankly I’m fitter now than I ever have been.ย I spend most of my time on my feet, I’ve been known to cover 5 miles or more at a bar mitzvah.ย That’s got to be better than sitting hunched over a desk all day.
- There are lots of other people trying to get the business
- Competition is healthy, it allows me to rise above and become a high value, fulls service supplier.ย Over the last few years, I have seen many things, helped many functions come together and captured many images.
- Marketing is a dark art
- Yes, it is … but I’m not a marketing expert.ย Others are and I use their services just as others who are not photographers use mine.
- You’ll never be rich
- Again no … but I will be happy, satisfied and content ..ย take your pick.
- You’ll have to shoot things that bore you
- Not anymore, it’s true at the beginning you take any job that comes your way, but once you are established and found a niche then you can determine what you do well and focus on that.
- Being in business is about selling yourself not what you do
- Of course it is … so what.ย I’ve never been shy, I’ve never doubted my ability to do what I want to do or how I do it.ย At the end of the day, I might not be the right choice for everyone, but there are clients I have also turned down as not being the right fit for me.
- You spend a lot of time on non-photography stuff .. invoice, admin etc
- Yes, I spend about 5% of my time actually holding a camera, but I spend a lot of time with lovely people at networking events, or event planning sessions, or collaboration with others.ย I get to be outdoors on beautiful sunny days taking pictures just for the fun of it, I get to eat cake and drink coffee when I like.
- Everyone has a camera on their phone so what do they need you for?
- Soon enough people realise that a phone camera is good for a snap in a well lit room.ย But they can’t organise a group shot, look for distractions, look for a shot that is unusual, put nervous posers at ease, edit the image, print or display the image.ย The list goes on …
So for every reason you can tell me not to be a photographer I can tell you why I want to be one … but it boils down to this.
I want to wake up and love what I do.ย I want to capture images of people that they don’t think possible.ย To make them reassess what they think about themselves and see themselves having a good time … whatever that means.
Blog originally published here.
Submit your blog to Laurel Leaf Networking here.
Join Laurel Leaf Networking Facebook group here.