Some business articles will make it sound like you can open a photography business in a weekend. “Hey, I have a camera, how about I open a photography business?!” I, on the other hand, urge you to develop a strong foundation in photography before presenting yourself as a professional. Photography is a field in which you will never stop learning. The more you learn, the more you will realize that you don’t know. The universe of knowledge in photography (both as an art and as a business) is basically infinite, so you need to make a commitment to yourself and your future clients that you will never be satisfied in your level of knowledge, and that you will present yourself as a professional only after you have mastered the required skills.
I am frequently asked how I learned how to be a photographer. I have a B.S. degree in Business/Marketing, and an M.S. in Information Systems. People are surprised by this, but I believe it’s a the perfect background for what I do, since business and computer both play a huge part in having a photography business. When I decided to pursue photography, I found numerous resources to move me in that direction. Below are what I found to be some of the best initial investments in time and money.
New York Institute of Photography, www.nyip.com
This is a big fancy name for the home correspondence course I took when I initially wanted to learn photography. They provide you with a series of booklets, audio and video courses, and photo projects that are then critiqued and returned to you. If you are motivated, you can learn the technical knowledge you need to know fairly quickly. I soaked up every piece of information and gained a strong technical knowledge through this course. I never even finished the course to get the certificate, but I credit them with building my technical foundation. I don’t remember the cost, and they don’t disclose it on their website, but I recall that it was several hundred dollars. [New note from Mary Lynne on April 19, 2010: I don't think you necessarily need to spend this kind of money anymore to learn the technical fundamentals of photography. Between all the webinars, Youtube videos and sites devoted to teaching photography, there are loads of cheaper, and probably more up-to-date, resources out there these days. At least, when I took this class it was not all that up-to-date even then, although the technical information was excellent and right-on. However, making a commitment to learning by spending the money may give some learners the discipline they may otherwise lack.]
Online Forums
I honestly don’t see how anyone can run a photography business these days without being hooked into one of the online communities dedicated to portrait photography. I’m convinced you can learn more in one hour on the message boards than some photographers learn in a year. I have heard photographers argue that they don’t want to be online because they want human interaction. Well, I’ve had tons of human interaction from my participation in the boards. Just yesterday I got together for coffee with a photographer I’ve “known” for years through the boards, but had never had the opportunity to meet in person. It was a blast! I have phone calls with people who are doing similar things that I’m doing, and have met lots of other people over the years.
I have found that whenever I have a question, be it technical or creative or whatever, I can turn to the message boards and find the answer every time, either through a quick search or by posting my question. There is always someone eager to help you, and I almost have my answer within an hour or two.
This board started as a community devoted to black and white children’s photography, but has grown considerably in scope over the years. It has an extremely active community of individuals who visit daily and who have clearly developed friendships with many of the members. It is heavily dominated by women, and the people tend to be very friendly in their feedback if you choose to share samples of your work online. After you register as a member you may access the area called Just Starting Out. There are fee-based areas that delve more deeply into the business, but you must be able to prove that you are working as a photographer to access most of those areas. Visit the site to get the full scoop.
The pro4um is an amazing place to be because of the crowd it draws. Many of the photographers at the very top of their game hang out here and share their wealth of knowledge. The $249 annual fee is a drop in the bucket compared to the value of the knowledge you will find here. The members tend to be farther along in their career and have considerable expertise to share. I say that, but there are definitely exceptions, and there are many well respected and accomplished photographers at ilp (www.ilovephotography.com) as well.
This forum from Lori Nordstrom is new since I originally published this article. While I have not yet joined, I am certain it is a great resource, and I plan to join at some point soon. Lori is a super-smart business woman. I recently took a multi-day class with her and quickly found out that she is a whole lot more than just a pretty face. Your membership gets you lots of downloadable templates, and advice from seasoned pros. Right now, if I were to pick one forum to join, it would probably be this one.
Professional Photographers of America www.ppa.com
The most eye-opening and inspirational experience I had at the beginning of this journey was the 3-day children and family conference put on by PPA. This was a total immersion in the field, with presentations by many of the top photographers in the country. I learned so much about the many aspects of the business that I would never otherwise have considered. I remember feeling so green and inadequate that I wanted to be invisible. I felt embarrassed when people would casually turn to me and ask me questions like “What lab do you use?” or “What do you shoot?” I was constantly apologizing to everyone and saying that I was just starting and that I didn’t know anything. I really felt like an imposter, but wow did I learn a lot! This was a fantastic orientation to the business for me, and if you can find a conference like this I strongly recommend attending.
PPA also puts out a monthly magazine, Professional Photographer. You receive a subscription with a membership to PPA, but I believe you can also subscribe to the magazine separately. The magazine does a nice job covering both the artistic and the business sides of professional photography.
More Resources
The resources described above are just a tiny sampling of what’s out there, but I have found, and continue to find them all to be extremely helpful. In a future post I will list more sources of information that have helped me learn and grow in the field.
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