{"id":5042,"date":"2015-03-23T16:51:01","date_gmt":"2015-03-23T16:51:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/?p=5042"},"modified":"2024-09-17T20:18:40","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T20:18:40","slug":"5-essential-questions-for-aspiring-pro-photographers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/5-essential-questions-for-aspiring-pro-photographers","title":{"rendered":"5 Essential Questions for Aspiring Pro Photographers"},"content":{"rendered":"

5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Going Pro<\/h1>\n

I’m sure many pro photographers get asked “How do I\u00a0become a professional photographer?<\/strong>“.<\/p>\n

I have and it’s never a straight forward answer – in fact, the answer would be unique for each person. Every photographer is different (personality, experience, confidence, business savvy, \u00a0camera skills etc.), \u00a0so there’s no “on size fits all” formula for success, or even getting out of the starting blocks.<\/p>\n

But I do often ask a few questions, so thought I’d share them in this blog..<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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1- Have I enough cash to live?<\/h2>\n

If you have a steady income from photography<\/a> already, congratulations – you are in the minority! Keep going and building your business.<\/p>\n

If, like most, you are leaving employment to start\u00a0a\u00a0business, you need money – not just to run the business<\/a>, but to LIVE. Your bills don’t stop, you still need to eat and once in a while, you may even want to socialise! The only thing that stops is your salary payment.<\/p>\n

Enough Money<\/div>
Money buys you “time” – work out how long you can live on the money you have stowed away. I’d suggest at least 1 year, maybe 2. <\/div><\/div><\/span><\/p>\n

2 – What do\u00a0 I enjoy photographing?<\/span><\/p>\n

There’s no point in starting a business doing something you don’t enjoy.<\/p>\n

Make sure you start to offer services photographing things you actually like doing – it may be a niche like car photography, commercial “widget” photography<\/a>, or you could join the army of wedding photographers out there.<\/p>\n

Enjoy it!<\/div>
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Ask your self whether you truly\u00a0enjoy shooting your chosen subject, because when things kick off you’ll be doing a LOT of it!<\/div><\/div>\n

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3 – Have I got a portfolio to “sell” my services?<\/h2>\n

So you really enjoy shooting fashion, but are you any good at it?<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

It’s one important thing to enjoy<\/strong> what you do, but also you absolutely have to be able to “do” the job, and prove it with a strong portfolio of images, ready to show clients.<\/p>\n

This is usually your website, facebook, instagram , twitter etc. – not some glossy book which costs thousands to make. That’s the good news.<\/p>\n

The bad news is that if you’re uploading thousands of shots and there is even 1% which are “not great”, these will be noticed straight away – so be careful, only show your best stuff.<\/p>\n

Assume everything you upload is going to be seen by the next couple\/family\/client and you’ll not go far wrong.<\/p>\n

Impress customers<\/div>
Do whatever it takes to get a great portfolio and try to avoid showing\u00a0poor images – it’s not a volume game, better to show 1 or 2 fantastic shots, than a set of 20 with duff shots\u00a0<\/div><\/div>\n

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4 – Who is going to hire me?<\/h2>\n

Weddings…<\/h3>\n

It may be as simple as “couples getting married” – but which couples?<\/p>\n