What's Needed to Be Successful in Photography

We've all read the motivational quotes about creating work that matters and the 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert at something. This video gives us more than that and will make you understand the most important aspect of creating a life where you do what you love. 

Amateurs wait for inspiration, where professionals do the work. That's the one thing I've taken out of this video that's been a part of my daily affirmation. What you've been doing up until now is great. You've learned from others, you've watched good movies to get the compositions right, and you've studied lighting and what what each one of the light modifiers can do. You've asked yourself what type of style you like and what you want to showcase as your professional work. You've built the site for your work, and you've added some projects that you've done in the past. 

It's now time to plan your next shoot, one that will give you the experience of progress. You need to put what you've learned into action and deliver, not to anyone but yourself. You need to collaborate with a team, whether it's an architect, stylist, makeup artist, or person who owns a nice car. You need to decide what you want to focus on and what you enjoy shooting, and if you want to make a career out of it, you need to keep the idea of how your images could be used in the back of your mind when planning or composing the shot. 

It's a short video, but it should inspire you to go out and create good work if you're contemplating photography as a career path. 

Wouter du Toit's picture

Wouter is a portrait and street photographer based in Paris, France. He's originally from Cape Town, South Africa. He does image retouching for clients in the beauty and fashion industry and enjoys how technology makes new ways of photography possible.

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2 Comments

Success is in the eyes of the beholder. If you are content with your work, and your life. And if you live on a tiny income, then your a success. Success is what you make of it. Not when others say your successful.