3 Lessons I Have Learned Early On In My Photography Journey

Transitioning from spontaneous iPhone photography to more professional portraiture work has been an interesting, extremely fulfilling journey thus far. My first month of practicing and learning professional photography has been a humbling experience, and I wanted to share my journey with you all so that it may ease the burden for someone else who's just kicking off a photography business. Here are 3 lessons I've learned so far:

1. Gain Experience By Any Means Necessary!

I wracked my brain for a while about how to approach the first client - what to say to get someone to hire me for a photo shoot. After watching, reading and thinking on it, I realized that the best way forward for me was to start by offering free shoots on local facebook groups, nextdoor groups, and other social media platforms. This is a highly controvercial topic - I have watched dozens of videos on how to get your first clients, and both sides of the aisle feel strongly about offering or not offering free photo shoots. I decided that the experience was worth the risk, and I'm so glad I made that decision.

I have done half a dozen free shoots so far and have a few more planned, and it has built up so much confidence in myself without the stress or any real risk of failure. When you are handing out free photo shoots, people come to the shoot with pretty low expectations. They know you are practicing, and hopefully you were honest with them about that. This takes a lot of the external pressure off of you while you are learning - the key for me was to keep the internal pressure up. I was holding myself to a very high standard, even when my clients weren't. Every photo shoot I've done has FELT like a paid shoot, even though it wasn't. To me, this is the best way to practice so that when the day comes where you collect the first check, you feel confident and ready to provide value equal to what you are charging.

2. Things Don't Always Go As Planned

In your head before each photoshoot, you plan out how it's going to go. You watched dozens of youtube videos - hours of content to prepare yourself for the shoot and you are READY to take on the world. You get to the location, and the family is not coordinated in their outfit. The sun has already started to set behind the trees even when you thought it would still be above the treeline. You start shooting the family, and then you suddenly forget all of the poses you had stored away in your head and panic. And then you get saved by one of the clients who offers up a suggestion on how to pose. The kids cry, they run away, hide their faces, go play on their bikes.

You thought you would have a full 30 minutes, but you forget that kids have very short attention spans and you realize that you may have wasted too much time trying to create the perfect pose. All of these things happen when you are just starting out. I'm sure they will happen more as I continue on my journey, but each time it will happen less and less as I build on my experiences. Hopefully we can take some solice in knowing that we all experience the same things while we are starting out.

3. Customer Service Above All

There are a lot of people out there who are great at using a camera. In my opinion, most people who put the time and effort to learn about a particular camera, how light works with that camera, how to compose a good photograph, etc. can take some really decent photos. The part where each of us can stand out from the next is how we carry ourselves, our business, and our client interactions.

At the end of the day, photography is all about the client and the emotions that we can portray and deliver to them through our camera. If they are not happy, then you shouldn't be happy either. Make connections with your clients - talk about life outside of the shoot. Ask them about their job, their family, how they are doing. Build a meaningful connection with everyone who you have the pleasure of photographing and the rest will follow. Connecting with someone on a deeper level allows you both to feel more comfortable and relaxed which will make for better photographs. Not to mention, it's better for business. People who like you will refer you to other people. Period.

This journey is a wild one, and I'm so happy I've taken the first steps towards a thriving photography career. If you've gotten this far, thank you so much for reading! Please reach out to me using the button below for any inquiries, comments, thoughts, or just to say hello! Quick shoutout to some of my favorite photography youtubers - https://www.youtube.com/@LauraBC , https://www.youtube.com/@ogonzilla , and https://www.youtube.com/@SergeyBidun ! Check any of these 3 out for awesome content about digital photography.