 BetterPhoto Member |
Getting Started...
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BetterPhoto Member |
Tasha- You are interested in a business that is very tough to make a living at. I have been shooting professionally for 25 years, with lots of highs and lots of lows. Professional Photography is not a job or even a career, it is a lifestyle. The best way is to take lots of classes, workshops, and reading material of your favorite subject. Maybe become good enough to be an assistant at an established studio. There are also professional photography schools for the really motivated, like Brooks Institute or Art Center in Pasadena. Whatever route you choose, bottom line is you have to be very good at your craft. Because you will be taking business away from another studio, so you must be better than them.
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Lori Lyman |
Tasha, I too was interested in photography in high school. After graduation, I became pregnant and on my 19th birthday, had my daughter. 6 months after, I became a single mother. Photography almost totally left the scene for years. Now, I am married, have a decent job and another child. I am just starting to take photography seriously. It will take a while for you to make a living at it, and to be quite blunt, I'm not sure if it's something you should jump into being a single mother. Like Charlie said, there's slow times and high times. Can you support your family in the slow times? I don't know where you're from, but here a degree in arts won't pay my bills. That's why I didn't pursue it. Lord knows I wanted to (and still do). I'm not saying it can't be done. Just that you have more riding on it than others. Is it a risk you can take? My thoughts (and also what I am trying now to do): learn what you can and try to make a name for yourself. If you can work for a studio as an assistant, that'd be perfect. But, you have to support your family first. A degree is good, but if you're starting your own business, it will do nothing to get people in the door. Get some experience first, like Charlie said too, make sure you have something marketable. Good luck!
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Lori Lyman |
Tasha, I too was interested in photography in high school. After graduation, I became pregnant and on my 19th birthday, had my daughter. 6 months after, I became a single mother. Photography almost totally left the scene for years. Now, I am married, have a decent job and another child. I am just starting to take photography seriously. It will take a while for you to make a living at it, and to be quite blunt, I'm not sure if it's something you should jump into being a single mother. Like Charlie said, there's slow times and high times. Can you support your family in the slow times? I don't know where you're from, but here a degree in arts won't pay my bills. That's why I didn't pursue it. Lord knows I wanted to (and still do). I'm not saying it can't be done. Just that you have more riding on it than others. Is it a risk you can take? My thoughts (and also what I am trying now to do): learn what you can and try to make a name for yourself. If you can work for a studio as an assistant, that'd be perfect. But, you have to support your family first. A degree is good, but if you're starting your own business, it will do nothing to get people in the door. Get some experience first, like Charlie said too, make sure you have something marketable. Good luck!
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