How to make a career in photography

“The art of photography is all about directing the attention of the viewer” by Steven Pinker

His name may not sound familiar but what he says makes a lot of sense. The purpose of a photography is to draw the attention of the viewer is it about open spaces, closed spaces, stills, action-packed or even death.

Thus, to make a photograph stand out what needs to be done could include:

1. A good photograph is the result of hours, days and years of experience be it under an acknowledged master or learning it along using various resources like books, net, libraries or better-placed colleagues. But at the end,what is called for is that one knows what one does and does it well. Photography could start off as a hobby and end-up being one’s full-time profession – provided one takes the efforts and one is truly interested in spending quality time doing the same. In the so-called training, it is essential that one learn everything there is to learn, be it understanding the scene, the equipment, ancillary equipment, processing and delivery of final product. The trainer, if he/ she is charitable, should also teach the trainee somethings on how to make the venture a success economically.

     2. Depending upon who the trainer is, the trainee can either use existing equipment(s) of the teacher or buy for his/ her self. With the sheer number of equipment available in the market due to newer ones entering the trade very often, one can get used equipment at decent prices. In the alternative, one could buy newer ones or exchange them with folks who have no use of it.

3. Marketing oneself. Once you have learned the basics of the trade and can be expected to do a reasonably good job, it can be expected of the trainee to branch off and start working on his or her own. To stand out in the crowd that the field of photography is turning into, one needs to market oneself aggressively. For the same, the usual facebook+linkedin+whatsapp route besides, what one needs to do is to approach all the professional sites where one’s work can be published. That besides, one should not leave even a single opportunity to be seen with the right crowd at the right venues where photographers usually meet. This could be professional or personal. But meet you must.

4.Create your own brand. To market one-self well, there is nothing better than a brand. Create a logo, a tagline, a presence and a story of who you are and what you stand for. Doing so helps for all times to come. People come and people go but what remains is an image, a logo. Make it. And make it worth remembering for a long, long time. And if people remember it, don’t forget to patent it and secure the goodwill behind it!

5.Be strong and do what you think should sell without trying to please others. It’s business we all know. And for business, one needs to bend backwards. But bending beyond a state could result in a severely-strained back which could result in reduced business and more pain. If you do not want the same, be honest and diplomatic with your capabilities, ideas and ideologies. It would be better to be frank then and there than to invite wrath later!

 6. Work very hard BUT keep options open. Photography is a very, very competitive field where part of the competition these days comes from the technology itself. Yes, machines can photograph better than machines. And if we keep making them smarter with every edition, it is possible that a stage may come where they become smarter than most of us! And when that happens, humans could be out of the scene the way film-based cameras went and get replaced by seriously smart machines. That said and for the continuance of life, it would make sense to have life options always open. If photography somehow does not work for you, be open to change lines for whatever suits you, AND gets you the right results!

Folks these are all there is to learning photography and making a career therein.

Goodluck in advance!

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