Dear Beginner Photographers

Starting out as a photographer is challenging for so many reasons, and it can be tough to figure out what you need to do since everything is so new.

I lucked out with a great community of people that guided and supported me through my journey as a photographer, and I want to pay that forward.

Here are 3 pieces of advice for all the newbie photogs out there:

• Photography is both a science and an art, learn the basics first. My highschool photography teacher said, “You have to learn the rules before you break them,” and I wholeheartedly agree. It isn’t the most glamorous, but you need to know your gear and how to use it before you dive into your creative endeavors. Being comfortable with settings, gear, and editing will help you achieve those concepts you have in mind match up with how amazing you imagined them to be.

• Do free work to get your foot in the door. You will need to build your portfolio somehow, and doing free work will give you the opportunity to do that. Be strategic with what you do for free and don’t just offer everyone everything for free. If you want to do senior portraits, ask friends or family that are in that age range to do some free photos for them. You have a lot more wiggle room when you do work for free than when you have a paying client. You can take more risks and, they don’t all have to work out since they are free photos at the end of the day. A lot of photographers don’t share how much work they actually do for free, but that is kind of the fun part, no one needs to know what photos in your portfolio were free or were from paying clients. Just remember to be strategic about what you do for free, it needs to benefit you in some way (e.g. practice a new technique, expand your portfolio, or build your network)!

• Practice, practice, practice. This might seem redundant, but you NEED to actually take photos, handle your camera, and edit to get better. Do you know how many photos I have taken? Half a million, on the more conservative side. You need to try out settings, angles, compositions, different focal points, and editing styles. The more photos you take, the faster you will see what you like or don’t like, and then adjust from there.

Sincerely,

Someone that was once in your shoes