HOW TO START A PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS

Everyone has different ideas about what's important, but these are the things that either helped me along the way, or that I wish I'd known earlier!

- Jo Plumridge

For many people, turning their photography passion into a viable business is the ultimate dream. But having a creative talent doesn't always equate to business acumen! In this article I'm going to give you some tips to help you get started with your own photography business. Everyone has different ideas about what's important, but these are the things that either helped me along the way, or that I wish I'd known earlier!

CAMERA EQUIPMENT When it comes to gear, I like the adage of ‘building slow and smart’. As your business grows, you should invest in more equipment. Don’t go out and bankrupt yourself before you’ve even started! What do I think you need as a bare minimum? Here’s a short list:

• Camera that allows you to change lenses

• Lenses – a fixed 50mm and a decent zoom lens will get you started in most areas

• Flashgun

• Memory cards

• Spare batteries

• External Hard Drive for backups

• Computer or laptop with sufficient memory to handle your camera files

• Photoshop / Lightroom or another editing programme of similar capabilities

• Camera bag

If you’re an enthusiastic photographer, the chances are that you’ll have most of this equipment already. Start with the gear you own and build from there as you sell your work.

BUILD YOUR PORTFOLIO No one is going to hire you if you can’t show them examples of your work! You need to get your best work organised and go out and shoot more if you need to.