It's not easy and if it were, everyone would be doing it. You have to keep repeating that to yourself because it's true and you are entitled to some grace, as you grow. These 3 tips help me continue and I'm sharing them with you!
During an effort to rid my house of excess belongings this weekend, I stumbled upon an analogy that should help inform my gear buying decisions going forward.
Black Friday sales are here and we want to keep you up to date on some of the best photography deals available. These savings are only available for a very limited timeframe, so if there's something that piques your interest, make sure to act on it now!
After a decade of selling my work at art festivals, I've discovered that beyond the money that I've earned, I've also gotten some valuable lessons both for my career and for my life.
Nowadays, your website is probably the most important tool in your business toolkit, as it is where the vast majority of potential clients will evaluate if your work suits their needs and initiate contact with you. As such, it is crucial that you ensure you do everything you can to create the best possible online experience for your site's visitors, and this great video tutorial will help you ensure that you do.
Gear Acquisition Syndrome isn’t found in the New England Journal of Medicine, but it’s a reality for photographers the world over. But why?
Depending on where you live and what you shoot, you might not have a steady flow of clients at all times of the year. People like wedding photographers often have to deal with a period during which business is significantly lower or even stops entirely. That does not mean your income has to completely stop as well, however. This helpful video will give you a few ideas to weather the off-season.
It always starts innocently enough: you buy a new camera and start taking photos. Then someone you know asks a favor and you’re all too happy to oblige them with all the photos you can snap. Fast forward just a small amount of time later and you realize, with great sorrow, this phase of freebies doesn’t have an end.
How do you define success as a photographer? How do you know when you’ve reached the goal you’ve set for yourself when you first started your journey behind the lens?
No matter how long you’ve been involved in photography or other creative work, you’ve probably been asked to do something for someone for free, or worse, for “exposure.” Is it ever sensible to give your time without some form of tangible remuneration?
As I am knee-deep in production this week, I thought I’d take this week’s article to share an experience outside the normal photography realm that still has lessons to teach for every small business owner.
Having a successful business means you are often changing, learning, and creating a better path to success. In this video, I'm discussing four habits that I have seen with many photographers actively participating in.
Becoming a successful professional photographer requires more than just being able to shoot a pretty sunset or stunning portrait. It's about how you run your business.
You can spend a lot of time learning how to work a camera and process images, but it takes a lot more than that to become a successful professional photographer. If you are thinking of making the leap, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will give you seven helpful tips to increase your chances of finding success.
For photographers, setting the price can be a daunting task. How much should you charge? How much product should you give? What's too high and what's charging too little? You set the initial value, but the market determines where it'll live in the long haul.
Should I upgrade or shouldn’t I upgrade? It’s an age-old question. But perhaps the first question you should ask is: “can I buy?"
Of course, it is crucial to continuously work on building your skills with a camera and expanding your creative palette, but to be successful professionally as a photographer, you have to be able to sell yourself to clients and to convince them to place their trust in your vision and capabilities. That is something a lot of us struggle with. If you need a little help with it, this great video tutorial will get you started in the right direction.
While very few photographers make a full-time living shooting stock photography, it can be a decent way to supplement your main work and provide some additional financial security by diversifying your income streams. This excellent video goes in depth to show you how two photographers sold $47,000 of their photos on stock services.
There is no doubt that the demand for video is steadily increasing, but many of us who have shot exclusively stills for a long time may be reluctant to learn another process and add it to our list of services. If you have been considering expanding your capabilities to include video, this excellent video essay discusses why it could be a great choice for your bottom line.
While jobs in the creative arts, like photography, are infamously difficult to make good money in, it is possible. In this video, Evan Ranft walks you through how he turned the income from his photography business from low to six figures in 8 years.
Nikon has finally officially announced their new flagship mirrorless camera, the Z 9. The long-rumored specs are now confirmed, and the promise of the system has exceeded expectations.
Making a living as a photographer or filmmaker is hard enough even if you do it perfectly, but of course, none of us are perfect, and we all make mistakes along the way. This excellent video features a seasoned photographer and filmmaker discussing five mistakes he has made in his career and how to fix them or avoid them entirely in the first place.
To go big or to go small, that is the question. In today’s article, I’ll look at a handful of pros and cons of each to try and figure out which is the best approach.
Well, the moment all Nikon shooters have been waiting for has finally arrived. The new flagship Z 9 arrives tomorrow.
Olympus is changing its name to the OM System. With the announcement, they have told FStoppers that they are also developing a new interchangeable lens Micro Four Thirds camera.
New gear, new techniques, exciting shoots, and financial success are all parts of a fun and successful photographic life. However, it’s equally important to maintain our passion for our art form and continue to feed our creativity in the long term.
