The Ultimate Guide to Starting Your Photography Business

The case study that I found the most interesting was "How to turn a Passion Project into a business: Jade Beall." Jade turned taking pictures of mothers to help with their self- esteem into a money making business in itself. I found this really inspiring because I always find myself taking photos of the things I'm most passionate about in life which for me is my family. I don't really see turning taking photos of my family and close friends into a business, but I do think I can have a very successful business photographing other people's families, and their special moments. The one thing from Jade's case study that I really couldn't see myself doing is publishing a book, and creating a crowdfunding campaign; If there was a main project I was working on, and spent a lot of time and effort on this might be something I would consider doing, but for me personally I'm not necessarily creating the photos for everyone to see and be happy with, I'm creating them specifically for each individual client.

A project I could see myself possibly publishing would be if I went to detroit (like I plan on doing) and documented all of the foreclosed homes that have been boarded up and left without second thought, and the families who used to live in these homes. I would love hearing all of the different stories and circumstances these people have gone through, and I think it might be something other people would also be interested in. I always find myself wanting to know more about the history of an abandoned home and the family who used to live there when I see the homes and its like they just all of a sudden had to up and leave. I've seen photos of abandoned homes before where there is still an open book on a side table, a jacket hanging on the back of the chair, dirty dishes in the sink, etc.. and it makes me wonder what could have possibly happened that caused these people to just up and leave without even grabbing their jacket or packing up their personal belongings.  

Photoshelter's Photo Business Boot Camp, Week 2 (Avoiding Business mistakes all photog's make.)

The video I found most interesting was "Avoiding business mistakes all photographers make. This video was interesting to me for many reasons; the first and most important thing I got from the video was that many photographers who are just starting out price themselves way too low. This is something I feel I am unfortunately guilty of doing. I have been charging what I thought was a good deal, and would help me book more clients; to my surprise a lot of people still thought $50 for an hour to two hour session with 15-20 edited images on a disc (with a print release) was still too much to pay! This amazes me because close to if not every day I see other photographers posting mini session fees that are sometimes double what I've been charging, and they're booking like crazy. I guess it just all depends on the clientele that are actually seeing your posts. Thankfully I've been doing a lot more research, and figuring out what I should actually be charging for my work. The other main thing I learned from this video was how important is really is to be insured yourself, and having your business and gear insured. Thinking about all of the things that could go wrong during a photo shoot gives me nightmares, I've realized that I really need to look into getting myself insured even if I'm only doing a few shoots here and there.