I don't want to put you off becoming a pro, but there are a few things you should ask yourself. Firstly is it worth it$%:
Can you push yourself to the extreme and still be courteous to customers who are having a bad day while you are having one yourself. If you can be understanding and kind while you yourself are feeling like hell then tick yourself one box. I found that serving time as a sales assistant helped me a lot in this regard.
Second, can you put up with working from 6am until 11pm even when you are ill and on Sundays$%: Being a photographer isn't just about taking some nice pictures and sitting back while the cheques roll in, I wish it were.
You see, most clients don't realise that what happens after the event, be it a wedding, portrait or whatever is the most important time, if you are working digital then you have to stay up sorting and downloading. Once that is complete then it's time to go through the remaining files and colour correct, brighten, add contrast, remove offending relatives, spot, etc... just doing the aftermath takes up a hell of a lot of time.
If you are still shooting film then it is slightly less time, once you get the film back you still have to go through sorting and marking for corrections then taking it back to the lab and going through each photograph in much the same way as digital, correcting colour and the brightness /contrast with the lab technician and it can get really expensive.
You need to learn not only the photography craft but also marketing, selling yourself, customer service and care not to mention time management you are about 10% of the way there. The remaining 90% is actually experience, the highs and lows of doing the job, and after all - you never stop learning. There are times when it's not going right but you learn to pull it around or times when it's flying along and you need to learn to recognise those times and lean to slow them down.
I've found photography is best done at a moderate pace.
Too fast or slow will make you miss things, either by being complacent or during the rush.
OK now for the meat of it ~
Try to get an assistants job under a successful photographer if you do then you will not only learn from his/her experience, but you will also be learning on your on as well which is important and also you are semi-guaranteed a regular pay check. This job isn't easy though but it will help you learn about yourself and how you react to different situations which is a bonus when you come to do it on your own.
Don't go mad on equipment, just get a good semi-pro camera body and a nice fast (f2.8) zoom lens between 28-200 (some where in the middle, you need it to cover the 150mm range ideally) also get yourself a good flash, one that's dedicated to the body you buy. They are a little on the expensive side but you will really need a good flash. And that's it to get started, don't listen to the gear heads, no point, they are trying to get the dream bit of kit that makes their photo's come out fantastic, what they don't realise is that a training course or just plain old experience will do that better than a new lens.
Don't do Anything for free! I know it's tempting to hand out freebies to people who know you but if you do then you will make them think that you will hand out freebies all the time and you will get other people you probably don't know coming up and saying that they are a friend of so and so who you know and could they have a freebie as well. It's a can of worms, don't open it. If you want to give your friends and family an offer then do so, give then a 10% off voucher or only charge them your base cost (I'll explain that in a bit) but under no circumstances never ever do it for nothing.
Base cost is the cost of equipment wear and tear, travel, and time. The easiest way to work out base cost is to add up the price you paid for your equipment times that by three, divide by twelve then divide again by four.
So in an equation it would look like this:
" (Equipment cost x 3) / 12) /4 = Base Equipment cost"
The reason for this is you will need to replace your equipment on average every three years so you need to make at least a certain amount of money each month to put into your equipment fund.
You need to add on travelling cost, you can't run a car or bike on nothing and 50p a mile is normal. Your time is worth something too. Charge however much you think you are worth per hour. For weddings I charge :%$pound;150.00 per hour, Portraits I charge :%$pound;25.00 per hour. Some charge more, others less. It depends on how much you think you are worth. Not how much you think others will pay. Do not undervalue yourself, and please don't make the same mistake I made, which was thinking that "It doesn't cost me anything to do it!". You have experience, you have courage and you never expect an electrician, plumber or mechanic to just charge cost and neither should you. (They tend to charge :%$pound;50.00 per hour labour)
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