I went to school at night, studying commercial photography. After I graduated, I was offered a chance to assist in a major studio, so I quit my day job and took the assistant position. I was then offered a job as a photographer for a major department store. While doing this, I opened up a small studio of my own, where I shot model's headshots and comp shots. I was also able to land some very small commercial jobs that I could do at night or weekends. I eventually quit the department store job, and went to the Maine Photographic Workshops for a week. When I got back to my studio, I had a message from the department store wanting to know if I would come in as a "freelancer"(basically shooting the same stuff that I was doing, but for a whole lot more money). About 14 yrs. ago I dropped out to be a "mister mom". I'm now back to square one trying to shoot seniors/models, except I have a lot of experience this time to fall back on. As you can see, you have to do it one step at a time. Figure out what type of photography you want to get into, and then look into getting an assistant's position in a studio that does that type of work. No schooling can teach you as much about the everyday business of photography as actually seeing someone doing it. Good luck.
JDeV wrote:
I went to school at night, ...assist in a major studio... went to the Maine Photographic Workshops for a week.
Hey Jon. A couple of questions that I know will vary due to locale and time period.
How do you think school helped.
How much did you make as an assistant.
Do you feel the workshop(s) contributed to your career and in what way.
I ask because I've contemplated following almost those exact footsteps.
Having Scottish blood I always wonder if the workshops are really worth it. So many folks out there pandering to the masses. Specifically I've contemplated going to the extended summer session at Rocky Mountain School of Photography. Something about the promise of eating, sleeping and breathing photography for a few months appeals to me.
Thanks!
Jon
I didn't really "get a photography job". I am self taught, created a business and started drumming up customers.
Maybe not the best or most common way to start, but it can work. The thing that made it possible was that I had a good job that supported me AND gave me the time to shoot.
I started out as a project manager . I incorporated photography into my management job as I was getting sick of being blamed for not doing something after another sub had destroyed it . The company I was working for was starting an ad campaign and had no images . I had tons of the projects and I let them use them for a fee . I went and picked up the brochures from the printer and the shop owner knew I had shot the photos and asked if I was interested in shooting for some of his clients and I said ok . I did a lot of work for him and then started doing work others as well .
During this time I had to set up a property for a well known architectural photographer for ad photos for a country club . I met with him and got the list of the shots he was going to do and prepped the site . I was also to be there for him the days of the shoot as well to handle lighting and fog systems . He was pleased with what I had done and I made his job a breeze . I even had every flower in every pot facing the camera angles he had established , the place was perfect . We hit it off extremely well and he offered me a assisting job part time . I set up many shoots for him and became his first assistant .
I eventually quit my job and was shooting my own work and setting up his shoots as well . I still do work with him and he also helps me when I need him . I also now do second shooter with him when he needs it . I also assisted a travel magazine photographer working off the final story text and shooting the story , I learned a lot from this as well .
My advice , go to school for business , assist for a few years for your photographic training and shoot all the time . You either have what it takes to shoot or you don't and no amount of school will turn a person without vision into a photographer . Get some good photoshop training as you will need it . Find some small businesses that have no money and shoot for them as long as you get some money and get a portfolio . If you want to shoot people find aspiring models and shoot them for portfolio images and for a signed release .
You really should keep a day job as long as you can if you decide to do this as it is a while for the money to start rolling . You need to have a lot of cash in the bank as well as gear is very expensive . Don't expect to get rich quick as very few do that . Stay out of the microstock places as you are helping to kill photography by doing it . Depending on markets it may take a few years to build a share of it .
If you can stay active in it for five years or so you might make it . It is a long hard road to travel . As I go into 2008 I am changing a lot of what I do . It is now time that I sever some business relationships as they can't take me any farther and I am establishing new ones that can help me go to the next level . I am signing with two new stock agencies in 08 and will be severing relationships with some other ones .
BubbaJon wrote:
Hey Jon. A couple of questions that I know will vary due to locale and time period.
How do you think school helped.
How much did you make as an assistant.
Do you feel the workshop(s) contributed to your career and in what way.
I ask because I've contemplated following almost those exact footsteps.
Having Scottish blood I always wonder if the workshops are really worth it. So many folks out there pandering to the masses. Specifically I've contemplated going to the extended summer session at Rocky Mountain School of Photography. Something about the promise of eating, sleeping and breathing photography for a few months appeals to me.
Thanks!
Jon...Show more →
Jon, I'll start at the top.
#1 My school was a "commercial" class at an art school. It was taught by working professionals, it was only 56 weeks long, but it was more like an apprenticeship.
#2 $3.25/hr.(this was in 1977-78. My day job that I quit paid me $5.85/hr. I was a garbage man)
#3 The workshops were great. I went there in '85 and '86 years after I had been a working pro, but I still learned some things technique-wise, afterall, these were some of the world's greats, but the best part was being around people who were so into photography themselves. Before the workshop in '85 with Michael O'Neil(practically a legend at the time) I always felt inadequate using a view camera since I would just play around with all the adjustments and when I would see something I liked, I would shoot it. I was called on that by a fellow student who called O'Neil over to "tell on me". O'Neil said "hey, I just play around with the camera, and when I see something I like, I shoot it-forget the formulas". I felt great after that, and went home with a renewed energy about photography. That is one of the great things about workshops-learning some new things, but learning that maybe you have some talent afterall.
