I’ve shot as a hobby for most of my life, it was only recently I thought of publicizing my work, or maybe trying to make a little dough on the side if possible. Lo and behold a few weeks back my wife’s company hired me as their event photographer and flew me out to San Fran to shoot the event at one of Google’s event spaces. I did the gig and had a blast the entire time. The entire process felt like I was finally where I wanted to be and I was doing something I enjoy that I independently discovered I enjoy(without influence from family, friends, society, etc.). Some of the pics didn’t turn out half bad either :)
My question is, is where do I go from here? I live in a decent sized city in Florida, so I imagine there is some potential, and my schedule is pretty open, so I can travel if need be. I feel naive and uninitiated, with a good dose of imposter syndrome, so I’m wondering if there is anyone willing to share their journey, or any relevant advice on entering the field.
Thanks in advance :)
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Try making a name for yourself within the internet. Post and share your work in the media!
First of all congrats
second of all, rest you soul in peace since that high feeling you’ll be chasing for the rest of your life. Welcome.
Now since you enjoyed taking shots at an event you need to start making connections with different venues that organize those types of events.
Sam Hurd in one of his podcasts said that after he shoots a wedding in a good location, he’ll go on google and upload those pictures at said location giving a 5 star rating, this way you’ll get on the radar of the owner and managers of that venue.
Most photographers i think get work at events from word of mouth. Same way as you did.
As long as you work, and put your work out there, people will get to know you offer those services.
Photography as a business is probably one of the most connection dependent careers out there. People won’t hire you just because of your skills, they’ll hire you for how you present yourself, how you look, how’s your behavior on sets, etc etc
good luck
Haha! I’ll add that dragon to the list of ones I’m already chasing. Wonderful advice, and thank you.
Sam Hurd in one of his podcasts said that after he shoots a wedding in a good location, he’ll go on google and upload those pictures at said location giving a 5 star rating, this way you’ll get on the radar of the owner and managers of that venue.
I love this. I’ve been wanting to get into corporate events as well and have been racking my brains for ideas. Last week, I did an event with a few keynote speakers, and got business cards of each speaker so I could email them personally. But I need to try this idea too.
And congrats OP! That’s amazing.
word of mouth has always been my best advertisement. I did my first two weddings for $500 for friends of friends that werent overly concerned with wedding photos. I got lucky to get my foot in the door with them, but since then I have done 80% (or more?) of my weddings with some sort of connection from those first 2 weddings. Usually it was a guest at one of the weddings, but it has also been family members of those couples that suggested me to other family and friends that werent at those initial weddings. It just grows from there.
I would say, make sure its still a “nice” wedding, I got lucky these were still upscale weddings, they just didnt want to spend on a photographer.