Reply To: Need some critiques :)

[fstopper89]

On the discussion of charging while practicing- many professions have students offering discounted services to the public, but it is advertised as such. Think hairstylists for one example. The tech college in my town has a full salon where the students charge between $5-$7 depending on the service. The high school building trades club builds a garage for a low-income organization every semester. They are supervised of course, but the customers are fully aware these people are still learning. Now, can this relate to photography? Eh, maybe. If you’re truly a beginner, or don’t have any of the proper equipment, it’s not right to charge at all. At least get a solid amount of practice while you are ALSO studying/learning. If you’re working on breaking into the market, and maybe your skills are still improving, it’s not really wrong to charge a little for your time if people are aware that you are portfolio building. Fauxtogs truly believe they are among the ranks of the professionals and purposely undercut the good photographers in order to attract a high volume of clients, to make “easy money.” They often knock real photographers and say “Why pay a ‘professional’ for something I can do just as well with my less-expensive equipment and you get the disk with full copyrights!” That shit pisses all of us off. You don’t need to be practicing photography for several years before thinking about charging people. If you’re completely self-taught I can imagine it would take a lot longer to get the skills under your belt, so if you have taken classes in photography or worked in a photograph-related field you definitely would have a advantage. If your skill level is to where you can produce good-quality work, be consistent, be professional, and know how to use your equipment and software, people will choose you if they can see your images are good. Would I personally hire you? No. Not yet. But I think you could get there soon.