You are naturally good with the cameras. Already clicked fabulous pictures for your friends & families and occasionally shoot few personal and business events. You are great in getting along with your clients, deliver what they are looking for and earning decent out of the photo shoots. Now you are all eager to leave your day job and want to devote your full time on photography. Wait! Going as a pro photographer isn’t always a cup of tea, you are likely to be upset when things are not rosy as you found on your casual photography sessions. Before you take the next step towards becoming a full time professional photographer, read the following points first:
1. Can your photography be termed as ‘Excellent’? – When you venture as a pro in the field of photography being ‘good’ is never enough. It is easy to get lost track as a professional photographer when there are a host of similar profiles looking for projects. Agreed, you did a number of photo sessions and earned big compliments for your nice shoots. But how important those compliments are and how far it can get you new projects? Consider this, are your photos without editing is somewhere near the quality and clarity of famous photographers. Point is, without you having excellent skills and mostly click perfect pictures, you should not think of taking up the career of a professional photographer on a full-time basis.
2. Experience matters – Like all other professions, even in photography experience matters a lot. You may know how to click good pictures but with experience you will understand better the critical role – light, focus, lenses, and angles, plays to get the best output in pictures. Experienced photographers know in-and-outs of camera settings, he/she has experimented a lot in a number of photography projects and knows a better lot how to get the best shots. The more experienced you are, the better would be your shot quality and the higher is going to be your paycheck.
3. Is photography your only ‘Hobby’? – The reason I am asking this question is, it’s difficult to continue with your hobby after you have converted it into your profession. The reality of human emotion is – it changes with changing situations. If you have been in love with photography and clicked pictures passionately, your love for photography may not fade away but your excitement for your hobby (which is also your job!) will definitely die down. You can’t love your hobby which is also your profession (few may still love it, but that would be real rare). It becomes difficult and quite impossible. And if photography happens to be your ‘Only’ hobby, think twice before making it your paid job.
4. Are you good at ‘Networking’ or getting along with people? – If you are good at networking and getting along with your clients, then kudos for making photography as your profession, sounds all cool. Why? Unlike other day job, when you become a pro photographer, you need to close a deal all by yourself. It’s no more like, someone gets the work and you just do the work. When you offer your services as a pro photographer, you need to have good business skills along with people skills, to fix a deal. There are instances, when a mediocre photographer gets more projects than one who has excellent photography skills. Why? Because people mostly hire a combo package a photographer with great skills + business skill + people skill. If you think you are an excellent photographer but badly lack in business or interpersonal skills, get a professional help or hire an agent who can get all the deals for you and you can just focus on your photography.
5. It’s not a merry-go-round thing – Going on your own without any support is hard. Starting your own photography business looks like a lot of fun and opens a whole new world of possibilities, but not everything would be fun like merry-go-round. Sometimes you may have a great time with good clients who doesn’t complain much and are pretty happy with whatever photos you clicked for them. But at times you would also come across bossy clients who are never fine with whatever you click for them. When you offer your services as a pro, you should be able to handle the pressure and setbacks that comes along with the profession.
If you seriously love photography and think you can never fall out of love with it, then go ahead and chase your photography dreams. There will be always two sides of a coin, consider what is important to you and if photography still weighs heavier than go for it. There can be no one better than you to decide about your life and profession, if you think you can, you must do it!
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