This is one of the most important lessons I've learned since I dropped everything and started shooting full time about a year ago:

Learning who you are as a photographer, what you like to shoot, and how you like to shoot it, is the first and most important step you can take into the world of professional photography. Learn what you love, shoot what you love, and then figure out how to make money shooting subjects you're passionate about. You don't have to shoot weddings for a living if you don't like dealing with in-laws. No matter what the subject is, chances are there's a market for it somewhere. The more you shoot, the quicker you'll discover what you're really passionate about, and if you're passionate about something, chances are you'll find a way to translate that passion into great photos!

It's a lot easier to create photographs that evoke feeling if the subject you're shooting evokes feeling in you. Photographers don't just share what they see - they share what they feel, even if that feeling is detachment or apathy. Those things translate in your photographs.

There are benefits aside from creating better photos. If you're shooting subjects you're passionate about, you're less likely to get burned out doing the busywork that goes along with professional photography. I spend most of my week at the computer, editing photos, drumming up new business, scheduling shoots, networking, estimating, billing, accounting, hiring, etc... Shooting is just a small part of what a photographer must do to earn a living. It helps if your shooting time rejuvenates you and gives you a sense that everything you did to land and produce that gig was worthwhile.

Before I took up photography full time, I was running an MP3 blog on electronic music and producing nightlife events. I wanted a professional photographer to come take photos of the events, and I had a hard time finding somebody I could count on to do a good job, so I started bringing my own camera and taking photos for myself. When other people noticed that I had a pretty good camera, they started to hire me to shoot their events, and when I started making more money at that than I was with my other work, I dropped it all and made the switch.

At first, I thought, "Okay, now I'm a professional photographer. How do other photographers make money?" I considered weddings, high-end portraiture, tourist photography, etc... At that point, I was willing to do whatever it took to rake in the money, so I started developing a portfolio of product photography, family portraits, lifestyle photos, fashion, you name it! I was all over the map, because I thought I had to be.

But I kept going to nightlife events and taking photos there. At first, I thought of the nightlife photos a personal project. And then one day it hit me -- "Hey! There's money in this!"

I can go to the shows, enjoy the music I love, work with a network of people who have become like family to me, and make money doing it. Why did it take me so long to figure that out?

Shooting what you love also helps to differentiate you from the swarms of other photographers competing for art buyer dollars. Art buyers don't want to see what you might think is safe and sellable. They want to see what makes you special and unique. Get edgy if edgy is your thing. Love sports? Get out there and start shooting sports! Cars? Motorcycles? Landscapes? Macros? Your tastes and passions define your style as a photographer. They make you special in the eyes of art buyers. Don't hide them!

Rob Haggart recently interviewed an anonymous art buyer from a big shot agency who had this to say:

A good photographer has their own style and can’t shoot anything. Nor should they want to…because they’re so good at whatever it is that they’ve focused on, that they’re not shooting everything. Take any great legendary photographer, they didn’t shoot everything, they had a particular style, focus, interest, and then made it their own. When you look at these photos, that’s how you know it’s theirs and not anyone else. Photographers reading this should ask themselves “are they passionate about what they’re shooting and do they recognize the difference of their own work compared to someone else?”

Having read Elyse Weissberg's Successful Self-Promotion for Photographers, and listened to a sample photography consultation with Leslie Burns-Dell’Acqua, I can tell you that one of the first things that consultants for professional photographers emphasize is the importance of highlighting your unique vision in your portfolio. You can't do that unless you trust yourself enough to be true to your own style and career goals. Try to imagine your dream job, and then focus your portfolio on landing that job. In the linked interview, Clay Stang made the mistake of saying, "but realistically..." and Leslie's reply was revelatory and inspirational:

"What you're doing by being a successful creative is violating all the rules of business already, so forget about realism."

The median photographer's wage is only $26,170, yet PDN reports that there are many photographers making quite a bit more than that. I assert that what separates the average photographer from the successful photographer is that successful photographers believe in dreams. Speaking of dream jobs, I have a photo shoot with Tommy Lee tonight. I'd better wrap this up and get ready for it.

The bottom line is, you're an artist, and art generally sucks when it isn't genuine.

Labels: education, educational, going pro, photography

Lately I've been getting a lot of questions about how to take professional looking photographs. While I'm always happy to answer individual questions, this particular question comes up every day, and the subject is fairly complex, so it's easier to answer here on my blog. Here is an email I got yesterday:

Hopeful Amateur: I've been following your photos since you first started posting to Flickr, and it has inspired me to watch you grow from an amateur to a full time professional. I want to be a professional photographer, but most of my photos look like snapshots. How do you get that professional look?

First, you should evaluate whether or not you really want to pursue photography professionally. The median annual wage of a professional photographer in America is only $26,170, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. If you have a really keen business sense and you can beat out 90% of the photographers competing for the best wages, you can expect to earn about $56,640. Only a tiny percent of photographers command six-figure salaries. In order to succeed, you need to be as passionate about business as you are about photography. Being a better photographer is no guarantee. Much of it is about being connected, building a brand and developing a solid, professional reputation with the photo buyers in your market. If you still want to go pro, read on!

