For instance, I am writing this post on my iPhone in a pub in Twickenham, during a work visit to London. I could never have imagined such a thing when I was living here ten years ago.

The internet is going to determine my career as a photographer. It will do the same for many of my colleagues as well. I have plans that have potentially infinite dimensions thanks to it.

The internet also allows us to enter into conversation with people we may never meet face-to-face. I have learned so much from others. Now I find myself in a position where I have a blog and readers are engaging with me and challenging me. Wow.

Please let me help

Readers are posting great comments on this blog. Sadly, their words often get lost in old posts and the subsequent debate happens out of the public eye. That’s a shame because I think a wider audience would benefit from their opinions and stories.

So, with the permission of the posters, I’d like to bring their great contributions into the limelight, such as it is, of the front page here. The intention is that this becomes a regular feature.

To get us going, set out below is an email that I received (after following up on a comment on the blog) and my reply. I have chosen to leave the identity of its author unknown. The internet, for all its goodness, is a place where honesty can be attacked and abused. I have experience of this first hand. That is a shame; it hinders sensible debate.

Turning part-time pro

Hi Roger,

First of all, thank you for taking the time to reply to my comment, it means a lot when the person behind a post suddenly comes to life.

Talking about your blog, this is the reason why I am actually sending this email.

I have spent I don’t know how long reading over and over again your posts:

“No Why, No Way“, “How Should A Newcomer Enter The Market?” and “The Wedding Photography Market Is Dying – Good” among others.

Thank you for these. I wanted to share my venture with you.

I am taking pictures since a long time, am 36 years old and decided to become a semi-pro photographer.

Why semi-pro? Simply because I didn’t want to become one of those week-end warriors that rip off the established photographers. I want it to be official, legal, be fully insured and pay taxes.

But I am setting up a limited company and decided not to go sole trader. Why? Because I need to grow my hardware, my bank account and my address book.

I have potential customers, I believe in my skills, but cannot afford to fail my family. A limited company allows me to keep a part time job and launch my business thinking about the well being of my clients more than “I need more money to survive, let’s take advantage of that couple, 20 pictures will do and they won’t complain…” This is what my wedding album was about. £1500 for 20 pictures 6 months later, not allowed to choose any of the photos, a joke.

On the top of it I decided to create an e-commerce dedicated to sell items from independent artists: music albums, DVDs, photo prints… As I am actively involved in the indie (as independent) community worldwide. This will allow me to ad a small income to the company.

So here we go, unusual, crazy but this is my view and my dream, being not a week-end warrior but an honest, registered photographer, insured and caring not only about the customers but my family by playing it safe.

Please let me know what you think of it.

Thank you.

D

My reply:

Hi D,

Thank you for emailing me. It is a very honest and open message.

I think you are going about your move into professional photography the right way. A professional photographer is determined by their approach to their photography, their clients and their business, rather than whether they have additional non-photographic income streams. There is nothing wrong with being a part-time professional photographer.

Part-time professional, full-time enjoyment

Of course, I have a vested interest in saying that. I do not earn 100% of my income from taking and delivering photographs. I’d say it’s in the 90s or high 80s. In the future, though, that is likely to decrease as I diversify my income streams.

My reasons for doing so are simple. Professional photography is under tremendous pressure with decreasing revenues for many in the business. And I need to earn more money than my chosen niche and passion can provide me.

For instance, I’ve started running seminars, which is a new income stream for me.

Rather than detracting from my professional photography, developing additional income streams will allow me to safeguard my involvement in professional photography. This income will also give me space to develop my style and follow my heart. That means I’ll be producing my best possible work for my clients.

Bear in mind also that nothing is as deadening to your photographic enjoyment and development as taking on soul-deadening commissions for work you don’t connect with. To my mind, that is a surefire way to have a miserable life as a professional photographer.

I think your strategy of building a part-time professional career, at least to begin with, in tandem with a secondary income makes total sense. To my mind, you are stacking the cards in your favour to achieve a long-term and fulfilling career on your terms.

Price and value

In your email, you beat yourself up a little bit about how you viewed the photographer-client interaction in the past. While it’s good to reflect on these things, and to work towards a win-win relationship, you must never undervalue your work. €1,500 for 20 photographs isn’t necessarily a bad deal, provided the photographs represent a win for your client.

