AboutDon Wood Expertise I have been a professional photographer for 26 years. Wedding, portraits, passports, copies, groups pix, reunions, etc. Specialty in photography of large groups. I also have worked in newspaper photography for most of my photographic years. I have built and maintained a b/w darkroom, and a color darkroom.
Experience I have been a professional photographer for 35 years. I am transitioning to digital photography so I might be able to help in that field. I'm retired now but am still able to be helpful in the field. I have built a b/w, color darkroom, worked in a color lab, worked in the newspaper field both in darkroom and as a shooter.
Expert: Don Wood Date: 6/19/2008 Subject: photography
Question Hello my name is Amy and I have always wanted to be a professional photographer. Recently I decided I would give it a go and bought a new professional camera and then I realized now what? I work full time for a credit union and I am a mom of two. There is no way to fit in school for this. Is there some sort of online class to take? Do I need a certificate? If so which one? And how do I start up this new business? I am very anxious to get this rolling but I am very clueless about what I have to do. PLEASE HELP!!!
Answer I would suggest that you go to the New York Institute of Photography website and see if you could take one of their courses. They have an excellent school based for people in your situation with a full-time job, and little time to devote to a traditional school. There are so many fields in photography, wedding, portraiture, commercial, fine art, just to name a few of the fields. Many people are weekend wedding/portrait photographers with a fulltime job and the photography is a means of enhancing their income and fullfilling their creative muse.
That being said, you do need to have some business training, you could possibly do this online also. The photography business is very more than just the cost of the equipment, the cost of the medium (whether film or digital) and the cost of the pix you've sold. It is transportation, day-to-day expenses (rent, food, lights, equipment and supplies). And there are other expenses.
To start with on your training, go to the libraries, art and photography museums and look at the examples. Study them with an eye as to why the artist did it this way rather than another way. Study the angles, lighting, cropping: this is what I call developing your photographic eyes. You will be consciously doing this the rest of your life. Why did the photographer choose to stop the action of the water flowing over the dam, rather than using a slower shutter that might show the power of the water. Anyway, you see my point.
Thanks for asking my help, if I can help further, please use this forum to ask. Good luck to you in your future endeavors.
Don