I have already addressed the mechanics of artistic photography in a post titled, The Art of Portrait Photography, however, the first two keys in that article are worth repeating here.

The first key is light. Light is everything, because light is what you are recording on the sensor. Light can make a subject look dull and boring, or make it pop off the page. Light can tell stories, and express moods. Light can highlight your subject, or hide it in shadow.

The second key is concept. Web developers have a saying: "Content is King!" It applies equally to photography. From Amanda Sosa Stone's blog:

"[...] while I know production is VERY IMPORTANT, in the mindset of a creative director, art director or a very open art buyer - CONCEPT does RULE. A good image could be a good image[...] but if the concept is not there...it gets lost very easily. Remember: You are speaking to creative people who are constantly on the search for an amazing award winning concept and you have to be that person/photographer who can execute it (and hopefully understand it)."

You can practice until the cows come home and master the technical aspects of photography, but in order to develop a mastery of concept, a photographer has to think creatively, and maintain the ability to solve analytical problems. The trouble is that our brains are wired so that we can usually do one or the other well, but generally not both. This presents a daunting challenge for photographers.

Betty Edwards wrote an influential book on this subject titled, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (A Course in Enhancing Creativity and Artistic Confidence). In the book, she goes into a great deal of detail about the difference between thinking with the creative right side of your brain, and thinking with the analytical left side of your brain. Here are some of the properties of each:

• Verbal - The ability to communicate your vision to others.
• Analytic - Being able to solve technical problems.
• Abstract - The ability to use symbols and numbers to solve problems that relate to physical things.
• Temporal - Keeping track of time and sequence.
• Rational - Solving problems based on reason and facts.
• Logical - The ability to infer solutions based on related facts.

• Nonverbal - Thinking visually, rather than with words.
• Synthetic - Putting things together to form wholes.
• Concrete - Seeing things as they are, being "in the moment".
• Analogic - Seeking similarities and metaphoric relationships.
• Nontemporal - Timeless.
• Nonrational - Not over-thinking things.
• Spatial - Seeing how objects relate to each other in the frame.
• Intuitive - Making leaps of insight based on instinct.
• Holistic - Seeing over-all patterns and structures. The ability to look at the environment and visualize a great photograph.

Photography is inherently technical. We're using digital equipment with a bunch of buttons and dials to record light, and obviously, we must be good at things like understanding how to freeze motion with faster shutter speeds, or how to create blurry backgrounds and Depth of Field with aperture settings and focal distance. Unfortunately, the technical side of photography can sometimes hinder the creative process. Thinking technically, it's easy to create images like this one:

Technically, it's not bad, but the image falls flat. It simply isn't very creative. A good photographer needs to be able to see deeper into his or her subjects and communicate a mood in the same way that a storyteller does. Here is the same subject, photographed using a more creative approach:

Technically, I just turned off the flash and recomposed the image, but what really happened between one photo and the next was that the analytical side of my brain got out of the way so that the creative side could step in and create. The ability for both sides of your brain to get along, and cooperate harmoniously is the key that will unlock your potential to create really strong, professional quality images.

In order to create that harmony, you need to exercise both sides of your brain. Your creative side needs down time to survive. You need to be able to stop thinking, and concentrate instead on feeling, enjoyment, relaxation. A post on Rob Haggart's blog reminded me of how important it is to me to sit down at my piano before each photo shoot. I use the time to get into a creative zone. Before each photo shoot, you should take some time to just relax. Don't do anything important. Maybe pull out a pencil and doodle. Sit down and have a bite to eat (slowly). Breathe.

You also need to develop a mastery of your camera's technical operations in order to unleash your creative potential. It absolutely must become second nature so that your technical thinking doesn't get in the way of your creative vision. It doesn't matter if you're using an expensive camera, or a $100 point and shoot. Just make sure the camera has these three settings:

Manual
Gives you full control of your aperture and shutter speed.

Aperture priority

Gives you aperture control. The camera chooses the shutter speed that will give you a proper exposure.

Shutter priority

Lets you control the shutter speed. The camera selects the aperture that will give you a good exposure.

I shoot exclusively in these three modes, and if you want to learn how to use your camera, you should, too. True, it can be daunting at first, but the best way to learn is to take off the training wheels and start pedaling! Practice as much as you can. If you're serious about learning photography, train yourself to take some photos every day. Start working on your portfolio right now. In addition to learning how to use your camera properly, you'll also start yourself on a journey of self discovery that will help you define your style and photographic niche.

Learning who you are as a photographer, what you like to shoot, and how you like to shoot it, is the first and most important step you can take into the world of professional photography. Learn what you love, shoot what you love, and then figure out how to make money shooting subjects you're passionate about. You don't have to shoot weddings for a living if you don't like dealing with in-laws. No matter what the subject is, chances are there's a market for it somewhere. The more you shoot, the quicker you'll discover what you're really passionate about, and if you're passionate about something, chances are you'll find a way to translate that passion into great photos!

Labels: education, educational, going pro, how to, instruction, learning, nightlife photography