Henk van Kooten is a Dutch photographer whom I interviewed for an episode of The Circle of Confusion. He had developed a wedding package that consisted of five prints at a cost of €17,000.

It would be too easy to say that this isn’t value for money. Yet when you delve deeper, you see where he is coming from. For €17,000 the couple are getting five works of art. His work and this wedding package isn’t for everyone, but it will connect with the audience he is aiming for. For them, it represents a win.

Provided your 20 prints are each able to make a powerful connection with your clients, then why shouldn’t you charge €1,500? As long as you are doing it for the right reason, no one can say that you shouldn’t do it. They may say it isn’t value for money, but then they are not going to be your clients.

Your vision, your voice

Lastly, you mentioned that in the past you didn’t give couples any input into which photographs went into the album. Again, that isn’t necessarily wrong. After all, they have commissioned you to photograph the wedding as you see it. There is nothing inherently wrong in extending that to the edit of the photographs that they receive.

In fact, you could be doing them a huge favour. Many couples often need guidance as to which photographs work best together to provide a coherent narrative. Or they may simply not have the time to do so. By providing that service you are merely extending the range of the help you are providing them in return for the money they have paid you.

Clients who are looking for that guidance will book you. For them it is a win.

I hope this gives you some reassurances as to the issues you raised in your email. You do sound as if you are coming at this from the right perspective.

Best wishes for your career as a professional photographer.

Warm regards,

Roger

Over to you

So what do you think?

And is there anything you’d like to discuss?

Email or leave a comment.

How to make a podcast

I have a very small public profile.

I don’t have a flash car to make up for it, but I am starting to receive invitations to speak at events. I’m presenting twice in the coming week.

This coming Monday, Peter Cox and I are delivering a talk to the Irish Professional Photographers Association (IPPA) annual conference. We’ll be discussing how photographers can thrive in the current economy – or any economy for that matter. I’m very excited about it. Not least because we have a few things up our sleeves that the audience won’t be expecting.

Before that, tomorrow in fact, I’m a guest speaker at a new media seminar. I’ve been asked to talk about how social media has impacted on my business.

My main topic will be podcasting – specifically The Circle of Confusion. While great fun, this isn’t a vanity project. It is driven by hard-nosed business considerations. I’ll be outlining these in my talk at the River Island Hotel in Cork sometime between 8.30 and noon tomorrow. No doubt, my talk will turn into a blog post here at some point in the future.

Meanwhile, as we’re on the topic, the latest episode of The Circle of Confusion is available for your listening delight.

Want to know what the photograph at the top of this post is all about? You can find out here.

I know what you’re thinking – how has he survived so far without one?

Everyone should blog, surely?

Maybe. Maybe not.

It depends on why you’re blogging. This is my fourth go at a blog, and by far the most personal.

Previously, my most successful blog was Altar Narrative, about documentary wedding photography. It was aimed mainly at brides and had a nice clear focus. I stopped it when I started this one.

The swap was part of a rethink of where I was going as a photographer. I’m on a journey and this blog chronicles that, and I have an agreement with a friend that I’ll be as honest as I dare. The life of a professional photographer isn’t just ups. There are downs too, sometimes they can be quite deep. That’s the nature of the business. No use pretending otherwise.

This blog also meanders more than Altar Narrative. It is a much wilder animal, roaming where it wants to – or more accurately where my career takes it.

Interestingly, on average this blog gets four to fives times as many daily readers as Altar Narrative ever did. That’s nice. Somebody’s tuning in and walking the journey with me.

Some of those at my side seem to be quite influential too. They have judged the blog worthy of inclusion in the Irish Blog Awards expanded shortlist of best photoblogs.

Thrilled.

Who doesn’t?

Mine is specifically geared towards my wedding clients, and is designed to encourage interaction between couples and the business.

Thing is, I don’t get on with Facebook at all. Having moved from PC to Mac just over a year ago, I can best describe my feelings towards Facebook as follows: It was surely designed by a PC guy.

Fortunately, I have help. My wife runs the page for me in her role as the business’s marketing angel. I have to say, she does a pretty fab job too: Roger’s Facebook Page.