Becoming a Professional Photographer

10 Essentials to Becoming a Professional Photographer

1. Find “your thing”.

I think most photographers are capable of being a Jack or Jill of All Trades. If you know how light works, can spot a moment and believe in your own ability, you can handle just about any setting. Reasonably well. However, personal satisfaction and a sustainable business is centered in the sweet spot of finding “your thing”.

In the early days, I benefited tremendously from exploring every opportunity that came my way. From wedding to family photography; from model to group photography; from product to pet photography. Still to this day my greatest challenge remains trying to keep eight newborn puppies in one spot long enough to capture one decent picture. (This memory produces only cold beads of sweat.)

Studio lights and natural-light photography. Outdoors, in the forest, and on the beach. Every setting challenged me. And with every session, I learnt more about myself. What I liked and what I didn’t like. Where my natural gifting lay … and where it didn’t.

To build a sustainable business, you need to find and master “your thing”. Yes, you can (and perhaps should) build secondary focus areas. Often one flows into the next. If you’re a wedding photographer, for instance, there’s every chance your clients are going to ask you for maternity photos. In time, you may well become the master of them all, but when you’re starting out, seek to master one area first.

Personal satisfaction and a sustainable business is centered in the sweet spot of finding “your thing”.

2. Invest in good equipment, but prioritize getting equipped.

When I started out, there were not a lot of articles and resources available. My learning curve was terribly steep. Vertical at times. On more than one occasion, I thought of throwing in the towel. The main reason was financial. Photography, of course, requires a serious outlay of money, and I never seemed to earn enough money to get the equipment I needed.

At some point, the lights went on. Yes, I needed to invest in getting the best equipment I could, but investing in myself was actually more important than investing in better equipment. I realized, if I could be the best version of me, I would get the most out of average equipment. A bad workman may blame his tools, but a good workman weaves magic with even an average set.

You see, the best equipment you have is the skillset you nurture in yourself. Study your craft. Read everything you can, especially in today’s world when resources are so freely available. And then, signup for a workshop somewhere. Better yet, get some personal coaching. I did both and I learnt something powerful. The best way to learn is not from experience. The best way to learn is from someone else’s experience. What I mean is, there are too many lessons to learn by personal experience alone—you’d need five lifetimes to do so. Learning from someone else’s mistakes allowed me to dodge the ones they made and equipped me to make unique messes of my own. Yes, mistakes are inevitable … but obvious mistakes are avoidable.

The best equipment you have is the skillset you nurture in yourself.

3. Start as you intend to finish.

One of Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People states, “Begin with the end in mind.” For me, this means:

Be professional from day one. Begin as you mean to end. Imagine that you’ve built a legacy business, and you’re handing it over to your daughter or son. Or perhaps you’re selling it as a going concern. How would you conduct yourself? Do that now.

Have to start with discount-seeking clients who seek every angle to wheedle you out of a profit margin? Be firm … but treat them as though you’re doing a presidential photo gig. Set your own bar high and live up to it.

Be professional in everything. The details matter. Your word is your bond. Act like the pro you intend to be. Remember, in small business, you are your brand.

Be professional from day one. You are your brand.

4. Don’t skimp on your online presence.

This is a mistake I made, and it cost me at least three years. Setting up a photography business is an expensive venture, and my website was one area where I thought I could save a quick buck. What, with so many DIY website builders available, I gave it a crack myself. And fact is, I did make a pretty looking thing.

There was just one problem. Unless I offered someone the site’s actual address, they’d never find it. In this sense, it served merely as an online business card. Pretty but useless. It had zero chances of ever appearing in search engine results. And in our Google-centric world, I was effectively all dressed up with nowhere to go.

Find a web developer who can build a beautiful website with search engine optimization (SEO) foremost in mind. There are a hundred little things that are required to align with SEO best practice, and it pays to get a pro to do it properly. It’s too important to fudge.

Think of it like this. You’ve got a pair of scissors at home, right? So, why spend money on a hairdresser when you can cut your own hair?

Because you trust your appearance to a pro, who knows what they’re doing. Ditto that when it comes to your online appearance. (It’s the same reason we’re in business as photographers. Anyone can point and shoot, but only a pro knows what goes into perfecting quality images.)

Here’s a quick example, one that’s the utter bane of every photographer. Search engines like Google cannot “see” our gorgeous images … but they absolutely gorge on content. Unless you have the required keyword-rich content, and enough of it, you’re never going to get a slice of that Google pie.

