Helping out & sharing each other's work & photography ideas

jasonsony735

jasonsony735

jasonsony735

Associate
Joined
17 Oct 2007
Posts
1,778
Location
Some where in England
I've been doing photography for about 2 years now as a self taught hobbies & have learnt most of what I know from others - youtubers & the Internet & im still learning everyday , but I don't feel as if I'm not pushing myself as hard as I could , I want too give something back , I don't have a big following on the likes of the Internet but I'd like too , I know some photographers have a big following & get over 20 + weddings a year , it's early days but I'd like to aim for this in the next coming years , I'm slowly building up a portfolio.

I have setup a Twitter & Instagram accounts - to share my work & it's starting to get followers really slowly - I'm thinking the next step is too try my luck at a YouTube channel , sharing my ideas & doing 2 video blogs a week & engaging with people and sharing my passion with photography & helping others in the process , I live in the south west of England so the photo opportunities are endless , What do you guys think ? Keep updating the portfolio , advertise on Facebook & most off all just post my best work ? Cheers Guys .
 
What I mean is with YouTube you have to go on it not just for yourself , you need to give others a reason to follow you , entertain them , make them laugh & give them inspiration so it would make sense to do my video blogs mainly about photography as that's what I have a passion for , from looking at other inspiring photographers a lot of them now team up with the wedding magazines so this is a great way to advertise your photography , so it would make complete sense to do something like this for : example : I would start with 2 blogs a week - blog video 1 - drive to the coast one morning , talk to my audience , arrive at the location , inspire & explain what kinda photos you want to get , show them in detail what you are doing , be creative , head home & explain in detail how you edit your images in photo shop / Lightroom ... And all the time keep everyone entertained , it will start of very slow but within a year I'd like to hope people enjoy what I do & follow me , who knows where it could take me , I'm still learning myself so a lot will be trial & error but we will all be learning together.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Do you have an original idea for a TY channel, it's pretty much a full time job to make contents for it weekly if you want a big following.
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My aim is to start of with just 2 blogs a week - photography locations in my area Somerset / Dorset , go from there and the main goal is to then go to loads of amazing locations all over the uk , learning as I go a long & sharing the adventure with others & inspiring people who enjoy photography.
 
Steve M said:
Not wanting to sound harsh or judgemental, but do you honestly have that much to give back if you're self taught with only 2 years experience?

If you want to make money as a wedding photographer I doubt a youtube chanel would help that much. It's already heavily saturated (you say yourself that's where you learnt from) and like Raymond says, you'd need an original idea to attract followers, otherwise you're just duplicating what's already out there.

Best bet is to see if you can tag along with a wedding photographer locally and gain experience by helping them if they'll allow it or just observing.

If it's for you and you think you're up to it, advertising on FB would be a good bet.
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I've done a lot of FB advertising but only friends of friends , would it be worth advertising in my area and paying fb ? The completion is tough in my area so I need to stand out from the crowd...


Advertise on fb & also how do I go about coming out on top on google search engine in my area ? Again I think that would help loads , I'm going to start doing blogs for my portfolio as I believe this will help.
 
D.P. said:
This times 10.


I'm extremely doubtful that you have anything to give back. I've been in to photography for over 20 years now but had a camera for probably 25 years. I've been seriously in to my photography for the last 12 years, read countless books, browsed endless websites, watched loads of video tutorial, taken hundred of thousands of photos, gone on numerous photo-centric holidays, shot weddings, professional events, children birthday parties, dedicated hundred of hours to selling stock photos. I spent years trying to improve various aspect of my photography. I had one relationship end because I took photography so seriously at one point. I always analyze TV shows and movies for the camera work, analyzing compositions, exposure, lighting. I also spend hours walking around art galleries staring at paintings to understand composition and get inspired by the greatest artist to wlak the planet.

I don' think there is anything I can "give back" that isn't already out there, and if by some miracle I had some unique personal knowledge I'm not going to make a youtube video out of it!


