You are ready when you feel that you are confident enough to do the job. Every job is nerve racking and the pressure is on to deliver. Just make sure there is plenty of communication between yourself and the client, so you know what is to be expected.
Be the boss on the shoot and if you don't like what you see in the contact sheets afterwards, you can always do it again. But that shouldn't happen!
But if I turn up at some family home and they say "Photograph the dog in the back garden and nowhere else today, in the rain" I might not be able to get what I consider to be satisfactory shots.
So I guess my questions to those of you who are pro or semi-pro is this...at what point did you venture from being just a serious amateur to someone who actually charges for your services? And how did you know you'd be able to pull it off the first few times you did it? I can keep buying kit till it comes out my ears but eventually I have to say "Ok - I'm ready to go".
Ted
One of the most important pieces of your kit is something you can't buy: tact. You use it to explain to the idiot (oops, I mean customer) exactly why his idea of shooting in the garden in the rain might not produce the best results, and to suggest alternatives. If he insists on doing it his way, you have to make the choice of refusing the job (and tactfully explaining why) or attempting the job, but first explaining -tactfully- that you really don't believe they will be satisfied with the results, and for that reason, you offer no guarantees.
Pinhole master is the closest to the 'making of absolute sense'.
The difference between the 'amateur' and the 'pro' is that the amateur can, what and whenever he wants, do his thing. No one is going to set op lines between which he (or she) has to operate, in order to for fill the wishes of the commissionaire. The pro needs that kind of state of mind to be able to 'create' whit in these limits and to deliver to the highest quality standards.
For a pro, there must be 25 hours a day, he needs them to fight in order to get the job, to do the job and to get paid for the job. He has to do the calculating, day by day, to pay the bills when time is due.
At the end he's the one who takes the risks, creatively and financially.
Oh, and yes, forget about the art, perhaps, whit a huge lot luck and and an even huge lot of sweat (not to mention a bit of slyness) you will be, at the end, 'allowed' to do some ' independent art'...
But, of course, you do not have to believe me...
Good luck,
Philippe
__________________
"...If you can not stand the rustle of the leafs, then do not go in to the woods..."
(freely translated quote by Guido Gezelle)
I can keep buying kit till it comes out my ears but eventually I have to say "Ok - I'm ready to go".
Ted
This is it - you've answered your own question! At some point in the future, after doing this for a few years or decades, you may say to yourself "Wow, I was really green when I started," but you've got to start somewhere, sometime, and I think that for you, the time is now.
"Photograph the dog in the back garden and nowhere else today, in the rain" I might not be able to get what I consider to be satisfactory shots.
Ted
Hi Ted - I think this is the way I would do it, if I was put in that situation.
I would say - OK, but you have to be together with the dog, and then explain how important it would be for the shots. And then I would wait for something to happen, and I mean wait for a long time. By this, the client either gives up or you can get some pretty good shots of vet dog, vet man.
In any case you will be the boss.
Regarding control - you can't, and I think you know, you photograph animals.
Pro. is only a matter of income, if your primary income comes form photography - well - then you are pro, but that has nothing to do with your ability as a photographer.
Remember that some of the greatest masters where never able to sustain themselves by there images, look at Josef Sudek, he lived his hole life struggling to survive, but he is regarded to be one of the most important artists of the 20th century.
At the risk of repeating myself...here comes a bit of a rant.
There is a difference between a working photographer, and a professional photographer.
While a working photographer can become designated as a professional photographer by fulfilling the requirements of an appropriate organization (in Canada, for example, the PPAC), it remains my opinion that what constitutes professionalism overlaps only partially with the requirements of those organizations.
If you photograph for pay, than you need to be concerned with maintaining good business practices in order to succeed. Those practices include many things, including promising only those things that you can fulfill.
If you want to photograph professionally, there are higher standards to maintain, some of which might possibly decrease the profitability. Professionalism includes many things, including making meaningful contributions to the profession itself.
Taking control of what you do will contribute in many ways - to your business success, to your growing professionalism and to your peace of mind. You should do your best to learn as much as possible on how to do this.
The proof on this one is in the pudding. And it also helps to have it set in your mind that you are professional. If you question yourself, you're not ready. If you think you're ready, you will approach your craft more seriously and begin to really set yourself apart with further education, research, beginning a clientele list, all the wonderfully hum drum, behind-the-scenes things that comprise becoming a professional.
And remember that just because you are "serious" or take a professional approach to what you are doing, that doesn't make you a good photographer. Chicken and egg situation. But you have to start somewhere...
Last edited by rob champagne; 06-15-2008 at 03:22 PM.
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