Becoming a Photographer: Three Basic Rules

1. Never shoot for free.

Take a moment, sit back and ponder on how much of society hinges on what we do and create. It can easily be the most simple rule in what we do, and yet the most overlooked by new talent pool. Your ability and growth as an artist is what creative ad agencies and marketing departments and art museums are hinging their entire careers upon… so you should always require people to pay SOMETHING for your work. I’m not saying that being as a new photographer that you should expect to be charging people 250.00 an hour, I am saying that its not unreasonable to require some form of compensation (even trading for services/goods IF the trade is mutually beneficial) every single time that you pick up your camera. Photographers do not need models, makeup stylists, hair stylists or wardrobe stylists to be successful, but those people DO need photographers for their development and growth. That is not to say that photographers cannot be replaced by other photographers (because if you fuck around, you surely will be) but moreso to say that photographers can easily photograph still life or city scenes and go about their careers with much success.

2. You control your outcome.

Excuses serve you nothing, because everything is ALWAYS depending on you. Whenever you have a collection of people and things on a project, you have to remember that they are following the lead of the person holding the camera. Picking up that camera makes you a leader whether you would like for it to or not, so get over your own fears, qualms, and questions about being a leader of people and get the job done. Clients will NOT care who didn’t do this or not do that or partially do whatever, because they’re trusting you to get the job done… and will certainly ask for a refund if it’s not Always have backup plans (maybe even 2 or 3) for every shoot for everyone involved and consistently make sure that people understand details. There is absolutely nothing worst then assuming that people know anything. many people do many different things differently, so give everyone involved your take on every minute detail so that error has as little room as possible to sneak in and mess things up

3. Developing a team takes work, time, and patience.

Everyone needs a team: creative, supportive, or otherwise. It’s vitally important that you begin developing a team as EARLY as possible because when you grow with people in a career then you tend to grow closer to people at the same time. When picking individual members, keep in mind that they’re not inanimate tools but people who need to be cohesive, talented, and detail oriented. You’re going to be trusting these people to do their jobs and walking away so be sure that you can do that without any major waining doubts (you’ll alway shave minor ones, so don’t let those stop you) Nobody wants someone looking over their shoulder in a micromanaging sense… but you make that call. If you can’t trust them then you can’t work with them, I don’t care HOW talented they are. This is YOUR team, you’re a leader by simply being the photographer, so Try working with a variety of psychological types and do not be afraid to tell someone that things simply arrant working out.

Andrew Thomas Clifton is a Chicago based wedding, fine art, and fashion photojournalist