As other have pointed out, you need to figure out exactly what it is you want to do, your post is not coherent in the slightest OP.Do you want a web presence and large blog/youtube following? If so why?. Do you want to become a wedding tog, then start second shooting weddings and forget a blog an corny youtube videos.
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YouTube brings a whole new Audience if you do it right , When I say give back I mean as in show of my work and creative ideas and share it with others , we can all learn from each other , the obove is nothing new you are looking at what is all ready out there , you need new creative ideas and I think I have a few :P
 
Raymond Lin said:
Do you have an original idea for a TY channel, it's pretty much a full time job to make contents for it weekly if you want a big following.
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I have been watching a few youtubers over the past 6 years or so now and have watched them grow from say 25k followers to most of them now with over Half a million , and they now live of the money and do creative fun vids everyday , so its possible , and most of them just Vlog there lifes , My best bet is just to get on with it and give it a shot , its Free after all , just need to dedicate 2 nights a week too it.
 
Steve M said:
I don't think you have a clue.

The more I read your posts, the more i'm starting to think this is a wind up..
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I'm being serious Steve , we are all here to help each other out, Photography is competitive but at the end of the day we all just want to create magical photos that others will enjoy and like as we do.

You're right I don't really have a clue that's why I'm asking for feedback. ;)
 
Rroff said:
It is the only way you are gonna find out really - I've an acquaintance who started fairly small with an upholstery/detailing business on FB and from mostly word of mouth it became fairly successful to the point he is turning down business.
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What did he go for my I ask ?

Weddings ? or Family locations shoots ? or Baby shoots is pretty good these days I see.
 
Raymond Lin said:
FYI, I don't watch many how to YT tutorial videos. The ones that I watch and I would guess most people watch are ones that has to do with gear demos.

There are also plenty of great and VERY well illustrated with great production channels like Phlearn for photoshop or Adorama for both gear (it's more an ad) and How to, or Karl Taylor on Studio photography. Or there is always Creative Live whose entire existence is for professionals to go in and teach. All of whom have much bigger budgets than just you. They have studio space, models, live audience even.

Then there is the thing call personality, and I can tell you that if the person on screen annoys me, I'll click the back button because that's the nature of YT.
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I get this totally Raymond , I watch a lot of these guys too but these people all ready have a massive following and earn S*** loads of money , I'm just a little fish in a pond , I'd like to get too where these guys are but its going to take a lot of work & if I can build that with other photographers to get there then fantastic.
 
Columbo said:
You don't need a YouTube channel to get 20 weddings per year, we've got 28 booked this year and 15 already for next year. Let your work and successes speak for themselves, Facebook has done wonders for us simply by letting the clients tell an honest story that everyone can see.

Though I'm not full time my business partner is and we've now got our own studio which is just about fully booked. What also made a huge difference to us is networking, we offered services to florists, hair stylists, beauticians, dress makers etc for free who all have us in their shops now as 'recommended' photographers and we've also just won a contract in local Sure Start centres for the next 12 months.

Also think about its impact on you and your hobby, I do zero hobby photography these days simply because between my full time job as a senior manager, photography business, actual photography and editing, my wife and 8 year old daughter I don't have the time and if truth be told I miss it a lot.
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Facebook is brilliant for getting work , 90% of my work is from that and word of mouth , Friends of friends so I will continue to do that , I started out doing weddings as most do with just family first and I enjoyed it so much I now do weddings for others and started advertising last year on Facebook & setup a website , It's early days & I'm still learning but I jumped in the deep end and have just been learning everything myself and I'm getting more experienced every time , I've made mistakes on the way but I feel that's helped me loads ! I can now turn up at a wedding and feel 100% confident that I know how the day is going to pan out and what kinda images I need to capture , I have decided I am going for the documentary approach as this looks really nice when you show your work of to clients as its shows the day from start to finish and shows of what images you can create for them , I'm not currently doing this full time but if I got 20 weddings a year then I could quit my boring 9/5 job and do something I have a passion for , It's not about the money it never has been , I really enjoy taken photos & I get so much joy out of editing the images in light-room and seeing the day all over again , and its really nice when your clients email you after they have had the images back thanking you for creating wonderful images & I like knowing that they will print these images for there albums and homes so I really do go all out to make the images the best I can , Currently it takes me a good 2 or 3 days to edit the images from a full wedding day but again its not a problem as I enjoy it so much , I always try new things , I've just started using VSCO Film in my images that I kinda like but I always try and keep my images pretty bright as thats my style and I stay away from the washed out dark Film look, I'm not saying YouTube is the right way to go , I can continue to post my images on my FB fan page and slowly build up clients from that but I want to aim my work at other people , not just friends of friends , what other ways do you feel photographers could get more clients and a following ?
 
