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My Little
Black Book
10 ESSENTIAL tips for going pro
CARLA COULSON
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
At 35 I left a successful business in Sydney to
fol low my heart and become a photographer.
I studied at a photography school in Florence
and just months after finishing my final year
had my first photographic story on Naples
published in Marie Claire Austral ia.
During the past 12 years I have had the
great fortune to work with many magazines
including Vogue E & T, Gourmet Traveller,
Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, Inside Out, Col lezioni and along the way my
photography has been published in six photographic books by Penguin
Austral ia.
When I started I loved photography with my heart and soul (and sti l l do) but I
knew after al l the years of having a business loving something wasn’t enough.
These are some of the tips that helped me get started in photography and
that I attribute to my success.
I hope they help you achieve success too as a professional photographer.
Ps. These tips are by no means the whole story. I would love to hear from you
so drop me a note on my blog if you have something to add that worked
getting your career started.
1VISION
Photography is a personal vision. It is an individual way of looking at the
world and capturing a photo that tel ls a story. Your particular taste
and vision wil l set you apart from other photographers and this is your
precious gift. Your style wil l have a great value in the future.
A photographer’s vision can be seen repeated in their photos over
and over again, l ike a ‘brand’.
El len Von Unwerth produces images of sexy girls having lots of fun in
wild colours and grainy black and whites. Fashion photographer Paolo
Roversi creates soft focused dreams with his large format Polaroid
camera and Richard Avedon was renowned for his simplicity, elegance
and his famous white background. These photographers al l have their
own vision, their own style of l ighting, emotions they wish to portray,
and their own way of communicating with their sitter and this shows
in the photos.
You can easi ly recognise their work without seeing their name because
it is ‘branded’ by their personal vision.
Have faith in your vision of the world.
LEARN THE BASICSBefore launching into a professional photography career you need to
know the essentials of photography. There are many different options
to learning your craft including courses at University, Tafe, private
photography schools, photography workshops, on the job experience
and of course studying the masters.
Once you have finished your course I would highly recommend doing
some on the job ‘work experience’ with a working photographer before
you take on the responsibi l ity of a paying job. Assisting a professional
photographer gives you an insight into how a shoot works and also the
business of photography.
This ‘work experience’ is essential and I cannot over emphasise how
important it is to have had experience before putting a potential
cl ient’s work at risk. And you wil l be a whole lot more relaxed when
you final ly do your first job knowing how to deal with things if they go
wrong!
2
WHICH PATH TO TAKEOne of the toughest things to do early on in a photography career is to
decide which path to take. I f ind many different types of photography
interesting but I can’t do them al l . If you choose a niche in photography
such as food photography or portraiture then the getting started
process wil l be simpler and far more focused.
Making clear choices in the beginning can save you years in the long
run. You can start out as a ‘general ist’ photographer but there is no
point trying to do every type of photography in the long term, you
wil l only confuse yourself and your cl ients. This doesn’t mean that
you can’t experiment and change paths but I have found over the
years one of the first questions I am asked when I tel l people I am a
photographer is ‘what kind of photography you do’?
Every different field of photography requires different type of equipment
and materials. If you can define what you want to do early on you
can save a lot of money, time and energy in the long run.
3
CREATING A BODY OF WORK
Creating a body of work is one of the first steps you wil l need to take
before you can consider starting to work. There are many ways to put
together a body of work it can be a photographic story on something
that interests you or a series for a portfol io. It is real ly up to you to choose
how you would l ike to proceed and what type of work you would l ike
to create. This is a wonderful opportunity to take the images you love
and present it as your style.
I chose to put together a body of work that I eventually would on-sel l
to a magazine and it became my first published work, a photographic
story on Naples. The body of work you create doesn’t necessari ly have
to have an absolute end as mine did but if it can serve you a purpose
al l the better. It is essential to have a body of work so that when you
start looking for cl ients you have great work to show them.
4
LOOKING GOODThe way we present ourselves creates an image of how others perceive
us and our photography. The presentation of your work via websites,
business cards, composite cards, social media says a lot about whether
we are professional, responsible and creative.
I am convinced creating the right image is a fundamental part of
your future success. Don’t underestimate this. Your image and the
professional attitude you project as a photographer is as important as
your work and it wi l l assist you getting started.