Invest in a website that’s built with SEO in mind. Cutting corners here is like doing a hack-job on your own hairdo.

5. Blog smartly because quantity sans quality can hurt you.

Blogging? This may seem an odd point to make here. However, if you know anything about online marketing and the power of SEO, you’ll know that content is king. And regular blogging is crucial to both disseminating your message and attracting the attention of search engines.

Does that mean I can simply blog about my latest sessions? Throw up 5-10 images from every shoot, make a few cute comments, and bang, I’m in the game. Right? Wrong.

Google’s mission is to offer valuable, resourceful content to its customers: you, me, searchers. I had to face the fact that Google cared not one iota for my latest images or my cute comments. Yes, these blogs may appeal to my existing fanbase. But that’s the thing. It’s “insider content.” Google attributes very little value to such, and rightfully so.

In fact, Google’s Panda update is designed to penalize what they call, “low-quality” or “thin sites”; that is, content that has very little online traction—measured by, among other things, social media engagement and backlinks. In other words, simply publishing blog posts to try rank can actually hinder your rank-ability. You can read When Blogging Won’t Help You Rank Better for more information.

The answer? Publish quality blog posts that are resourceful and well-researched. Typically, aim for more than 300 words in a post. (Research tells us that the best posts are nearer the 1,500-word mark. Eek!)

Creating quality content via your blog grows your brand, conveys your message … and attracts search engines. Win. Win. Win!

6. Utilise the power of social media, but don’t let the tail wag the dog.

Social media has leveled the playing field by giving small business a big chance. Now, local business can potentially go global. Working social media well is imperative. That said, too many small businesses make a classic mistake.

Your social media platforms, with all the likes, shares and links you’ve built up, is … not yours. You’re playing on someone else’s online space, largely rent-free, too. In a moment, a glitch, a policy change, you could lose all you’ve laboured to build.

So, yes, social media is important for (1) disseminating your message and (2) engaging with your audience. However, there’s a vital third piece to this puzzle. Use social media to channel your audience back to your online platform, your website. From how your shape your social media profile, to how and what you post on your timeline or thread, think “funnel”: how do I invite my audience back to my online home?

In other words…

Website: Dog
Social Media: Tail.

Make dog wag tail. (Simple stuff, hey?)

Here’s a quick, helpful tip: Use every third social media post to invite (lure?) your audience back to your website.

Use social media to grow and enhance your website rather than detracting from it … or worse, competing against it.

7. Harness the energy of momentum.

The business of photography is the business of emotions. A photographic image can make us feel. Truly feel. It stimulates the visual senses, awakening our deepest feelings, feelings that resonate loudly in our core. For it seems, the eyes are connected to the soul. Photos can make children laugh, women sigh and grown men weep.

Yet … and frustratingly so … what moves us in one moment can be forgotten in the next. The glow of one glorious moment can be lost by a ringing phone. In our busy, loud world, moments of serenity pass fleetingly. For this reason, a photographer must harness the energy of momentum, the euphoria of back-to-back emotion.

What do I mean? Glad you asked.

Within a few hours of a client leaving your studio (presumably on a high), a sneak-peek image from the session on social media will kick the momentum into overdrive. (And don’t forget to add a link back to your gallery to channel traffic back to your website.)

A second sneak-peek image on day two or three helps fuel the fire, but here’s the important thing. Aim to deliver the client’s gallery within ten days. A week is even better. Why? The iron is still hot. The emotions are still high. Momentum is on your side. Then, when the client makes the order, deliver the images as quickly as possible. Assuming your product is good, they’ll tell the world about you.

Being slow to present a gallery or tardy in delivering the images themselves are some of the biggest mistakes a business can make. You frustrate your clients and kill momentum.

Of course, you should ride the wave of momentum in other ways, too. For example, incentivize repeat and referral business by offering a discount or gift in your product-delivery pack. However, whatever you do, don’t kill your momentum.

Harness the energy of momentum by creating buzz and backing it up via a smooth, efficient client process.

8. Receive feedback magnanimously and use it to grow.

Running a business requires developing a thick skin. No matter how good you are, you’re never going to please everyone. And the truth is, it’s easy to become either brittle or blasé about feedback. Both are ditches to avoid.

Become brittle and you become reactive and defensive. And cranky, and no one likes cranky. Become blasé, and people start to sense you don’t care. Worse, you stop learning.