D.P. said:
With all his great experience, he has only had a flash for a couple of weeks, god only know how is earlier weddings worked out:
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18714346&highlight=jasonsony735


It's not about the money, yet the OP is desperate to find any means possible to make money form his hobby:
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18708322&highlight=jasonsony735



Best of all is what his clients think of him:
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18683126&highlight=jasonsony735




And this is his attitude to clients:






You can see his photos here and judge for yourself:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ijsturgess/with/5480659244/

Certainly not someone I would spend 1 second of my life listening to. I've seen much worse before but horrendous HDR, and heavy processing over substance. Lots of poor compositions or weak subjects. Then there are like 3 varients of this:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ijsturgess/17975870092/in/dateposted/
Why wasn't the OP on the front getting their faces!
And this is liekly the work he is most proud of.


HOWEVER, there are a few good photos in there that show potential. Drop the attitude OP, keep learning and maybe in a few years time the quality and consistency of your
work will be up there.

More photos like this OP:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ijsturgess/19535810208/in/dateposted/
Less attitude.
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1 :I Need to make a living hehe , just enough to live will keep me happy;)

2 : I made a mistake and held my hands high on posting images before the client had seem them , & you might not like this but once the client received his wedding photos from me he congratulated on my on how well I captured his day and apologised too me

3: I wasn't aloud to photograph from the front :( So that's why the images are from behind, this is the best I could do , a lot of people liked these shots.

4: The HDR images where done over 5 years ago when I first started out with photography and I used Photo matrix & was using Canon 500D with kit lens so don't expect them to be good hence why they are not on my website.
 
Steve M said:
I think the probelm with this guy is that he started the thread talking about "giving back" when he doesn't really have anything to "give back" that anyone would want.

What he was really after, was how to promote himself and his services. Nothing wrong with wanting to to that, but should have come out and stated his true intentions rather than trying to hide it and coming out with statements like: "engaging with people and sharing my passion with photography & helping others in the process"...

Seems to me though there's no real passion for photography what so ever, and the primary aim is just to make money.
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Its not about money at all ! I didn't charge any money at all for the weddings I did in my first year :) Was all done FREE
 
Steve M said:
I think the probelm with this guy is that he started the thread talking about "giving back" when he doesn't really have anything to "give back" that anyone would want.

What he was really after, was how to promote himself and his services. Nothing wrong with wanting to to that, but should have come out and stated his true intentions rather than trying to hide it and coming out with statements like: "engaging with people and sharing my passion with photography & helping others in the process"...

Seems to me though there's no real passion for photography what so ever, and the primary aim is just to make money.
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This is about me giving something back , obviously I want to advertise myself as well but the main thing is about me going of and making creative photos and sharing with others how I do it and become a better photographer. So its not all about me at all , I will make a youtube Video and share it with you guys and you can see if you like it and advise me on how I can make it better and engage with people.
 
Columbo said:
You don't need a YouTube channel to get 20 weddings per year, we've got 28 booked this year and 15 already for next year. Let your work and successes speak for themselves, Facebook has done wonders for us simply by letting the clients tell an honest story that everyone can see.

Though I'm not full time my business partner is and we've now got our own studio which is just about fully booked. What also made a huge difference to us is networking, we offered services to florists, hair stylists, beauticians, dress makers etc for free who all have us in their shops now as 'recommended' photographers and we've also just won a contract in local Sure Start centres for the next 12 months.

Also think about its impact on you and your hobby, I do zero hobby photography these days simply because between my full time job as a senior manager, photography business, actual photography and editing, my wife and 8 year old daughter I don't have the time and if truth be told I miss it a lot.
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This is Fantastic info Thank you so much for sharing this dude :)

I'm going to get on twitter and the social networks tonight and try link up with others in my field in my area and see if we can work together.
 
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Rroff said:
I've worked with him - though don't know him that well - he was very passionate about photography, though only just starting into it, at the time from what I remember.
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I have already asked in another post about how to make more money with photography :) , this post is about helping each other out and ways too expand in photography , not just helping me but everyone who wants to expand in the photography industry. by means of social networking with others to FB , Twitter & Instra ;)
 
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