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How to Break Into the World of Photography

The world of photography is like many other businesses that you can break into without requiring any special licenses or education. While there are many ways to study photography, there are many professional photographers who are either self-taught or have learned their profession along the way. Before you hang your shingle and open your business, there are few things you should do to make your break into the world of photography as successful as possible.

Instructions

- 1
  Determine the type of photography you want to practice. Review your present archive of pictures and compare them to the work that is being produced by other professionals in the genre of photography you want to shoot. Critique your work and determine if your work is strong enough to compete against established photographers.
- 2
  Assemble the equipment you need to have for your selected field. If you want to become a studio based commercial photographer or stock photographer, select a space in your home or apartment where you can set up your studio. Buy, borrow or rent equipment as you need to complete your first few shoots until you have enough funds to buy your own equipment. If you are going to be working outdoors as a nature, sports, wildlife or editorial photographer, you will need a selection of wide and telephoto lenses as well as covers that will protect your equipment when working outdoors in poor weather.
- 3
  Start shooting. After each shoot, evaluate your images and determine what you need to improve on and what you will do differently on your next shoot. Professional photographers are always looking to improve their work. Photography is a competitive business with work being produced by professionals and advanced amateur photographers. If you do not work on improving your technique, you run the risk of your work becoming stale and looking the same.
- 4
  Start a website. A good website performs many functions for photographers. It can serve as your online portfolio, resume, sales center and way for potential clients to find you. When you upload pictures to your website, be sure to keyword them with words that describe the picture. Keywords are how search engines find pictures, and ultimately the photographers who took them.
- 5
  Contact editors, gallery owners and creative directors and ask for an appointment to show them your work. Bring along a "leave behind" that they can put on their desk or pin it to a contact board. A "leave behind" is like a big a business card -- too big to get lost in a wallet or desk drawer. Be sure to get the business card of the person you met with. Send them a thank you email for the meeting and be sure to include you website address and encourage them to look at it. Email them whenever you shoot some work you think they may be interested in.
- 6
  Join a business networking group. When you are first starting out, you may need to shoot other work to make some money. A business network group is a good way to get your name out and book some business through other group members.

Photography