Even before you have seen your first prospective cl ient, prepare yourself
to make you look as though you have been in business for years. Make
sure you have a portfol io, website (if possible) otherwise a simple blog
to present your images, business cards and if possible composite cards
that you can leave with your cl ients.
If you look professional and act l ike a professional no-one wil l question
otherwise.
5
BUSINESS PLANA business plan is a formal way of putting down your ideas about
where you want to be in the future. Business plan sounds so formal
and the name is the antithesis of what you imagine when you start
working as a photographer. I think a much more apt name would be
‘how I am gonna get where I wanna go plan’! Because fundamentally
that is exactly what a business plan is.
A business plan includes defining your type of photography, making l ists
of prospective cl ients, communicating your work through marketing
strategies (if any), equipment to purchase, SWOT (strength, weakness,
opportunities and threats), budgets and it gives your daily l ife focus.
A business plan can be made for one year, five years or ten years or
whatever period of time you choose.
Before embarking on a photographic career a business plan can help
you identify what you want to do, where you want to go and how are
you are going to get there. It is the rudder that wil l steer your ship.
6
COMMUNICATE YOUR WORK
If you have beautiful work and no-one knows you exist it is hard to
keep going month after month. Communicating your work is just as
important as being able to take a breathtaking photo and marketing
is fundamentally this.
Marketing plans don’t necessari ly have to have huge budgets they
can be simple approaches that wil l communicate your work to your
potential cl ients effectively. A lot of about getting on in photography
is about you and your personality so you are your photography’s
greatest asset!
There are many forms of marketing that you can include in your plan:
Your own great personality
Email l ists of your Contacts
Direct contact
Advertising
Website/Blog
7
Social Media/twitter/facebook
Word of Mouth
Cross Marketing
Getting Published
FINISH ITOne of the greatest difficulties creative people have is finishing things.
This may seem obvious advice but so many wonderful photographers
don’t succeed because they don’t finish what they set out to do.
Life as a photographer general ly means that we can be working on
numerous projects at the same time and there is no-one to help us. We
are our own bosses and it is hard to stay focused when you feel there
are hundreds of things to do and you are sinking in knee deep mud. I
make l ists and these l ists are my savours and keep me focused on the
detai l without losing sight of the big picture.
I write everything down and then I try to work towards finishing at
least one of these tasks as quickly as I can. Likewise when I have done
a photography job I try and finish my work as quickly as possible. If a
magazine calls tomorrow and wants me to leave at the end of the
week for a new job I want to be able to go and I don’t want to leave
my cl ients work in a mess.
8
TEAM UPIf I had been given the advice to ‘team up’ with other professionals in
the same business at the outset things may have moved a l ittle faster.
Fortunately I found this gem of information early on.
If you team up with professionals in your own business you are no longer
afloat on your own – there is a ‘spider’s web’ of contacts out there to
protect you. You can help each other when a job comes up and pass
the love around.
I now have a l ittle black book with numbers of my fel low journalists,
make-up artists, styl ists, assistants and photographers special ising in
different types of photography that I don’t do. When a job comes
up via a member of the group we al l try and help each other work
on that project if possible otherwise we pass it onto someone who
special ises in that field.
9
WAYS I LIVE AND WORK BYThis is a quick l ist of some of the ways I hold important to my success
over the past ten years. These tips have kept my cl ients happy and
coming back for more.
I don’t promise what you I can’t del iver and I del iver
what I promised!
I ask for a written brief and I fol low it
I research my jobs, location, styl ing, l ighting and equipment
I have learnt to make decisions quickly
I get help when I can’t do the job on my own
I know how to problem solve and my priority is to make sure my
client is happy
If I give someone my word I won’t let them down.
I put everything in writing
I have learnt to say no. Not al l jobs are right for me.
I have a strong work ethic
I put my creativity back with down time and looking at other
people’s art.
I treat each job as if it’s my first job.
I always try to take the best possible images on every job.
I always take the images I love.
I never forget why I got into photography for the pure love of making
images ful l of emotion and soul.
10
NOTE FROM CARLA
I hope My Little Black Book shed some l ight on starting your
photography career. Please feel free to pass it onto friends
who are also thinking of starting a photography career.
If you would l ike to stay in touch and receive more information
about photography you can subscribe to my blog here.
web | carlacoulson.com
email | [email protected]
twitter | @carlalovesphoto
facebook | facebook.com/carlalovesphotography