While, I was posting above, I thought about a couple of more things, but ericevans covered everything else better than I could have. Let me repeat about the business classes you should attend. More good photographers go out of business due to bad business practices, while average photographers can have long careers because they are great on the business end.
ps check out Eric's website. If you're interested in architecture photography, maybe he'll do a workshop his whole page is very nice, but I think his architecture work is fantastic!
BubbaJon wrote:
Hey Jon. A couple of questions that I know will vary due to locale and time period.
How do you think school helped.
How much did you make as an assistant.
Do you feel the workshop(s) contributed to your career and in what way.
I ask because I've contemplated following almost those exact footsteps.
Having Scottish blood I always wonder if the workshops are really worth it. So many folks out there pandering to the masses. Specifically I've contemplated going to the extended summer session at Rocky Mountain School of Photography. Something about the promise of eating, sleeping and breathing photography for a few months appeals to me.
Thanks!
Jon...Show more →
My take on it . I know quite a few graduates from top photography schools . Some can shoot and some can't . Two of the people that make my coffee for me at Starbucks are Brooks graduates . There is a RIT graduate that I know who manages a Home Depot . I know of two more graduates that run stock agencies . If you have no ability no school is going to teach you . The guy I started assisting had no training in college at all in the field of photography and he is in the 50K a day and up range . I know a few talented people that were photography majors that are very good but I know more that couldn't shoot their way out of a one sided box .
As for seminars and workshops I think most are a waste of time . They are businesses that give you just enough information to get you to come to the next one . I have paid big money to go to several that sucked and actually set me back . Seminars I went to that were taught by working known pros did benefit me but don't expect to learn all their secrets . Those that can shoot , shoot , those that can't teach .
How much can you make assisting ? Depends on what you can do for the photographer . Expect to eat the scraps brushed off the table until you have earned a place at the table . My background make me valuable as I can walk onto a property that is going to be shot and tell them exactly what has to be done to get it perfect and I can also supervise the setup and work leading up to the shoot . You can make from nothing to $50 and into the thousand a day depending on what you can offer .
Best advice is offer yourself to a photographer that shoots what you want to shoot for a period of time , you will learn a lot .
Me personally, I've been looking to get away from my current engineering 'career' for some time now. I know photography is my passion, and that I want it to be my career.
I've been spending the last while phoning/email local photographers, trying to see if there is anything out there for me, anything at all to get me started. With a full time job to support me, I hope something can come of it.
I am not as advanced as I should be, but I am having fun while I am doing it. I actually started out as a "photo restorer and manipulator". The first year my daughter played soccer, I took a bunch of photos with a Canon S1 IS - it is a really fun P&S. I created a composite for all of the kids familys of the individual portrait, team portrait and an action shot. One of the moms told me I should do that for a business. She was kind of high in the Girl Scouts and put me in touch with a service unit that was holding a father/daughter dance. I got the gig - I had never done anything like it to I had a cram session from the net, bought some lights and a back drop. Still using my S1 IS I did 109 sititngs in 2 1/2 hours. I have done 3 seasons with my daughters soccer team, 2 father daughter dances for that SU, some class photos in my sons day care. Coming up I have another F/D dance with a different service unit. A portrait mill for a party as the guests arrive, a large group shot and individual shots for the KoC. And that is just through the first week of Feb. My not be as busy as "the pro's", But I am maintaing a full time job, very active father of 2....
I have gotten my DBA, Upgraded all of my lighting, have bought 6 or 7 more back drops, purchased a 400D, 580EX II, Canon 50 1.4, Tamron 28-75 2.8, kit lense and another Canon "plastic" xx-200 that I got at the same time I got the body. Every time I do a gig, I 're-invest' the dollars into the business. I have for the last 2 years, had my expenditures exceed my income from it as I build it. My 4th year I will show some sort of profit. I have "been into" photography since I was 13 and serious for about 3 or so years. Most importantly I am having a blast! I am next looking to get to the seniors from the high school just up the street and try to get in contact with the boosters for the sports teams for them. I am not Life Touch and they hav a lock on the "school photos and yearbooks" here.
I do want to take some photo classes and some business classes. Bottom line - Plan your work and work your plan. My 5-7 year goal is to not have to work for "the man". I will make this a reality. I whistle while I work with photography.
Given that I just wrote a book, I will let you go. Love this place and this thread. Have a great day!
A most interesting subject, and one which I've been meaning to ask about for a while.
I'm taking an entirely different path (C&C welcome!). My dream is to create images that others buy as art, and to always be in full control of my schedule. So I'm keeping my day job for the long-term foreseeable future, shooting as much as I can, and slowly building up a portfolio. Right now I have about 30-40 images that I could sell with pride, and I'm learning how to create my website.
