Facts on Beginning a Photography Career

Being a photographer can be a rewarding, challenging and creative endeavor because every day is different. New and unexpected assignments occur, and the photographer can use his talent to come up with something different for each shoot. At the same time, there are business and networking aspects of the job that most dreamy-eyed beginners may not know anything about.

Types

Photography careers essentially can be broken into two types. These are working for someone else or working for yourself. Working for someone else could be a photo studio, a newspaper, a magazine, a public relations, or advertising company. In each of these, the company makes photo assignments, structures the photographer's day (more or less) and pays a salary and benefits. Working for yourself means setting up a studio or an office, advertising, networking, and building your own business. This gives photographers more freedom and allows them to choose their own assignments. They might focus on weddings, portraits, architectural work, or fashion work.

There also are jobs as freelancers, stringers and, of course, paparazzi. These photographers essentially contract with companies and magazines to shoot for them. They do not receive paid salaries, but these photographers receive expenses and per-item or per-diem payment. There are other areas for photographers, too, such as medical research, astronomy, taking high school portraits, or manning the photo stand in a department store. Each of these depends upon the interest, talent and skill of the photographer.

Considerations

To start, training is needed. This can be as an apprentice or assistant to an established photographer or through college or a trade school. It also is possible to teach oneself, although some business and finance courses would be worthwhile. Training will involve learning how to use photographic equipment, how to view things photographically, how to develop film, and how to manipulate photos in a computer. There are many colleges that offer photography courses and degree programs. There also are specific schools devoted to photographers. Along with that, in many smaller or rural areas, community colleges and even high schools offer continuing education courses. These often are taught by professionals rather than professors, and courses taught by photographers often can be more useful than what is available elsewhere. In some cases, older photographers may offer an apprenticeship to someone they like or see has talent. It's good to get to know your local photographers.

Function

To get work with a photographer or a business, the budding photographer must create a portfolio of his or her best shots. These don't have to be shot as work, but can be shot on one's own or as part of a class. The key is to pick your best work, have the shots processed by a professional lab and mount them in a nice, professional-looking portfolio book. Bigger is better, but be wary of over-glorifying your own work. Make prints at least 8 by 10 inches and go up to no more than 11 by 14 inches.

Features

To be considered by a photographer or a company for work, you should have your own good equipment. This doesn't mean you have to spend a fortune, but it does mean you should have a good, solid camera system. A good system will have a digital single-lens reflex camera body by Nikon, Pentax, Canon or other known brand with at least 10 megapixels of resolution. You also will need a wide-angle zoom lens and a telephoto zoom lens. Each lens should have an ultraviolet or haze filter on it to protect the front glass. While the digital SLR will have a built-in fill flash, you will need a full-sized electronic flash as well that will sync with your camera's shutter speeds.

Benefits

If you are starting your own photography business, you can do it out of your house, an office or a studio. In any case, the starting photographer will need a cell phone, business cards and a Website. Placing ads in yellow pages, local newspapers and online is a good idea, too. To create a studio, you will need studio lights and associated equipment including reflectors, backdrops and tripods.

Identification

Photographers who want to work weddings can start with friends' ceremonies or hook up with established wedding photographers to handle some of the overflow. Often, established wedding photographers will take novices along to a wedding or two to allow them to shoot some of the photos. This will give the professional confidence in the beginner.

Warning

Breaking into news photography is hard, especially these days when newspapers are shrinking or dying. A good way to do it, however, is to get an internship from a college or high school. Newspapers generally will take interns. It's a good way to be thrown into the deep end and learn to swim. Smaller newspapers will send the intern out on low-key stuff like school events and parades. Yet, when needed, the intern will be sent to cover breaking news like car accidents and fires.