Being a Park City Photographer :: Getting Started in Photography

Starting a business is intense.  There are a million books and websites about it, and in my opinion they don’t scratch the surface of the actual experience.

I can only speak to starting a photography business, but I imagine there are huge similarities among all small business founders.  You’ve found it: something you believe in, a way you want to live your life, a career that speaks to you.  Now… what?  How do you realize this dream?

My first step?  I worked for free a lot.  I worked for free at the very beginning, and I continued to work for free at times even once I got paying gigs.  I even still work for free.  What constitutes working for free?  More than simply doing unpaid photo shoots.

Working for free is also:

1. Watching endless tutorials on youtube until you can differentiate the good from the bad (those that really know what they’re talking about from those that are wasting your time).
2. Scouring B&H for products you want, and reading reviews to figure out which products you need.
3. Shadowing photographers that inspire you.
4. Reaching out to publications, sending images and requesting opportunities to cover events.
5. Reviewing your own work to determine how to improve it.
6. Reviewing the work of people you admire to determine how they did it.
7. Studying every.single.element of small business ownership — everything from accounting to branding to communications to social media to publicity to marketing — in addition to becoming the best damn photographer you can.

The amount of time taken up by all this self-education and self-promotion is staggering.  I was working an average of 14-16 hours a day, 7 days a week, throughout the first two years of my start-up.  These were hours away from sleeping, from my husband, from my fitness routine, from my s a n i t y, all in blind faith & dedication that my efforts would materialize into a future I’ve crafted.  So, if you’re going to commit that much time when so much of it is unpaid, the most important thing to note is that: when you work for free, make it work for YOU.

In the case of doing free photo shoots, when is it acceptable to work for free?

Again, the key is making these unpaid gigs beneficial for you.  Like an education.  Like an internship.  Like an investment… in yourself.