posted January 26, 2012 in Photographer Resources 10 Comments

Going Pro series pt 4: Make Amateur Photography Pay

Today, I reflect on a few timeless concepts of starting and running a photography business from 75 years ago. If you are joining us for the first time, catch up with the series since I will build on the knowledge from each previous post. Here are the past posts if you want to tune in:

Part 1: Take the Big Step

Part 2: Delay Instant Gratification

Part 3 : Knowing When to Make the Jump

“There is more spontaneous and active interest in photography today than at any time in past history.” Those words were written 75 years ago. Ansel Adams would stand at about my age, a whipper snapper 33. Yet, those pearls of wisdom hold true today, appropriate to kick off A.J. Ezickson’s book, “Making Amateur Photography Pay,” available here for $4.94.

I found this 1937 gem after cracking the cover of a book I stumbled upon for $20 find at Bookends, a used gently used book store in Kailua, Hawaii. I felt compelled to share my Cliff’s Notes :

10 Truisms, 75 Years Later :

1. Tell a picture story, and tell it well. This goes without much explaining in the world of digital photography. There is no room for the full type of picture which tells little or nothing. According to Ezickson, the image must be informative and carry immediate interest which may depend upon action, personal emotions, adventure, the strange, the everyday events revealed from a fresh slant.’
2. Be cool in emergency. This might take years of training to keep eyes and hands and nerves steady at critical moments. Avoid stage fright.
3. Be friendly. While you might straighten your tie or look twice in the mirror.
4. Watch trends. Know your market carefully and be well conversant in your genre, including key players.
5. David can beat Goliath. Freelancers can still out scoop a staff photographer, thanks to social networks like blogs, Twitter, and the like.
6. Accept jobs willingly. Not every shoot is a Grace Ormonde feature or New York Times spread. Moments and incidents we shoot often are drab and dull, however it is up to us to make them interesting. Do your duty and do it well. If you treat most people decently they will likely reciprocate.
7. Steady persistence pays. You may not acquire perfection in the first few attempts at anteing, but conscious efforts and hard work and patience will in the long run reward you with pictures which will not only satisfy yourself but please even a discriminating audience.
8. Dull pictures bore. There is no room for the type of picture that tells little or nothing.
9. Exclusive remains important. Editors want to publish a picture rivals don’t have.
10. Do your own book reports. It’s easy to read other’s thoughts, gloss over, and be on with you day. Think critically, arrive at your own conclusions, share. These are MY thoughts to pass along.

In the iPhone age, the best camera is the one that’s with you … yet the same ideas existed 75 years ago, illustrated by Ezickson: “ The miniature camera has accomplished one big thing.  As a bright new weapon in the ceaseless quest for the photographic gem, it has stirred the imaginations of thousands to the possibilities of new triumphs in the photographic field…. to new vistas of accomplishment… and record new picture documents to give the world as imperishable data.”

My jaw dropped after seeing the author signed these very pages… in my very hands, at this pivotal point in my life, watching a sunrise on Kailua, Hawaii : As an extension of my gratitude for your readership, I share a bit of creative energy… an image created shortly after sunrise at Kailua beach, Hawaii. I shot the images with my Nikon D-700 paired with my Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 VR II panning for 1/15 sec, sans Photoshop.  If Ansel Adams or Georgia O’Keefe were alive today, how would they make rent? What would they blog about? What tools would they be using? How would their concerns differ than artists today?  I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Because it’s a Happy Thursday, I’ve dropped desktop resized and sharpened images for your pleasure, sized 1440 x 900 pixels, downloadable by clicking here and here. Next step, save image to your desktop and enjoy, compliments of RJ!

Mahalo from Oahu!

Click here to read part 5 of the series: Pimp the Work You Want to Shoot.

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Posted by R. J. on January 26, 2012
Tags: how to sell pictures, Make Amateur Photography Pay, published in grace ormonde, tips for going pro, where to sell photography