Building a career as a professional artist is a long journey full of ups and downs. Here’s a lesson to take to help you on your way.
This has been a heavy week for meetings. Just as my commercial assignments throughout the year tend to be hectic, so do meetings. Most of my time is spent trying to get meetings with very specific people who can offer me very specific jobs or, if I succeed, attending those meetings. and try to sell people that actually hire me to do the work I’ve spent my life preparing for. The sheer volume of cold emails and cold calls I send out each year is probably just enough for me to qualify for my junior telemarketer card. But, in the end, like a normal-looking guy trying to date, it’s a numbers game. You have to give a lot of bait to finally catch the fish.
Last week, I was fortunate to reap the benefits of a wide selection of attractions when I found myself overwhelmed with portfolio meetings and shaking hands (virtually) with a number of manufacturers. art producer and art director that I have long wanted the opportunity to approach. As always, I have carefully prepared my portfolio for the occasion. And, as I have urged you many times in my column before, it is filled not only with what I think the client wants to see, but also with images of the kind of work I want to create. Your passion for your work is reflected in your presentation. And clients can tell if you’re including something just because it’s something you think they’ll pay for instead of it being something you’re so passionate about that you’re really the only photographer who can include it. to life.
I’ve been a professional photographer for several decades now and my brand is pretty well established. What I shoot and how I shoot it is evident in both the clients I’ve been fortunate to photograph and the marketing materials I’ve sent out over the years. But that doesn’t mean my art of 20 years has stood still. Instead, even now, my work is constantly evolving, and I’m learning new skills and, more importantly, continuing to learn what makes me happy to be creative. Even in a niche, there are many side streets. And the joy of being an artist is the opportunity to explore them.
However, of course, part of running a successful business, photography or not, is establishing a consistent brand. So, how and when do you start introducing new elements into your portfolio presentation that speaks to your heart but can risk confusing your core audience? This basic question led me to today’s post and a lesson I was reminded of this weekend when I presented my work to a series of well-known potential clients.
It can be scary, but the simple truth of the matter is that if you want to make your dreams come true, at some point, you have to take a leap of faith. Sure, you can think for years, saying that one day your dreams will come true and some angel will magically see your work and pull you out to give it a go. your image on the cover of Vogue. And, hey, I’m sure it’s happened before. But it’s more than likely that one day you’ll realize that if you want this, if you really want this, you’ll have to commit to doing what it takes to make it happen. You will have to make cold calls. You will have to market yourself. You will have to develop your skills beyond innate talent into a highly developed, repeatable skill set that you can consistently deliver to real paying clients under pressure. . And while this may not be your first move, there may eventually come a day when you have to quit your day job, ignite your safety net, and start with your own ability to earn a living entirely from the fruits of your own labor.
The order and speed at which those things happen will be different for everyone. What doesn’t change for everyone, though, is the fact that at some point you’ll need to take risks.
Of course, that may be something you’re already aware of, even if you yourself don’t feel ready to take the risk yet. I’m hardly the only one who can tell you that starting a business requires the courage to be bold and take chances. There may be gold on the other side of that mountain, but the only way to find it is to commit yourself to getting to the other side.
What may have been less obvious, and what I was reminded of as I walked into the meeting last week, is that once you take the big risks and have the luck to build the career you’ve always wanted, your work won’t stop. there again. Technology just continues to evolve. More and more competition enters the market every day. It takes a lifetime of practice, sacrifice and hard work to develop your skills and the business to make a name for yourself. But success as an artist is a moving goal. And just because you’ve established yourself doesn’t mean you’ll continue to “found”. Maybe to borrow a few words from Janet Jackson, business is most likely a “what have you been doing for me lately?”
So, after building the courage to take the leap of faith and it paid off just as you planned, you’ll need to regain that courage over and over again to keep taking the next step. leap of faith to further develop his career.
These new leaps may be different from the first. Your first leap might just be moving to a new city and starting a business. Or maybe your leap is to give up your day job and move into a full-time job. Conversely, a new leap in your beliefs could be something far different, such as overhauling your visual style or shifting your focus to a different segment of the market. For example, perhaps you’ve established yourself as the number one black shoe photographer on the market, but you feel suffocated when you’ve gone as far as creatively as you feel you can. The market doesn’t know it, but you’ve been doing these amazing glamor portraits for years. And those portraits are what’s really in your heart right now and what sings out your creativity. However, you are afraid to show your work because you don’t want to kill your black shoe photography business. Now it seems like a big deal to include a few glamorous photos in your portfolio. However, depending on where you are in your career, seizing the opportunity and showing that work can be just an act of radical courage. And continuing to show your passion, even if it doesn’t fit into the box you’ve built for yourself, can be what will propel your career to the next level.
That’s obviously just a fantasy, but I’m sure you get the idea. It takes a leap of faith to reach the top. But, it also needs continuously smaller leaps of faith to stay on top. Customers are constantly on the lookout for something new. They are constantly looking for the right photographer whose skills and passion for a particular subject will add something special to their work. The only way to become a photographer is to continuously develop your own interests and skills. And when you have something special to show off, then you have to have the courage to believe in yourself and trust that your clients will see as much beauty in your new work as they did before.
Of course, just like the initial leap of faith, these require planning. You don’t just jump out of a plane, then figure out how to make a parachute on the way down. Planning and implementation considerations continue to be key in any successful rollout. However, as you continue to grow your business and your creativity, know that one skill that is always in demand is courage.
