Choosing a specialisation – My aim for 2012.

I’ve been reading an excellent book by Lisa Pritchard (thanks to Jimmo) called “Setting Up a Successful Photography Business: How to be a Professional Photographer.” It explains really nicely and clearly the ins and outs of photography as a business.  It’s packed with loads of great information, but one thing in particular stuck out for me – the benefits to developing a style and specialising within particular areas of photography.  Increasingly over the last few weeks I’ve been thinking long and hard about the direction I want to go in with my photography work and this book has helped enormously.

The section I found particularly helpful is where Pritchard is explaining the most common genres most pros fall into such as architecture, sport, paparazzi, landscapes, people, pets, the list goes on.  It’s interesting how when you read them,  some naturally seem more appealing than others.  Pay attention to that feeling.  Going through this list of specific genres gives a really good idea of where your attention should be focussed.  Quite quickly you can identify what appeals to you, what you should forget about, and also areas that you actually hadn’t considered properly before but wouldn’t mind looking into further.

For example, I couldn’t think of anything worse than working on celebrity gossip stories or being a paparazzi but it appeals to others.  It can be very lucrative but I’ve got no interest in catching Cheryl Cole having a bad hair day.  Similarly, I wouldn’t be much into covering sports events like football when I’m not really interested in the sport itself and therefore have very little subject knowledge, which is really important in knowing when something is likely to happen and being ready for it.

Having spent most of my time shooting portraits, I realised that I actually quite like, and am pretty good with, people.  More specifically, “people in places” or “people doing things” interest me,  so I’ll concentrate more on shooting studio portraits, weddings, covering events, creating model portfolios and so on.  Being into music, I’d like to shoot more gigs or bands.  Also having a background in IT means that I know my way around the computing industry, so can pretty easily shoot for a hardware catalogue for example.

It has helped me to understand quite quickly where I could fit into the photography industry, what services I should offer, and how I can be more successful in taking advantage of my knowledge and expertise from other areas.

Now I’ve identified the direction to go in, the next step is to get as much experience as I can.  I’ve decided:

  • This year I will double the number of weddings I shot last year
  • To shoot more bands and gigs
  • To help create a model’s portfolio
If you would like me to shoot your wedding, band, gig or help with your portfolio, then get in touch.  In 2012, I’m offering massive discounts (some even FREE) where possible in exchange for experience!


Click here for a list of Photography genres
 and to start thinking about your direction.

Click here to buy Lisa’s book on Amazon, I highly recommend it.

Softboxes and Stairwells – Moody Portraits

Having been inspired by Zack Arias’ One Light Workshop, I went right out and got myself a portable softbox kit from eBay.  Zack’s whole philosophy of the “one light” approach comes down to cost – being bankrupt and having to rebuild his career, he was forced to create professional editorial quality images on a budget because it was all he could afford. Anyone starting out will understand just how expensive it is to pursue photography as a hobby alone, and “turning pro” is very, very, very expensive.  Being able to shoot with just a single light source is a huge skill, and obviously, half the price of using 2.

My light source was a Canon 430 EX ii, something that I’ve only used 2 or 3 times in the few years I’ve owned it.  Any on-camera flash, not just those built-in pop-ups on entry-level cameras,  always gives awful results. I’ve been scared of shooting with flash, and avoided it until recently when I got myself a 2 metre long TTL cable which allowed a little more creativity.  This year I’ll be forcing myself to use it more, especially now I’ve got a basic understanding. My next step is to get a set of Pocket Wizards and work wirelessly, but just like Zack says, you gotta earn them.

Here’s a couple of what we took on the day.

Unfortunately just as we were starting to get into the swing of things, that cheap, crappy,  TTL cable started to die. The flash kept misfiring, then not firing at all so we cut the session short and got hot chocolates.

Christmas Houses: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

When I was a kid the most elaborate thing you could do to celebrate Christmas was to hang fairy lights in the window – you might have had a spare set left over from the tree (which physically couldn’t take any more decorating) and so taping them to the inside of your living room window seemed a fun thing to do. It’s quite nice and adds a nice festive glow to the neighbourhood.

Then something strange started to happen. Well, a few things happened:  eBay, access to cheap Chinese tat and intense competition between neighbours. Quite often accompanied by a lack of taste.  Twinkling fairy lights became flashing rope lights and eventually neon garden animals started to appear. Let’s not forget the awful singing snowmen either – cranking out some out of tune and distorted recordings of Christmas songs from 40 years ago the moment someone happens to walk by them. Brilliant.

The result? Houses so bright that they are a danger to Air Traffic Control. Streets that could be seen from the moon. I’m all for good causes and charity fundraisers doing something special to raise awareness, regardless of how good their creation is, but I generally hate the assault on the senses some have become. Thankfully with rising energy prices the numbers have declined in recent years – it must cost a small fortune to power that lot over the Christmas period. This year there were probably half the number there were about 5 years ago.

You would think that the owners of these hugely OTT, attention grabbing neon nightmares, wouldn’t mind having photos taken of their display. This isn’t always the case. On two occasions during this mini-project people came out of their house, and as with all street photography or photojournalism, once you’ve been made it gets very uncomfortable very quickly!

I’m not against people decorating their houses,  and certainly not against Christmas or charity work, but quite often “more” gets confused with “better”!