We talk a lot about how to ease the anxiety of our subjects and make them more comfortable in front of our lens, but being behind the camera can cause just as much anxiety. This great video discusses the topic of pre-shoot anxiety and dealing with it as a creative.
Learning how to price your wedding photography business can be tricky enough, but if you are asked to start taking on destination work, it approaches an entirely new level of complexity. If you are looking to add that to your services list but are unsure of how to go about pricing it, this helpful video will give you some good advice to set you on your way.
Since photography prices range all over the spectrum, it can be difficult to understand your pricing placement. Am I charging enough for the work or am I severely undercharging? There is a way to gauge your fees for the beginner photographer, and it works like this.
Financial results are one thing and pundit commentary another; however, there is nothing like hearing it directly from the horse's mouth. So, how does Nikon think they are doing? Hear what they've got to say.
If you've worked in photography for a little while, you'll likely have been confronted with the question of whether you should sell your raw files or not. Is there a right answer? Here's one photographer's take on it.
Trying to get more experience as a photographer can feel like a bit of a Catch-22 sometimes: you need to be given opportunities to get more experience, but you often need established experience to get those opportunities. So, what can you do? This helpful video essay features a professional photographer discussing five different ways you can get more experience.
Last week I wrote about the importance of the test shoot for the budding photographer, and even the established photographer. It's a way of proving your talents and style, something new clients are always looking for.
Being a photographer (professional or amateur) can be a wonderful thing; after all, it is a dream of many people to devote their lives (or a significant portion of them) to a creative pursuit. Like anything in life, though, it has its drawbacks as well. This great video essay features a seasoned photographer discussing what is good and what is bad about being a photographer.
Wedding photography is a very competitive business, and with so many options, many couples will make initial decisions based on what they find on your website. So, should you include your pricing on your website, or is it better to save that for a phone call or in-person consultation? This excellent video discusses the topic.
As Nikon shooters worldwide await with bated breath the announcement of the brand’s flagship mirrorless camera, Nikon has dropped a first look preview that gives us a clue as to their priorities.
Photographing for free can hurt your brand or build a whole new business branch. There are photographers who work for free because they are afraid to charge. Then, there are photographers who work for free in the form of test shoots.
A random hunch leads to a positive reminder about what gear does and does not offer the creative process.
If you’re thinking about going into photography full time and make a profession out of it, it might be worthwhile considering the skills other than getting a good photograph. Let’s discuss the somewhat soft skills required.
Why do we keep seeing photographers make the same photography marketing mistakes? In this video, I take a look at the mistakes I see photographers making time and time again and look at how to avoid such pitfalls.
We are always looking for more ways to increase our photo and video business, but given the nature of creative pursuits, the road to more success is not always clear. If you are looking to increase your business, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will give you five tips to get more clients and increase your income.
Let’s address the elephant in the room: there are probably 1.2 trillion pieces of content about running a business. I’ve read maybe half of them myself, and there’s some outstanding information available, but let’s set a goal to create the top mistakes to avoid when you decide to go from hobbyist to professional.
After the honeymoon period, where we obsess over every new technological innovation the camera market has provided, what matters when we get to set?
If a business does not charge a production fee, they are leaving money on the table. It's standard, and your commercial clients are accustomed to paying an additional fee. We call it a production fee, but others industries may call it a convenience charge or kit fee, among other terms. Either way, it's standard and you are entitled to this fee.
Nikon quietly — or maybe not so quietly given the press — announced the demise of the innocuously named Coolpix B600, a product name that just trips off the tongue and screams cheap and cheerful. What is startling about this camera is that it only hit the market in December 2020. Some eight months later it has bitten the dust. Why is this and what does it say about the camera market?
Landscape photography is a tricky genre in which to make money, as unlike most other genres, there is rarely a direct relationship in which a client pays you for a specific brief. As such, making money with it can be a bit trickier than in other cases. This great video tutorial will give you three ideas to make some money with your work.
Have you had the client you're convinced is pure evil? Why do they behave like that? It seems they like to spread misery and just make life difficult for everyone in sight. Believe it or not, there's a method that I use to help bring them back down to tolerable levels. In some cases, they've become my biggest ally and supported me over the years.
Art is subjective, but the professional world of commercial photography is far less so. With this in mind, how do you work out if your work is good enough to make it as a professional photographer or one day will be?
Back in July, Fujifilm announced that it plans to focus investments on pharmaceuticals — and not imaging — in order to drive profits. What does this mean for the future of its cameras?
If the title intrigued you, I'd bet that you feel slightly insecure about raising your creative fees. It's my belief that somewhere along the way, someone said artists shouldn't get paid, and we foolishly chose to believe it. Then, we further damaged each other by spreading that lie. This is the purpose of this entire video.