My photo journey

Let me remind everyone. I type like I talk and my grammar kinda stinks. :P

IN MY OPINION…there are a few things in the photography world that are very evident.

1.      The industry is pretty much over saturated with phototogs.

 That means anyone who is a professional (self –taught or fully educated), a hobbyist, a student, a “MomTog”, or someone who picks up a camera and decides to be a photographer because they think it is fun – easy money (these people have been called by some “Fauxtogs”.

2.      Not all of these people are nice or supportive, because they feel threatened and or irritated by fact number One.

This is something that can be bothersome to many. There are those who have worked hard to get where they are in the industry that seem to forget that they too were once “that photographer”. The ones, who once offered next to nothing pricing for hours of shooting with some very interesting edited images on a disc, while they were in their Portfolio building phase. That they too were once trying to start a business from the very bottom with very few “clients” (family and friends, who gladly let you take a bazillion pictures of their kids for free, or next to it). Maybe they just forget how much it sucked to be crapped on by the, all mighty, super amazing “professionals” in the industry before them. Who knows, but this blog isn’t about bashing those people. This blog is for those people who feel beaten down by them. This is more my progression from Hobbyist to family/friend photog, to very shakily starting my business (which has been slow and in some cases even depressing). I have been there and I know how you feel, and believe it or not so do those mean ole pro’s.

First let me say that I am sorry if you read this and feel discouraged at any point, know that is not my intention.

When I was in middle school my great Grandmother got me a disposable camera. For the heck of it, I wanted one while we were in the grocery store. “why?” to take pictures. Don’t ask I didn’t know of what but it seemed like a fun idea at the time, and it was. Once a week after that it seemed like we were dropping off film and getting a new camera. I shudder to think about how much money was spent on those cameras that summer. I still have some of those pictures. One of them is of my grandma driving while I am in the passenger seat. I love that picture. In high school I would borrow my ex-boyfriend’s, moms, digital camera. It was something awesome back in the day. It had zoom and it was like 3 Mega pixels! Can you believe it! How cool! Lol.  For my 18^th birthday I was given a Kodak Advantix 35mm film camera (which I still have). I took it EVERYWHERE. I had rolls and rolls of film just piling up to be developed (I actually found some recently still undeveloped and debated trying to see if they were still good) these were your everyday point and shoot snapshots. I loved it, couldn’t stop. That same year I got myself a Kodak Easyshare and it became my best friend, and my friends knew I had it with me always. While I always enjoyed taking pictures, and yes some of them were composed very well and came out really nice, at no point had I ever thought I would love to be a photographer “when I grew up” in fact I was in school for Computer Science. Needless to say I have BOXES AND BOXES of nothing but pictures.

 

 In 2005 I started working PT in a photography studio. It was a fully trained pos. and you needed no experience and to be honest it wasn’t “real” photography. You held a button in your hand and when you managed to get the kid to smile you pushed it! That yr I went to New York for a weekend with some girlfriends and in china town I bought my 1^st Canon Rebel Film camera. I still have it too. It was my first semi professional camera. And it frustrated the hell out of me. Of course I could shoot on Auto all day long and 90% of the time things came out fine, But at this point I wanted to know more. So I started playing with it, not really getting anywhere. I was constantly taking pictures though. Especially of the little girls I had been nannying for a few years. They were my Ginny pigs. Their dad ended up getting a digital camera and I started using that more and more, finding it more gratifying than my film because it was so instant. Needless to say I spent A LOT of money on prints. A LOT!! In fact the scrap book of the pictures I have of just those girls is disgustingly HUGE.

In 2007 I received a gift of a Canon rebel XTi. I was in heaven, as you can guess I was still taking pictures of everything! I was taking the girls out and taking pictures in parks and using them and my younger sisters and friends and their kids as models. I still hadn’t thought of being professional and wouldn’t have ever considered charging money for anything I was doing. In 2008 a younger co-worker needed to have SR pictures done and had no money to go anywhere. So I offered to do them for her. She could pay me whatever she could and that wasn’t much. I think she gave me like $50 and we shot like all day long at a local place. After that I did another set of SR pix for another co-workers daughter. Same kind of situation. It was then I thought I might maybe, one day, turn this into something else. I had been taking pictures for yrs anyways right? But I had so much to learn, way more than I even realized.

