Photography
What Role Can Self-Portraits Play to Help You Improve Your Photography Skills
In every professional photographers’ career, they reach a point where they decide to focus their skills on a particular category within the industry. This could range from wedding photography, to baby photography, portraits, or one of many other prominent categories. What’s often overlooked is the benefit that experience within other categories can bring to your chosen field through the insights and techniques that can be gleaned. Perhaps eve n less recognised, self-portraits are one such area that can help a photographer hone their photography skills, particularly with respect to categories that deal with clients. One of the greatest facets that photographers can draw from self-portraits is the difficulty that accompanies their creation. After all, one has to have the foresight to predict what their specific appearance will be at the moment the photo is taken, yet alone gauge the necessary requirements for lighting, focus, timing and many other considerations…. | Read the full article
Why There is Merit in Working with Others
It’s easy to think of photography as an individual industry. After all, you’re likely operating as a sole trader business, while also ‘competing’ for work against others you may never even meet. But behind this façade it’s important to learn that becoming a better photographer is often leveraged through the relationships you form while working with those around you. On the one hand, you might be tempted to view other photographers as competitors. And in some instances, you’re right. However, if you’re looking to attract and sustain the right type of customer – that is, a loyal one – then you’ll learn that these clients often make their decision based on unique facets specific to a photographer. For example, their creative flair or personality. In this sense because imitation isn’t necessarily desirable as a photographer when you’re trying to build your own brand, and you don’t want to… | Read the full article
When Does Travel Photography Become Exploitation
Whether it’s amateurs who love to share their holiday snaps on social media, or professional photographers who make a living going from country to country to document some of the world’s most eye opening sights and stories – many of us share a love for travelling. But this passion to explore the world often calls into question the intent of photographers when they are presented with the dark and depressing side of travelling, particularly in less developed nations. As more and more travellers look to venture off the beaten track, an increasing number of people are bearing witness to poverty and squalor. They often feel compelled to document such conditions via videos or photos, even though this may be a practice going against the wishes of locals who hardly view their living conditions as a tourist attraction. On this point, there is effectively a fine line between travel photography being… | Read the full article
How Can Photographers Boost Their Productivity
Despite technology becoming increasingly sophisticated, it seems that we’re never quite content with the extent of our own productivity. We’re always on the lookout for a way to simplify our procedures or realise efficiencies that boost our productivity. When it comes to photography, things are no different – with a few measures that photographers can adopt, one can transform their output to have a more profound impact on their business. Never underestimate the importance of planning Create a series of schedules that cater for the short-term ‘here and now’, as well as longer term plans. For instance, have a checklist that covers the daily tasks that you need to complete, while also setting about weekly or monthly goals (perhaps such things as the number of new leads, or an increased engagement in social media). For many, visual checklists or lists are easier to manage. Short term planning should allocate… | Read the full article
Dealing With Clients’ Budgets
Pricing is among the more challenging components when establishing and running your own photography business. After all, in a competitive industry that is so heavily driven by cost savvy customers as well as the reputation of your peers, many photographers feel that their pricing is what stands between them and a more prominent pipeline of work. However, when clients stipulate a particular budget for work they are requesting, what considerations should one be affording such factors? First of all, using your clients’ budgets as means to price your work can deliver some benefits. Among new and emerging photographers in particular, who are looking to attract customers and build their marketing via word of mouth, budget-focussed pricing can be beneficial. Similarly, this approach is also flexible enough to allow more experienced photographers to continually increase their customer base by taking on work that they otherwise might not normally do. Furthermore,… | Read the full article
Street Photography Ethics
While street photographers and privacy advocates have long been engaged in a dispute over the ethics of street photography, recent months have seen an escalating level of tension. The most recent incident came within the last week, where photographers were left ‘outraged’ that participants at a BDSM street fair had elected to wear stickers which stated “ask first”. In the context of this particular application, this was a message to photographers requesting that they ask permission from the individuals before taking a photo of them. Hopefully, all would agree that photography within private confines (without permission) can certainly amount to legal complications. However, in the public realm circumstances are widely different, even more so at open events. In public settings, it’s not unreasonable that photographers would like to capture photos, and they shouldn’t really need to seek validation for approval. After all, in today’s day and age, just about… | Read the full article
What Emphasis Should New Photographers Place on Their Photography Equipment
We often hear from a lot of new or emerging photographers about some of the barriers they face in turning their passion into a sustainable livelihood. At times, this might be because their prospective client is looking for someone with a broader portfolio of work. In other instances, word of mouth marketing or the sheer level of competition might go against the photographer. And then there is the other argument – that they don’t have the best photography equipment to compete against the best. While the first few of these arguments might hold some merit, the fact of the matter is, the last argument doesn’t keep its head above water. For starters, every other photographer before you, and who has since gone on to make a living out of the profession would have likely contended with equipment that was (technically) limited when they started – compared with their established… | Read the full article
The Blurred Line Between Photos and Illustrations
Just a couple weeks ago, the Australian Institute of Photography announced the winner of its annual photography contest, the Australian Professional Photography Awards. Almost immediately after the decision was broadcast, observers were up in arms, including prolific landscape photographer Ken Duncan. In particular, Ken took umbrage to the nature of the overall winner’s ‘photos’, which were representative of illustrations. In total, there were 18 category winners, including other photos representing illustrations. It was however, the fact that Lisa Saad’s entry won the award across all categories, which drew ire. While few are questioning the quality of the work in its own right, many have expressed disbelief with what seemingly appears to be a blurred line between photos and illustrations. There is little doubt that work of this nature encourages a great deal of engagement. Its progressive nature provokes the viewer to think, to examine, to question. And on that… | Read the full article
How Important is it to Have Your Own Photographic Style?
One of the articles we shared with our social media followers last week concerned the topic of having your own style of photography. The Australian-based photographer who penned the article made the point that one should pay closer attention to the content they are shooting, as opposed to the visual they’re aiming for. If not, they may lose focus on becoming a great photographer. While there is enough merit to suggest that a unique style is neither correlated with nor a prerequisite to do well as a photographer, there are certainly beneficial aspects. For starters, when one enters the photography industry, the difficulties of making a name for yourself and finding regular work become apparent. You’re often forced to compete on price because your experience does not allow you to dictate the degree of control over your business that you would like. One proposition however, is to offer… | Read the full article
Self-doubt in Photography
Few would argue that photography is not a highly competitive industry. From professionals who undercut one another on price, to amateurs flooding social media with photos from their mobile phones, and even clients who decry the value photographers deliver altogether – photography is certainly not an easy way to make a living. Because of the nature with which the photography industry operates, it’s not uncommon for some photographers to question their choice of profession at a given point in their career. After all, photographers are only human, and it’s certainly normal for people to consider their career choice several times throughout their life. This self-doubt however, while often associated as being a negative trait, is not as disconcerting as it would seem. For starters, self-doubt is a good means of validating one’s passion and motivation to pursue something. This trait is one that encourages a photographer to reflect… | Read the full article