Instead, become proactive and encourage feedback. Remind yourself that you’re on a journey and perfection is not the goal. Discovery is. Personal growth is. Every new client enlarges us. Broadens us. Deepens our capacity to connect our art with an audience.

One rather thick-skinned sage once said, “There’s a kernel of truth in every criticism.” Sometimes, I think that’s a little idealistic. But the point remains. There’s something to gain from every critique … if we adopt the right approach to it. Even if it simply gives us the chance to practice patience, forgiveness and generosity. You see, feedback provides perspective. It urges us to step back and re-look at things. On that note…

There’s something to gain from every critique. Eat the flesh, suck out the marrow … and spit out the bones. Grow. Get better. Move on.

9. Maintain diversity even as you perfect your style.

Here’s a lesson I learned the hard way. A whopper learnt in the face of a sobering critique. A couple of years back, I’d hit a gusher. I was in the zone. Busy as, I had come to a place where I felt I’d perfected my style. On a run of unbroken success, I uploaded my umpteenth client gallery for the month, hit send and smiled smugly … before heading to the next session.

Imagine my shock when a client got back to me and complained that out of the thirty-something images I’d proffered, she was struggling to pick ten. Why? Because the collection lacked variety!

Honestly, mine was not a sunshine and rainbow rhapsody. More like thunderbolts and lightning. After a three-hundred-and-three count, I took a step back and took another look. My second shock was greater than the first. She was right! (Note to self: the client is always right.)

In perfecting my style, I’d become so sure of what I was, I’d unconsciously culled my range. The variety was gone. Thinking about it some more, I realized I had stopped experimenting. My style was strong and sure, but it lacked diversity. And here’s the thing. While your style will draw attention (and attract clients), it’s your variety that sells product. As an artist and a businessperson, I had to find the balance.

Style draws and attracts … but diversity and variety sell products. As a businessperson, keep both in mind.

10. Be a voice not an echo.

In the previous point, I spoke of perfecting my style. It’s based on an important assumption, one that needs tackling head-on here.

Getting started in any new endeavour requires a good dose of humility and a voracious appetite to learn. A willingness to learn—not just from those perceived as “the best”, but from anyone, even those just a few steps ahead—is crucial to long-term success. However … in the process, it’s too easy to fall into one of two ditches: we either (1) feel overawed and overwhelmed by the capacity or success of others … or (2) begin to unconsciously clone ourselves on someone we admire.

In terms of the first ditch, we can become disillusioned by those ahead of us in the journey. In tackling the fledgling steps you’re taking now, the capacity required down the track may send you into a tailspin. Remember this: you only need to do what’s required at the step you’re at. That’s what growth is all about. To point to an obvious example: we don’t expect someone to be able to drive a car until they have the necessary capacity to do so.

Here’s a helpful tip in this regard: refuse to be overwhelmed by what you cannot yet do; rather, be inspired by what you can do. If you’re on Step 3, hypothetically speaking, do Step 3 well. To the best of your ability. Own it. Crush it. Don’t be in a rush to move on. Learn all you can at this step. Because by doing Step 3 well, you’ll be prepared for Step 4 (and more) when the time comes. And when that day dawns, bid Step 3 bon voyage because you’ll never need to re-learn it!

In terms of the second ditch to avoid, we can easily take admiration too far. In aspiring to be the best we can be, excessive admiration for another, even a mentor or coach, erodes our own identity. Rather than them merely serving as a reference point, they can become the sun around which we orbit. The light we depend on. The source from which we gauge and measure our worth. I don’t need to tell you that this is a sure recipe for burnout and disappointment.

Be an original not a copy; a voice not an echo. Remember, you’re unique. A one-of-a-kind artist with a personal style waiting to be born and offered to the world. No one enjoys the same gift-mix and creative verve, experience and context, passions and interests, influence and sway, that you do. No one. You’re as unique as your fingerprint or retinal scan. Why be a copy when you were born an original?

Yes, learn all you can from a mentor, a coach, anyone ahead of you in the journey. Absorb. Assimilate. Reflect. Embrace the good. Harvest what you find valuable and blow away the chaff. And then …

And then … make it your own! Cut the apron strings. Let your own style emerge. Explore your own horizons. Chart your own course. Spread your wings. Leap…

Yes, admire others. Yes, express your gratitude and offer praise generously where appropriate. Give credit where credit is due. That’s being honourable. But … don’t settle for a copy-and-paste artistic style or business. You’ve got too much music in you to merely be a stuck old record.

Be an original not a copy. It’s much more fun (and far less stressful!)