 

I had the amazing Camera, this tool of trade, and I hadn’t even begun to know its potential. LET ME BE CLEAR, HAVING A GOOD/AWESOME CAMERA DOESN’T MAKE YOU AN AMAZING PHOTOGRAPHER. JUST LIKE OWNING AN OVEN DOESN’T MAKE YOU AN AMAZING COOK! I had to learn, I had to invest my time and practice and grow. In 2010 the photography company I had worked for went out of business and was reopened after it was bought out. I went back to the company as a manager. While there I hired a young girl who was going to school to be a photographer. She introduced me to a whole new world of photography online. There is a whole community on Facebook I never knew existed. I learned a lot from her and we became friends. We would shoot for fun, she even agreed to be a model for me, and she used my son as a model as well. I left my job later that yr and was blessed to have a few clients who would become my personal “clients” when I went back to school full time. I cannot tell you how amazing they are because they have stayed with me from that very beginning, when I was still building my portfolio and charging next to nothing, people who I am very grateful for, they had/have faith in my work as I have grown and continue to grow. I did tons of free sessions, I did tons of model sessions and I have spent endless hours learning software to learn to Edit, but this is how my “business” started. I charged very little and offered a CD with what I thought was awesome editing.

 

In 2011 my friend and I attended a workshop, taught by a talented and much looked up to photographer from FL, about an hour from where we lived. I was amazed by the other photographers I met there. More than anything I was intimidated. I was nowhere near as experienced or even close to being as Good as these women. I learned a lot while being there and met some great people, but I also felt very dejected. I joined photography groups on FB and while I learned from the forums I never really participated and I certainly never put my work out there for criticism. I knew I would be putting myself on the chopping block compared to them. I remember once a photographer in one of the groups was complaining about a copycat style photographer and had mentioned me in the post because I had known who she was complaining about. Well one of the other photographers in the group thought the photographer was calling me the copycat and she started bashing my page and my pictures and everything to the group until someone had told her she had misread the thread. It tore me to pieces inside and destroyed me mentally. I had no confidence, I wasn’t shooting in full Manual yet, I wasn’t shooting in full Auto either. But I still wasn’t in full control of my camera. I wanted to be. I began getting books at the library. I began shooting in full manual, all the time, no excuses I began trying things outside my comfort zone. I began to really learn. Soon I had begun to feel like I had outgrown my little XTi 6 yrs after I had gotten it. It was time to upgrade. In February 2012 the same friend was selling her brand new camera a Canon Mark II, to switch from Canon to Nikon (UGH!) and I bought her camera. It felt like starting all over again. Relearning my tool. I practice constantly. I take my camera to the park and take pictures of my kid playing. Or my friend’s kids playing. I call friends and family when I have an Idea I just have to try so I can apply my vision and how learn how to make it a reality. I am more involved in one group in particular where I feel safe asking for help and criticism. Knowing it is all so that I can become better. I have been told by clients I charge too much now, I have been told by other photographers I don’t charge enough as my work becomes better. I have lost clients to photographers who are undercharging and in the same place I was 1 and 2 yrs ago. I won’t lie it is very frustrating. I won’t lie I may have said somethings in about some people who still need to learn A LOT before they start charging for Sessions. They need to learn how to use the tool in their hands to produce the art that will be left as memories for families for hopefully generations. They need to know that there are people in the trade who will support them in a positive way and even though there are those out there who will drag them down and even assault their self-esteem and worth, it’s part of paying your dues. So join forums, and groups. Join them all until you find the one that is beneficial for you to learn and grow, where you feel safe. Be active and don’t be afraid of getting feedback. It is a part of what should drive them to learn and grow and become the best they can be. To improve and build the quality behind their work that will then drive their business, hopefully towards success. They should also know that this isn’t a glamorous job. Its not 90% shooting and 10% relaxing/editing. Its 100% work, %70 editing, %10 shooting, %20 marketing / paperwork /prep and to do all of it you have to have amazing customer service. Not all customers are nice and not all understand that this is indeed a REAL job. We have lives and families and are charging what we do, not just for our quality and time, but because just like them, we have bills, responsibilities, taxes and equipment, etc. Oh, and the next time you want to talk smack about the photographers who have put in the work and can justify how much they charge no matter how ridiculously expensive you think it is, that they know their worth and that they have that right. It may very well be their ONLY income. And they have all those crazy expenses too. Maybe even more... One day you may be them. Awesome and worth every penny. I know one day I very much hope to be. I know I have a long way to go and I need some serious confidence adjustments.

I won’t give up I know that much. I have some super awesome loyal clients and I hope to have many more. This is my dream, I want it. I need it. I am willing to pay my dues and put in work. And by doing that I know I will be a photographer. I didn’t just become one because I had a camera in my hand.

 

~Shoot you later~

-A