Throwback Thursday

In light of it being Thursday and everyone doing TBT I thought I would post some of my older pictures. When I first started taking pictures and trying to actually start up a photography business I was really happy with the pictures I took at the time, but looking back now I find a lot of things that I'm not really happy about with them. I think that is a good thing though because it shows to me that I am growing and changing as a photographer. That is one of the most important things to remember when you are trying to do what I am and set up your own photography business. You can't just never change and call it good and not push your self to be better. If you start to do this you're going to come up against a wall that you wont be able to get past. So for this very short post today here are a few of my older pictures that I took when I was getting started.

Let me take your picture

I've been trying to think about what to write about and it's kind of hard. Finally I think I've decided to write about how to build a audience and get people to let me take their pictures. Trying to start a photography business is differently not the easiest thing to do. If you want to start a business where you make something and then sell it you can start by making what ever it is and then trying to sell it online. We all know how many online stores are out there to sell things on. It's harder to try to get people to pay you to take pictures that they can't actually see before hand. So how did I get this all started?

Well you start by begging and pleading and forcing your friends to be your models. Most people are more then happy to do this, especially if you are good, because it means they get free pictures. You need to do this for many different people!! You can't do two shoots and then say ok this is good now I can start charging people that doesn't work. Even though they aren't paying you to take their pictures usually because you are friends you can work something out with them were they will tell their friends and family about you and show them the pictures. This is where actually being good at photography comes in because if the pictures are good you start to build an audience and people will want to come to you for pictures.

I have a few really close pictures that I have taken pictures for on multiple occasions but have never charged. I think of it as one of the perks of being my friend and sticking by me through thick and thin is you then get free pictures. I don't know if this is really important to the success of starting a photography business but I like doing it.

The next really important thing is to keep your cost low!! Yes professional already established photography studios charge hundred of dollars, but for one they are already established. Two these people usually have studios that they have to pay rent, electric, and water on. They usually have a lot of props that they must replace every so often, computers they have to keep up to date, multiple camera and lens that they will have to replace or get fixed from using almost every day. I don't really have any of this yet. All of my pictures are done outside, I use the laptop my mom bought me for college, and I don't have any props of my own. So this is reflected in my price.

When you are working with less equipment it is important to make sure your pictures really stick out. You don't have everything that the established studios do so make sure your pictures still look just as good as someone could get there and make your price so that its more affordable. Some day you'll be able to raise the price and buy all of the things you need but for now it's about getting your name out their and building an audience.

Facebook is also a great tool to use! Make a facebook business page to post pictures to and so people can follow you. By the way go check out my page at facebook.com/mydreamsphotography and be sure to like it!! All those pictures you took for free you can post them on here and tag the people in the pictures it helps to get your name out there and let people know that you can take some great pictures.

One of the most important things to remember is to not get discouraged when you don't become an over night success. Anything that is worth having is worth working for!! I've been doing this for almost 3 years now and I'm just now getting to the point where I have more people coming to me and paying for pictures. I've also been working on graduating first high school and now college at the same time so photography hasn't always been the first thing on my mind. But if it's something you really love then don't give up as long as you put work into it it will pay off for you.

The begining

I woke up one day and decided I wanted to make a blog. Part of it is because I got to thinking hey everyone else is doing it why is what they have to say any more important then what I have to say, and the other part was I wanted someway to record some of my memories and ideas as I'm starting out. So I guess I should start by telling everyone a little bit about my self.

My name is Emma, I'm 20 years old (almost 21), and I've about finished up my sophomore year of college. I'm studying elementary education but my dream is to have my own photography studio, that's how my blog got this name. I think I'm mostly going to use this to talk about my path to having my own photography studio, but that might change. If that does change I really hope there is some way to rename the blog.  Some more facts about me I'm attending a very small college in Indiana the average class size is around 15 and most people live on campus even after their freshman year. I have a wonderful amazing boyfriend who I have been with for almost 3 years now. I think that is most of the big things about me that you could want to know. Oh also I really suck at writing so this probably isn't going to be the most elegant well put together blog you will ever read.

So now to start at the beginning of how I got into photography. Right now it seems like everyone and their brother is a "photographer" and wants to have their own studio, but my interest in photography started a long long time before all this. Ever since I was a kid I loved to take pictures of things. I use to set up my barbies and take pictures like they where in a photo shoot. I never really thought about doing anything with photography until my junior year. I took digital design that year thinking it was going to be about using computers to draw and make animations ( I've always been into just about any form of art), but it wasn't about anything like that. Instead it was about using photoshop and taking pictures. For our final project we where paired up and had to do a Senior shoot type portfolio. It was really fun and I got really into it. One of my partners ended up using the pictures I took of her as her actual senior pictures that year. It got me thinking why couldn't I make this happen for real, what's stopping me from having my own photography studio one day? So I decided to try to do it and make it happen.

It started out with me just taking pictures of my friends and using online editing sites. My favorite for a long time was Picnik, I don't know how many of you will remember it but it was the best site ever for editing pictures. Sadly google bought them out and the website shut down, google plus was suppose to then use their editing tools but it wasn't the same. For a while I tried using other sites but nothing really worked like I wanted it to, so I started looking at different adobe software trying to find something that I could actually afford and would work. I ran across the lightroom program and they where asking for people to be beta testers so I signed up right away and got to use it for free for a few months. I fell in love it gave me so much more control over editing my pictures and I wasn't sure how I had ever lived without it. When my trial ran out I bought it right away. After a while though I started noticing that while it was better then the online free tools I had been using it still didn't let me do everything I wanted.

What I really wanted was photoshop but it was so expensive and I just didn't have that type of money. This year I found out that Adobe was doing something new you didn't have to spend the hundreds of dollars to buy the software instead you paid a much more reasonable fee monthly and had it for a year. I started to save up for it was hoping to have it by the end of Summer. Then something amazing happened, I was talking to my step dad about it and how I was going to save up and he leaves the room and comes back with the month to pay for the whole year and told me to get it!!! I have the most amazing step dad in the whole world he has been one of the biggest supporters of me trying to reach my goal and has helped me out so much. Besides for making it possible for me to have photoshop he also bought me my camera and two lens when I graduated from high school. Without him and my mom I don't think I would have made it this far to accomplishing my dream.

Well for tonight I think I'm going to stop writing and go mess with the setup of my blog. Leave a comment if you want it would make me happy to know someone is actually reading this!!!