Articles from Walid Azami

I'm not a fan of Canon's recent decision to ban some third-party manufacturers from selling RF mount lenses. It's a smart short-term financial decision, but the long run is a different story.  Because of this decision, I invested in a Sigma lens (24-70mm and adaptor), and while the adaptor is one more piece of gear to lug around, I'd rather vote with my dollar.

You’ll get many opportunities to photograph someone for free or to offer you work for less. You don’t have to take all of them or even any of them. As a successful photographer, you’ll need to learn to say "no" more often than "yes" and how your career development depends on saying "no" to the wrong people.

Yes, the video says it's for posing women, but it works for everyone. It's for posing, it's for comfort levels, and it will help you run a more successful set. Here are three of my tips for helping models have a more successful photoshoot.  

Here are four great tips to give you an advantage with your shoots, whether for a job or as a hobby.  

Photographers opt for the simple hourly wage, and while it's better than working for free, I still think it's bad for the long-run. I can only imagine the comment section from hourly photographers at the bottom of this blog post!  

You've heard your industry colleagues say it. You've read the news articles and listened to the business pundits. The economy is in a recession, and your photography business is suffering.  

Here are five tips that save you money and get you high-quality backdrops. This is important because you must stand out as a successful photographer, and we all know that blending into the crowd isn't exactly the best way to book clients. 

Running a photography business is challenging and earning your first client can be tough. In this article, I will show you how to charge for photography in the three stages of a beginner photographer's career.  

Millions of photos are uploaded each day, but we don't know who took them, unless they are properly credited. With proper credit, you can actually book more jobs, and it's a remarkable way of expanding your network.  

The title said photographers who charge by the hour are like vending machines of the photography world. There is everything wrong with that, and my quest is to help you earn more money. 

Let's go on a location scout for my music video. The needs for photographers and directors can be similar, and how you approach the location scouting can really help you have a smooth production. 

Photography studios can be very profitable if you create them the right way. Photography studios can earn you $100K in medium markets and up to $200K+ in some of the larger markets. In addition to photographers renting the studio, there are other alternative methods to booking your studio day and night.

There are a lot of photography myths regarding pricing and money. In this, I will cover big myths and expand on them in the video. 

If you raise your photography prices, all of your photo clients will leave you for someone else. While a portion of that may be true, it's a good thing, and here is why. 

You are going to learn how to book more photo clients now! It’s easier when you ask the right questions. This blog will guide you through the first client meeting. It's the most important meeting where they decide who to hire and for what budget. 

A photography studio can be exciting and profitable. It can also have major pitfalls that you should be aware of.  

Photographers who want to dabble with video and have some apprehension will learn from this post. While video and photography are not identical, they have great overlap in concepts and it's likely that you know more than you think.  

Inflation is slowly killing your business, and many photographers haven't seen the big picture yet. Inflation is an on-going process but the past couple of years have really taken a bite out of the small business success story. 

Photographers are making some terrible mistakes with their TikTok and Instagram Reels content.  

If you want a successful career as a photographer, you have to dismiss one toxic term that damaged our industry: "starving artist." It has caused more damage and more self-doubt to artists across the globe than probably anything else.  

I operate a channel that helps photographers on YouTube and Instagram, and both audiences are predominantly male. I've worked on sets for over a dozen years, where there is the expectation that men are the directors or photographers and women handle the glam. Is that a problem? Yes, it's a big problem, and here's why. 

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! 

The video will go into full detail about the ways I use each tip, but here is a simplified breakdown. 

You don't need many photography lights or a big crew to accomplish a professional campaign, but it helps. The big crew and system is a major asset, especially if you have the assistance of lights to help you shape an image. 

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. 

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.  

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. 

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.  In this video, we focus on the importance of using the test shoot to build a solid team.

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.  

Creative entrepreneurs have a different hill to climb compared to other professions. Other professions have a set path to follow. Sign up for the right classes, then pass the predetermined tests, and qualify for a piece of paper that tells the market you are good enough. 

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. 

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.  

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. 

The landscape of all businesses looks different, and store after store keeps closing because of online businesses. The type of business we see consistently is the dining establishment, and their need for content is immense.

I am a photographer but I often forget to shoot. Isn't that a ridiculous thing to say? I must admit, it's my reality more often than I'd like to admit. 

You'll make countless mistakes as a professional photographer. This is how we grow as artists and entrepreneurs, and I encourage experimenting with your marketing and photography. I'm certain someone will object, but show the person without mistakes, and I'll show you a person who has accomplished very little.  

You push a button on the really nice camera and then run it through a neat little filter. That's all photographers do, right? Then, why are we expensive, and why would any client want to invest that much into a good photographer? Wouldn't it be easier to buy a camera and push the button yourself?