Got a note the other day from an aspiring photographer. He wanted to know what it takes to become a pro. I thought–very pragmatically–that it’s really not complicated. HARD maybe, but complicated, no. It might be what “the industry” doesn’t want you to know, but here are the 5 steps.
1. Declare yourself a photographer. That’s what you ARE in life. You’re not a student, not a finance-guy-slash-part-time-photographer, not a part time anything. You’re a photographer. People have to know this.
2. Be in business. Make it real. Get a business bank account, business license (city + county), business cards. Business. Otherwise it’s a hobby.
3. Read every book you can find at the library or online about the business of photography. Understand the rules. Because if you fail at the business part, if you can’t SUSTAIN this business, you’re not a pro. You’re unemployed, or back to part-time this or that. And back to step 1 you go again…wanting to be a pro. NOW then, if read these books and they make sense, and they teach you how to run the books and land the gigs…you gotta then break some of the rules you read in these books. And YOU choose which are the right ones to break. You’ll be right 50% of the time, you just won’t know which 50% until after you’ve taken the leap. Action is the only thing that matters.
4. Take photographs everyday and share them, pimp them, promote them like mad. For clients and for yourself. Get creative as all hell. Find YOUR voice through shooting more photos than you thought was possible. Aim to be different, not better than everybody else. Be brutal in your edit. Put forward only your best work around the the things you actually want to get paid to shoot. Break all the rules here too. And again, you’ll be mistaken 50% of the time, but you gotta take your swings to hit anything at all. Don’t forget, the DOING is the only thing that matters here too. What you THINK is nice, but it counts for zilch, zero, nada. Action wins.
5. Repeat.
"I do love the internet; I do love to search on there. My one reservation is that it makes the online generation dependent on it. We didn’t have internet, we had libraries and bookshops. I remember going to the bookshops of Charing Cross road, sitting on my knees and not being able to afford the big photography books but looking at them trying to understand the lighting in those images. (To Marcus) Do you remember us sitting there together looking at Guy Bourdin photos and wondering, how did they light this? And of course you couldn’t just rip that page out. But today you can just copy it from the internet and take it to the studio. And all this availability is blinding our creativity. That is my fear. We’re not trigerring anything in the brain. It’s just there to copy or to adpat, but there’s no effort to go find something. There’s no accident, no surprise. Today, if you’re doing a double page spread of a girl who has to be lying down, you can go online and see hundreds of spreads with the girl lying down and just find a position; it’s blinding. So where’s the new generation? Why are we not seeing some crazy young photographer doing this crazy fucked-up picture that we all love? There’s no fire. No fire because there’s too much smoke. In the beginning we weren’t in Vogue. We were in nowhere. We were just doing the pictures until someone came and said, ‘We like that - we want to publish it.’ We had time to grow and crawl, to learn to walk and talk."
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Taking time to grow and crawl, to learn to walk and talk.
- Mert Alas (via highlikefashion)
(via priyapuri)
Jasmine Star & Promise Tangeman // Designing + Building A Brand
POTPURI Interesting Finds
Jasmine and Promise talk about how to identify your personal style, and use this to develop your personal brand.
Leica M7
POTPURI Interesting Finds
I would like one of these.
Leica M7
December 21, 2011
Taken with Canon 5DIIThe Leica M7 is the best 35mm film camera ever made. It is a manual focus rangefinder camera with an electronic shutter and a built in light meter. Manual focusing with a rangefinder is far easier to do than with an slr. There is a small square in the middle of the viewfinder that shows two superimposed images, one is fixed and the other moves when you turn the focus ring on the lens. When the object you are looking at in the square has both of it’s images aligned, the object is in focus. It is extremely easy to tell when this happens and with a little practice, very quick. The light meter looks through the lens and can control the shutter speed (aperture priority mode). Since the focusing mechanism operates without needing to look through the lens, the mirror needed on an slr isn’t required and the lens can be mounted very close to the film. This allows the lens to be smaller, which allows it to be lighter and sharper. Even with a 50mm f/1.4 lens mounted, the M7 is quite small and light making it easy to carry around your neck for long periods of time. If you can justify the cost, this is the camera to get to shoot 35mm film.
