WildShots

5 misconceptions about professional freelance photography

Posted on 14. Apr, 2009 by Paul Burwell in Business, Everything

Some of the comments generated by my post on the Top Ten Mistakes that aspiring professional freelance photographer make got me to thinking that some people seem to have a few misconceptions about what being a professional photographer requires.  The point of this article isn’t to poke fun at anybody or to try to get in anybody’s face.  It’s an attempt to shine the bright lot of reality on some misconceptions and maybe set them to rest.

• My photos are better than a lot of photographs I’ve seen from so-called “professionals”
  • I agree that there are a lot of amateur photographers producing exciting, dynamic and beautiful photographs.  Being a professional does not mean that you have to be the “best” photographer producing breath-taking images with every click of the shutter.  Instead, you have to consistently deliver good to great photographs on a regular basis.
• I could be a professional too if I only got to spend as much time photographing as they do.
  • There is little question that the more you shoot, the better you get.  But, what a lot of people don’t understand about freelance photography is that there is a heck of a lot more involved than just photography.  Being a freelance photographer means that you are running your own business.  And like any business, a lot of attention needs to be paid to all those annoying issues like marketing, accounting and business development.
  • Speaking for myself, I’m lucky if I get to spend more than 20% of my work-time actually photographing.  The other time is spent working on my blog, writing articles, keeping current on the industry, teaching, processing and submitting images, finding ways to market my business, counting beans, chasing after money owed, etc. etc. etc.
• How can she even be a pro?  My camera equipment is better/newer than hers!
  • Well, unless you’ve got the new K-Tel Autocapture 5000 with the “no sucky photo” setting, I’m betting the camera really isn’t going to make a difference in the end result.  The fact is that newer cameras generally make only incremental gains on their older siblings and the real skill in making a captivating image still lies in the mind and heart of the photographer.
• That photo isn’t original!  I’ve seen tons like it before so how can he sell it?
  • Who said you had to be original to be a pro?  The fact is that for a lot of photography there are certain types of shots that just work.  They tell a story effectively and are images people are comfortable buying.
  • A great piece of advice I got from another pro when I was first starting out was to look at what sort of photography was selling and see if I could produce similar results.  Eventually a photographer will develop their own style and be able to set off in new creative directions.
  • Then there’s a reality about whether or not anyone will buy your creative vision for ethereal photography of mould, but that’s a discussion for another time.
• If I had a camera like yours, I could be a pro too!
  • For a professional, a camera is a means to an end.  It’s a way of putting food on the table and money on the mortgage.  The pro-level cameras from the likes of Nikon and Camera are designed to handle the wear and tear that being used on a regular basis requires.  Most significantly, the number of shutter activations the pro-level cameras can handle compared to their consumer and prosumer counterparts are usually night and day different.  And again, it isn’t the camera that makes the photograph, it’s the photographer.

Have you heard some misconceptions about pro photography that you’d like to share? We’d all love to hear from you.

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Tags: freelance, misconception, myth, Photography, pro, professional, top five list