My "entry to professional" strategy is to donate prints to high-profile charities/non-profits, which they sell at fund-raising events. That gets me some exposure (to everyone at the event, and to the friends and family of those who buy one), and gets people used to paying anywhere from $50 to $100 for a 12x18 print. And hopefully some of those people will later call me to actually buy a print.
My goal is to make $1,000/month of photographic income (mostly print sales) within the next 3 years. As a supplement to my day job, of course. We'll see what happens after that.
where do you guys think it is best place to look for photography assistant job?
I am in Canada. my previous job title is software developer, but I lost the passion on it. I tried to do everything photography related and invested much more than my income...almost broke my bank...and I know this is just beginning for a photographer who wants to make a living. Thanks to some posters here to mention there is a job(assistant) fitting my current situation since I might need some regular income other than starting my own business.
but where can I find such position in GTA,Canada? I searched job search website,but very little there and out-of-dated.
I took a correspondence course, being Mom and not being able to get to a regular school. My parents had insisted I study business when I graduated from High School, and that was a very wise decision on their part! I've thanked them ever since! I can't say enough for the importance of knowing how to run a business!
As I neared the end of my correspondence course, I applied for and got a job as darkroom technician for an oil related industry. My boss was generous to help me learn more about photography, and my job grew into photography as a 2nd shooter for the company. Then came the big Bust! in 1982, and photographers were laid off in droves.
My daughter was in the hospital for six weeks at the time, my husband became disabled, and I got laid off with the family insurance down the tubes--all in one months time!
We lost everything.
We moved to a small town in South Texas where my husband's sisters lived and I got a job for the CPA at $4.50 and hour. After four years I had worked up to $5/hour, and we were able to purchase a 100-year-old house on an acre of wooded land. There I was able to start photographing people on the week ends. Having worked for the only CPA in town, people had come to know me, and I had come to know what few people in the county had enough money to purchase portraits! (Again that Business Education had saved our bacon!)
The studio grew, and I was able to quit the CPA and work at it full-time. We had NO debts, and my equipment was paid for. I worked out of the home, with large rooms and high ceilings.
At first, we were so broke (living off my husband's meager disability income) and I paid $35 to attend the Texas PPA meeting on business management and marketing! It gave me the start I needed.
I went home and typed (no computer) a newsletter to high school seniors. I didn't have the money to have it printed, so I sold four ads for the back of it at $15 each. That got me enough money to print the 150 I needed for the seniors at the local high school, but no money to mail them. So I walked around town hand-delivering them!
The phone started ringing and I went to work! Soon, we had enough money to run other flyers and the business took off! That was in 1987.
Talk about starting business on a shoe-string. And a broken shoe string at that!
The county I lived in was 9th in the nation for welfare rolls, with 79% of the students living in low-income families! It was a tough market to make a living, and most people would call what I made not a living, but we ate regularly, drove a nice mini-van, and paid for that old house, while installing central air & heat, re-wiring for my equipment, and were very happy there!
mkweaver wrote:
I took a correspondence course, being Mom and not being able to get to a regular school. My parents had insisted I study business when I graduated from High School, and that was a very wise decision on their part! I've thanked them ever since! I can't say enough for the importance of knowing how to run a business!
As I neared the end of my correspondence course, I applied for and got a job as darkroom technician for an oil related industry. My boss was generous to help me learn more about photography, and my job grew into photography as a 2nd shooter for the company. Then came the big Bust! in 1982, and photographers were laid off in droves.
My daughter was in the hospital for six weeks at the time, my husband became disabled, and I got laid off with the family insurance down the tubes--all in one months time!
We lost everything.
We moved to a small town in South Texas where my husband's sisters lived and I got a job for the CPA at $4.50 and hour. After four years I had worked up to $5/hour, and we were able to purchase a 100-year-old house on an acre of wooded land. There I was able to start photographing people on the week ends. Having worked for the only CPA in town, people had come to know me, and I had come to know what few people in the county had enough money to purchase portraits! (Again that Business Education had saved our bacon!)
The studio grew, and I was able to quit the CPA and work at it full-time. We had NO debts, and my equipment was paid for. I worked out of the home, with large rooms and high ceilings.
At first, we were so broke (living off my husband's meager disability income) and I paid $35 to attend the Texas PPA meeting on business management and marketing! It gave me the start I needed.
I went home and typed (no computer) a newsletter to high school seniors. I didn't have the money to have it printed, so I sold four ads for the back of it at $15 each. That got me enough money to print the 150 I needed for the seniors at the local high school, but no money to mail them. So I walked around town hand-delivering them!
The phone started ringing and I went to work! Soon, we had enough money to run other flyers and the business took off! That was in 1987.
Talk about starting business on a shoe-string. And a broken shoe string at that!
The county I lived in was 9th in the nation for welfare rolls, with 79% of the students living in low-income families! It was a tough market to make a living, and most people would call what I made not a living, but we ate regularly, drove a nice mini-van, and paid for that old house, while installing central air & heat, re-wiring for my equipment, and were very happy there!...Show more →
