Dipping my foot in the water: What's a good approach?

[kathyt]

Some sessions that could be done in 2-4 hours:
seniors
newborns
weddings-ceremony or just reception.
engagement
maternity
macro
sports
events
Quinceaneras
children
Boudoir
landscape
real estate photography

Hope this helps.

 

[imagemaker46]

Some sessions that could be done in 2-4 hours:
seniors
newborns
weddings-ceremony or just reception.
engagement
maternity
macro
sports
events
Quinceaneras
children
Boudoir
landscape
real estate photography

Hope this helps.

Basically anything can be done in 2-4 hours.

 

[kathyt]

Some sessions that could be done in 2-4 hours:
seniors
newborns
weddings-ceremony or just reception.
engagement
maternity
macro
sports
events
Quinceaneras
children
Boudoir
landscape
real estate photography

Hope this helps.

Basically anything can be done in 2-4 hours.

Yeah, that was my point.

 

[imagemaker46]

I agree 100%, and this is why the skill level of the Op enters into this thread.

 

[amolitor]

Actually I disagree about "skill level"

The OP, who is probably long gone, seems to have a basic grasp of the rough technical details. It's not the traditional approach, but it would certainly be an efficient approach to select a niche, let's say baby portraits, and then:

• Acquire the right set of equipment
• Devote some serious effort to learning how to do that one thing
• Devote some more serious effort to practicing it

Many niches can be learned, I submit, in a handful of hours of serious work. You learn a handful of idioms, the common errors, and how to evaluate the result to see if it is good enough. If you're starting out with the right gear already in hand, you cut out a huge area of wasted hours. If you start with a good narrow niche, you can focus in on what's important.

Can you learn to shoot "weddings" in a couple hours? Nope. "sports?" Nope. "Corporate headshots" -- yes, easily. "Baby portraits" -- yeah, pretty much. How much training does LifeTouch give their operators? And how much of that is operational stuff having to do with specifics of the business model? I'm gonna guess "not much" and "quite a bit" respectively. And they can crap out excellent examples of a very very particular thing all day long.

This sort of approach is offensive to some people, who have spent years perfecting their craft or whatever. Those people feel that making statements like this is equivalent to saying that they wasted those years. It's not, but the distinction is a bit subtle. That's a shame, but I'm not going to parse out the distinctions for you.

 

[PaulWog]

Actually I disagree about "skill level"

The OP, who is probably long gone, seems to have a basic grasp of the rough technical details. It's not the traditional approach, but it would certainly be an efficient approach to select a niche, let's say baby portraits, and then:

• Acquire the right set of equipment
• Devote some serious effort to learning how to do that one thing
• Devote some more serious effort to practicing it

Many niches can be learned, I submit, in a handful of hours of serious work. You learn a handful of idioms, the common errors, and how to evaluate the result to see if it is good enough. If you're starting out with the right gear already in hand, you cut out a huge area of wasted hours. If you start with a good narrow niche, you can focus in on what's important.

Can you learn to shoot "weddings" in a couple hours? Nope. "sports?" Nope. "Corporate headshots" -- yes, easily. "Baby portraits" -- yeah, pretty much. How much training does LifeTouch give their operators? And how much of that is operational stuff having to do with specifics of the business model? I'm gonna guess "not much" and "quite a bit" respectively. And they can crap out excellent examples of a very very particular thing all day long.

This sort of approach is offensive to some people, who have spent years perfecting their craft or whatever. Those people feel that making statements like this is equivalent to saying that they wasted those years. It's not, but the distinction is a bit subtle. That's a shame, but I'm not going to parse out the distinctions for you.

I distanced myself from the thread, and I'm maintaining a distance. I'm fully aware of the cautions that people are trying to give me... they forget that I know I have a lack of knowledge, and I know I need to learn more (however they also are considering me to be a complete blunder of a photographer... I am actually quite competent, albeit not at a professional level).

You've said exactly what I wanted to get at, and I appreciate that you worded it out in that way. That's the exact reason why I'm looking at a specific job: I already know the gear I need to acquire for most jobs, and I know the skills I need to develop, but I want to set my sites earlier on at the type of photography that I could do more on a casual basis. By looking at what I could focus on right now, I can think about it, and start deciding if it suits me while I continue to shoot and learn. When the time comes closer to being serious about it, I can pick up on specific cookie-cutter poses/positions/lighting positions, volunteer my services for a little bit for friends/what-not (ex. if it's baby or children shots), and work from there. If I proceed forward and simply develop my skills across the board (which I will be doing anyway), and I don't focus on something, it will take much longer to dip my foot into paid territory.

My skills right now are irrelevant. If I were capable of doing wedding photography, I'd be capable of doing just about any casual gig, and there wouldn't be a question to ask. I'm not looking to start out with wedding gigs. I am simply looking to set my sights on something, and as I continue learning, to keep researching and learning and shooting the particular type of work I want to start out with. I'm not stupid: I'll know when I'm ready to start putting myself out there for paid work. If I become disinterested in the particular area of photography that I'm focusing in, I'll take a look at something else (though it's photography in general that I'm interested in). In the future, once (and if) I get into getting paid for a specific type of work, I'll then start looking at rounding out my skills and branching from there... but right now, that too is not relevant.

 

[imagemaker46]

Just a quick question though, what area of photography have to shot the 7000 frames on? The 7000 is really a meaningless number, as you have stated you are already quite competent, but not at a professional level. This has come in a very short time, which is why some people have been mentioning your skill level/posting a few samples of your work/etc. As you were looking for some advice and input, these questions weren't out of line. There are a lot of people that shoot well past the 7000 image mark and never get any better. I mentioned earlier, I could point my camera out the window and bang off 7000 images in less than a day, but it won't get me any better.

 

[jwbryson1]

Here we go again... :er:

IBTL!!

 

[imagemaker46]

Just lock the thread, it seems to be the trend these days. Ask a simple question, look for more information and someone decides that the request will cause a collapse of the entire forum.

 

[kathyt]

My short answer is shoot what you have been shooting and what you enjoy. End of story.

 

[Derrel]

NO toe-dipping allowed! ONLY diving from the high board allowed! (sign I found in the TPF broom closet.)

 

[Dwayn]

Be imaginative and shoot what you like.but i think if you can work under a experienced photographer then it will help you the most.

Thank you.

 

[MalcolmDuffy]

My short answer is shoot what you have been shooting and what you enjoy. End of story.

I've enjoyed this thread and I couldn't agree more kathythorson. Good luck going forward PaulWog.I was fortunate to gain some experience with a seasoned photographer and I learnt so much from it. I was just kind of tagging along but I met other photographers that way too and picked up a few jobs here and there where people couldn't cover them. Do as many different jobs as fast as you can just to gain the experience and things will probably open up that way for you.

 

[TheFantasticG]

I've been shooting bugs for over two years now, but I still don't feel that I can shoot people.... So what I do is I just imagine them as giant mantids and suddenly everything becomes much easier. I'll be making money hands-over-claws before I know it!

In before the lock...

 

[robbins.photo]

What I'm wondering is this: What's a good way to dip my foot into getting into photography part-time (and paid)? I'm a full-time University student (23 years old), and I'd love to do a little photography for money, even if it's only one shoot every month or two. I don't exactly want to start a thriving business on the get-go.

It would help is we knew what type of photography you want to pursue. For example shooting weddings, sports or landscapes would each have a different approach on how to begin getting payed.

Shooting weddings held on sporty landscapes. Hmm.. I like it! lol