What do you wish you knew when you started?

Fiendish Astronaut · Feb 25, 2008

this is a good link:

http://www.epuk.org/The-Curve/631/what-i-wish-id-known-when-i-started

10 pro photographers are asked what they wish they knew they started out.

How would you answer?

mstephens · Feb 25, 2008

good article. thanks for the post

AprilRamone · Feb 25, 2008

As a young photographer my market knowledge was appalling. I knew that newspapers and magazines existed but I was convinced that the best way to get noticed was to work cheap. It didnt work. Several magazines were happy enough to pay me bugger all for a few jobs and then, when I put up my prices, they dropped me. I learned quickly. I was only that naïve for a month or two and then I realised that there was a better waycharge the right amount from day one!

This is what I would have said! Seriously, I wish all of these cheap photographers I see all over the net would realize what they are truly worth and charge it. I made the same mistake and now that I've raised my prices, it's like starting all over again and I will have to find a whole new client base.

Antithesis · Feb 25, 2008

That's a cool article. It doesn't make the profession look any less daunting though, sheesh.

Fiendish Astronaut · Feb 25, 2008

No it doesn't! I've not been around long enough to be able to answer this but I'm really taking on board that point about charging a proper amount. It seems naive to hope that one can work for someone for cheap because they're not confident and then some point down the line expect a client to double what they are paying further down the road. It will just never happen...

~Stella~ · Feb 25, 2008

Nice article - thanks for posting.

Any more insight from the pros here?

~Stella~ · Feb 25, 2008

Marry someone filthy rich. Preferably a trustee of National Geographic, who cant stand the sight of you and wants you out of the house three months at a time.

MichaelT · Feb 25, 2008

I relate to the one about nothing I learned in photography school prepared me to run a photography studio.

How many beginners are consumed with choosing the next camera, getting new lights, new lenses, or new software, but have no idea how to prepare a long-range marketing plan, maximize sales or even how to effectively answer the phone.

I wish I'd known how much I would need to study business before I jumped into it full time.

notelliot · Feb 26, 2008

i think it's too early for me to say what i missed at the beginning - this is the beginning for me..
but, if there was one thing, i would have wanted to know more about RAW when i first started shooting digital.

oh, and that going to school for photography would waste 7 grand.

jasonkt · Mar 9, 2008

notelliot said:
...oh, and that going to school for photography would waste 7 grand.

An important point brought up and one I keep asking myself...do I continue to consider school after I finish an internship I'm currently at, or continue to work full time as an assistant for my education in fashion photography?

Rhys · Mar 9, 2008

The interesting thing you hear all the time with photography is how a degree doesn't equal a job. Having said that, I notice the same elsewhere. My computer programming lecturer in college had an MA in French and picked up programming later. I don't know many people that left university with a vocational degree that's actually working in that field. Seems to me to be far better to study a traditional field such as English, history, geography etc as that's much more transferrable.

Fiendish Astronaut · Mar 9, 2008

No degree will ever get you a job; especially in a creative industry. For me an education should be about learning and bettering oneself, everything else is a secondary benefit.

derekclapham · Mar 10, 2008

I completely agree with April. Charge what you're worth. I can't believe the number of photographers out there that are willing to shoot a wdding for $800!!! This includes the entire wedding and reception, a set of proofs and then all the high res images on CD! IMO that's gotta be the worst business decision ever!

<BEGIN RANT>

Think about it. You give someone the high res images on CD... they no longer need to come to you for prints. Prints that you, as a professional would get done at a Pro lab, on good paper, done with a high grade printer. No, because they have the high res images on CD, they can go down to their local Costco or Walmart, get crappy prints of YOUR photos and then show all their friends. If the prints are crappy, their not going to blame walmart, they'll blame YOU... the photographer.

As far as I'm concerned, if (in this case) a potential wedding customer is trying to beat me down in price because the next guy only charges a couple of hundred dollars, they can go with them for all I care. In the end, the "cheap" business will go under and in years to come, the "expensive" business will still be operating.

</END RANT>

Sorry, I suppose you could say this is my "big beef" with the way the professional photography market seems to be going in this area. Not all fields of photography are like this.

I wrote a post here on my blog about the "Real costs of your photography workflow". Have a look, see what you think. It may help clear up some of the "hidden" costs.