Comments on: The 4 Legs of a Pro Shooter’s chair - Leg 3: BUSINESS

By: Matti

Matti — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 21:01:32 +0000

Thanks for a good article Bert Im currently studing photography in a school and I hope to become a professional photographer near future.Im thinking about my pricing also and this gives me a good idea and some hints to do it.

By: SethT

SethT — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:09:40 +0000

Bert,

This four-legs-of-the-chair series has been a godsend to me; I’ve read and re-read each post multiple times. My pro photography career is in its infancy and I want to do it right. Which means writing a business plan (about as counter-intuitive as it gets for me). I know the first step would be a kind of refined brainstorming…for a guy with a brain that’s all art (my business savviness amounts to not much more than “I’d like to be paid please”), is there a more complete list/template of what I need to include and how to include/classify biz plan info? I’d like to have it pretty well figured out before I speak to an accountant.

Thank you.

By: Pamela

Pamela — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 10:57:20 +0000

This is my weakness, I think every artist could do with a business person in mind, especially if they are artist first, biz person second (I have come across some photographers out there that are biz first, photographer second and no doubt they do better in the market!). I am new to this side of things so this is helpful, thanks
Pam :o)

By: Gabby

Gabby — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 01:08:52 +0000

I took your advice to heart and created a basic business plan - it was a great way to cement all the things floating around in my head. Not just the money side of things but more importantly for me, the philosophies of my photography.

The last 12 months was a big turning point in my photography, showing me that I don’t want to make a pro living out of it, that I want to pursue personal projects and that I want to combine my photography with helping animals.

I now have goals for not just my business but my life as well.

By: Bert

Bert — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 20:59:41 +0000

Thanks guys

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 19:11:19 +0000

I am an accountant by profession so what you are saying strikes home. I have seen far too many artists fail at what they love because they neglected what they need to learn.

Being an accountant, with a mind that has an interest toward artist has taught me many things over the years. I have to struggle to work on the “artist” part of photography. I set out to learn various things in steps. First composition which I knew I needed help with. Then the mechanics of photography using a DSLR. Now I am working on lighting. I work on each one until I understand it. I suggest those with an “artist” mind do the same thing with the business side. Identify your biggest weaknesses and then set out to learn systematically how to overcome those weaknesses.

Hope this comment helps everyone.

Great job on this article Bert. Looking forward to more.

By: Zoran

Zoran — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:41:11 +0000

thanks a lot! i’m currently estebleshing some photography business as a side project and this will help a lot!

By: Janne Ainesmaa

Janne Ainesmaa — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 11:57:28 +0000

Thank you for the article.. I’m also currently going through my possibilities and have been thinking for quite some time about possibly going pro in the future. That is my dream and that is why I have also started to put together a business plan.. This article helped me understand the importance of it. Thanks!

By: Phil

Phil — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 11:19:07 +0000

Your article is very true for professional photographers, but I think, even amateurs and hobby photographers can profit from it. I don’t make a living from photography. It’s just a hobby to me.
But at some point in time I came up with the idea that it would be cool if I could refinance my equipment. So I started thinking, where are my strength and weaknesses. What do I do best? What could I sell? I did a weekend of thinking, looking at my own pictures. Well, so far I have only refinanced a 580ex2, but the whole proccess gave me a crystal clear view on where I am good at and what my style is…

By: Kristof Pattyn

Kristof Pattyn — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 10:23:01 +0000

Your article is a hard reality for many shooters, many are creative but struggle with surviving because they hate the number crunching. I have slowly evolved from a hobbyist into a sideprofession, the switch to a fulltime profession is something I would want to get to in the end. I notice that in the last few years my gear and knowledge have improved, so I have been changing my pricing policies. I know what are the regular prices used in the industry, so I start asking those prices. This means of course I scare some customers away (from before) because they remember the guy with the pointandshoot(prices) from a couple of years ago :-).
I’m still looking for that right marketing mix out there!

Greetz K