Yashica Electro 35 CC
POTPURI Interesting Finds
I would rather like one of these.
Yashica Electro 35 CC
November 10, 2011
Taken with Canon 5DIIThis is the perfect film camera to carry everywhere with you. It has a very sharp 35mm f/1.8 lens, aperture priority mode (auto exposure), manual rangefinder focusing and is quite compact. It was produced from about 1970 to 1975 and although not common, can easily be found on ebay. This is one of the first rangefinder cameras I picked up and the one that really got me excited about the accuracy manual focusing provides. When loaded with 1600iso film (or 400iso film you plan to push to 1600iso) and set to f/1.8 it can take pictures in most lighting situations. For all those looking to start (or restart) shooting film, I would highly recommend this camera.
Video Editing in Photoshop!
This Video Was Made Entirely In Photoshop!
They are really starting to push Photoshop to become a video editing software. They are also pushing more 3D tools in Photoshop too. I guess it’s no longer “photo” shop anymore. It’s everything shop. I wish they were just independent programs. I just want to retouch pictures and leave the video editing to another program!
Get a glimpse of what the Photoshop team has been working on, when it comes to video and Photoshop. You won’t believe what you can do when you unite the power of Photoshop with easy and approachable video editing tools!
(via priyapuri)
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“A painting is not thought out and settled in advance. While it is being done, it changes as one’s thoughts change.
And when it’s finished, it goes on changing, according to the state of mind of whoever is looking at it.”
"- Pablo Picasso
Here are our best tips for getting sharp photos! Whether you’re setting up for a long-exposure or want to salvage a soft photo you’ve already shot, czech it →
Bill Cunningham, Tamara Lackey, Jessica Janae & Henri Cartier-Bresson
♥1 Bill Cunningham New York: The Movie
“The best fashion show is on the street.” “Those who seek beauty shall find it…”
He’s an original in a world of knock-offs. His genuine enthusiasm for life is so inspiring. Always smiling, always engaged. Watching this makes me want to learn how to really see again, to have an opinion, to capture what stands out…and to enjoy it lightly and really be happy.
A must see.
I attended Tamara Lackey’s seminar last Monday and learnt a whole bunch of things, what stood our was her personality and way of connecting with people
…recognising and responding to different personality types.
♥3 Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibition - The Man, The Image & The World @ GOMA
A keen eye for “the decisive moment”.
The man who reshaped photojournalism with his extensively travelled coverage of wold events before broadcast news was widely accessible, and also founded the Magnum photographic agency.
♥4 Jessica Janae Photography’s dance images
I have an idea in mind…to do a shoot with two dancers and off camera flash. I was looking for inspiration and came across Jessica Janae. Her dance images are stunning…Now I need to go exercise so I don’t feel so un-fit.
[Hurray for Bill Cunningham! Photos by CLINT SPAULDING for PMc]
Solstice Retouch: Download Adobe Photoshop CS6
Yes, that’s right! Adobe Photoshop 6 is available to play with.
You can get it here:
http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/photoshopcs6.html
The thing is, it’s in Beta at the moment. But you know what? It doesn’t matter! It’s free to play with, go nuts. Be sure to comment and let us know how you like it.
They have improved Photoshop with a lot of great new features, such as the improved RAW controls for highlights and shadows, RGB toning per channel, content aware patch tool, new crop feature, video editing, UI, improved performance (supposedly). The list goes on. You can read a full detailed review here:
http://gizmodo.com/5895424/photoshop-cs6-is-the-best-version-in-recent-memory
Doesn’t it make you want to download it now? I would get it just for the improved performance! CS5 was just painful and bloated.
Enjoy!
I still remember starting in Photoshop 6, now we’re on CS6.
Chase Jarvis: How To Become A Pro Photographer in 5 Simple Steps
The advice from one of the best, Chase Jarvis :
How To Become A Pro Photographer in 5 Simple Steps
