Dear New Photographer / Photographer Student | Charlotte Wedding Photographer

Dear New Photographer/Photographer Student looking for advice on starting out:

When I first started, I was borrowing my dad’s DSLR, and gave away 3 free sessions (you NEED to specify this right off hand because I didn’t and it gets into a sticky mess with folks wanting free sessions all the time because they assumed I wouldn’t charge them) for each category – babies and newborns, toddlers, family sessions, maternity, boudoir (I’d honestly suggest 3 of both thin sized women and plus sized because it’s totally different), weddings (try to get in to third shoot or possibly second shoot with some folks for several weddings since they are all different, and you can learn so much by them), etc. Regardless of the work you want to end up doing, you can start to shift your focus after you really get your name out there.
Word of mouth will be your best friend. Make some cheap business cards off VistaPrint or something, and give out 2-3 per client when you return their images to them. That way they can pass them out to friends. Regardless if you get those friends to book you, they will know about you, and will likely refer you at some point. Once I had started charging, I charged $90 for an hour with all edited images on a disc. After 5 sessions booked at that rate, I’d increase it by $25. It’s an easy increase, and now I’m up to charging $329 for an hour, and I use PASS to upload everything in both color and black/white, so I don’t have to worry about finding a box, going to the post office, waiting in line, waiting for postage, DVDs that break or get corrupted, cases that get scratched up, etc.
Another great thing to do that many don’t out of the amount of photographers out there is to have a blog. It doesn’t matter if it’s a blog about your dog you photographed or a pineapple, just find something to post up weekly, and advertise the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, etc. You can also make a website for free off WIX though when you really build up your business, I’d suggest looking into a more professional approach, though it’s a little harder and more expensive to manage. I use Showit, and it’s a phenomenal community as well on Facebook. They are partneredish with Shoot and Share, a company that celebrates new photographers, and I’d highly suggest being a part of that group as well.
This is the Charlotte only group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/255403224625081/402103959955006/
Here’s the full one: https://www.facebook.com/groups/shootnshare/
The full one is great for asking any photography related questions, but isn’t a place to ask for photo critiques. I learned SO much from these folks, and absolutely adore how sharing and open they all are about techniques, answering gear questions, etc. If PASS isn’t the way to go for you, there’s also several other options for delivering images such as Pixieset, SmugMug, and Zenfolio.
I wouldn’t suggest wasting your money on advertising anywhere – no magazines, no websites, not even Facebook…. It’s seriously a money pit. There are SO. MANY. photographers out there compared to other vendors, so even if you got an “ideal spot” with a company, you’d still be one amongst hundreds. With the way Facebook works, it’s a total scheme. I’ve only ever had TWO bookings come from paying for an ad on there. They actually share it not only to what you specify as your location to advertise to, but also people from Asia that are paid to simply like whatever people pay to post, so your ad will bring people, but rarely anyone that will truly hire you. You can hear more about this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVfHeWTKjag
Also, you can get some AMAZING advice and free videos at https://www.creativelive.com/
Well, I think that pretty much sums it all up! Put yourself out there, pass out cards, get a website up, blog blog blog (it helps with SEO – something you can look into at some point as well 🙂 I used and love http://www.seo.ther2studio.com/ ), and just keep pushing! I hope that helps 🙂

Sincerely, Casey