3 Mistakes to Avoid When Building a Career in Film or Photography
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Loading... - Abibtol Hadiya
- 21 Feb 2023
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If you’re thinking of making your love for photography into the thing that pays the bills, here are a few pitfalls which you might want to avoid.
Like many people reading this article, I fell in love with film and photography long before I was able to make a career out of it. At first, it was an innocent hobby to help me through the vagaries of life. Then, it was the undeniable passion that consumed all my thoughts night and day. Eventually, and I do mean that in the longest sense of the word, I was finally able to strike out on my own full-time and stop splitting time between my passion and my day job. But while, for some of you, the idea of telling your boss where he can shove that day job might seem like a romantic ideal, the reality is that, even once you’ve escaped the cubicle life, you’re rarely more than one misstep from being right back behind the desk.
Nobody bats 1.000. Regardless of your particular brand of genius, you will undoubtedly make some mistakes along the way. I’ve made more than my fair share. Far more than I have enough ink for today. But, I thought I’d share three of the biggest mistakes that I, and others, have made that can derail an otherwise promising career.
Thinking You Can Buy Success
Regardless of what YouTubers might tell you, success in your photographic career is not tied to how much money you can spend on new gear. Once you’ve already built a career, you will know exactly what the basic minimum equipment threshold is required for you to compete in your particular niche. But if you are thinking that upgrading your gear equates to upgrading your career, you’ve got a rude awakening coming.
Spend less time on reading gear reviews and more time on developing your craft and your unique artistic voice. These are the things that will get you noticed and keep clients coming back for more. Never once in over twenty years have I had a client hire me because I owned a particular piece of equipment. They hire you because there is something about your unique artistic voice that you have developed over time that they simply can’t get from another artist. They will not hire you just because you were first in the preorder line and can come to set with the latest release from Brand A or Brand B. That might be fun for the comment sections or to impress your photographer friends. But, when it comes to actually getting work (and doing so in a profitable way), put down your credit card and pick up the camera you already own. There is simply no way to get better other than putting in the hard work. Period. End. You have to do the hard work in the shadows before you ever see the light. And what will shine through is not how much you can spend, but how you see the world (photographically speaking). Read More…
