Training. There is just no substitute for it.
The spectacular advances in digital capture technology in recent years have led
to many an aspirational photographer wrongly assuming it’s easy to turn pro in
the twenty first century. They need to be aware that ‘here be dragons’. Such an
assumption really is tantamount to entering dangerous territory. Today’s
consumers are increasingly discerning. More than ever before they are hunting
down quality, originality, creativity and professionalism. They might not know
what an f-stop is, but they really would like to think that you do. Too many
photographers now are neglecting basic principles. Those same fundamentals that
successful professionals have relied on for years.
Here at The Societies we never stop banging the drum about training. It’s a
business cost but it’s also an investment. It is the commercial DNA - the common
thread running through the aspirations, ambitions and ultimate success of all
serious imagists. It is only through the acquisition of real technical skill and
business competency that photographers can sensibly and rationally plot their
future career paths. And it’s only against this background of experience and
education that future leaders, icons and ambassadors of the imaging industry are
honed. Our own workshops, seminars and widely acclaimed ‘Mentor Me’ programmes
(in which member photographers can have professional appraisal of their work by
an expert) support our extensive and comprehensive qualifications curriculum.
Photographers with distinctions not only show their peers their work has reached
high standard but more importantly qualifications attained through training are
the leverage photographers need when it comes to charging. They are the
differentiator.
Professional photographers understand the key dual challenges of high quality
and consistency. And to achieve consistency it is essential to learn the
fundamentals.
These include: lighting, composition, technique, camera craft, people skills and
postproduction plus all of the elements that denote a professional product.
Additionally, to improve business skills it is absolutely essential that
photographers understand marketing, sales, customer services and finance.
Information is readily accessible from academic courses offered by universities;
books, tutorial DVDs, workshops, seminars and from industry benchmark events
such as The Societies’ annual January Convention in London.
When it comes to courses it is important for delegates to know precisely what
will be taught and by whom. If that information is not forthcoming questions
should be asked.
2014 Societies Convention and Trade Show at The Hilton London Metropole Hotel ...
You have 209 days to book for the 2014 Convention Wednesday 15th January 2014
Photo Quote: As I became aware that all things have unique spatial and temporal qualities which visually define and relate them, I began to perceive the things I was photographing not as objects but as events. Working to develop my skills of perceiving and symbolizing these event qualities, I discovered the principle of opposites. When, for example, I photographed the smooth, luminous body of a woman behind a dirty cobwebbed window, I found that the qualities of each event were enhanced and the universal forces which they manifested were more powerfully evoked. - Wynn Bullock
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