So one of the biggest problems with Photography in this day and age is that there are so many AMAZING photographers out there, it becomes an up-hill-struggle to gain recognition. With the increasing number of photographic talent breaking through by the day, it's hard not to sit back in your chair and degrade your own abilities. I would like to take a little time to talk about a few techniques i have used, a few I've heard of and some helpful tips.
The first and most essential key to gaining recognition in any art form is mentality; not only referring to work ethic but also personal characteristics. to evaluate your own professional skills try a quick SWOT analysis of yourself. For those of you don't know what a SWOT analysis is, SWOT stands for
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
To begin the analysis remember Strengths and Weaknesses are personal, whereas Opportunities and Threats are environmental.
The idea of the Swot analysis is to reveal you to yourself, give you both confidence and knowledge of what you need to work on, the SWOT will also give you some ideas of how to work around your environmental issues.
An important aspect of achieve any form of recognition is to respect yourself as an artist and not be too harsh on yourself. Don't get me wrong, the last thing we need is a bunch of cocky and arrogant photographers to take over the industry, confidence and big-headedness are two completely different things.
Now i myself have a lot of trouble looking at my work and being happy with the results, however, the client is always happy so i must respect that. It is important to remember that someone out there will like your work, so never give up, and stay determined.
The hardest part about photography is staying inspired. To keep up inspiration, i am sorry to say, is something i cannot seem to grasp. With most other art forms i find inspiration through looking at other peoples work, with photography this only makes me feel bad that i cannot come close to the talent that is out there. To me, i just try to keep the photography flowing, and when i hit a patch of inspiration i allow myself to completely indulge. i always look at others work for the simple fact that i love the photography, despite the negative impact on my state of mind, i am fascinated. I will talk about other photographers in a later post.
So all life coaching aside, here are some simple and effective methods to get out there in the world of photography.
Social Networking
Social Networking is an undeniably useful tool for budding photographers. Not only does every man,woman, child and dog have either Facebook or Twitter, its a great way to get noticed and speak to all of your followers at once. I would recommend setting up a specific page or account for your photography work, this helps your page to stay professional and allows you to keep track of and separate your personal life with your work, making organisation and image a piece of cake.
Here is a link to my Facebook photography page https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100007321418710
Local Recognition
The quickest way to gain local recognition is to keep an eye on any local information outlets such as Newspapers, Websites, Leaflets and Roadside Advertisements. Find local events that you think you would be able to and enjoy photographing. Be careful with entrance fees, only attend a payed even if you both have the money spare and think it will be worth your time. Often, if you can locate and contact the event organiser, you can get a photographers pass.
Try to attend as many events as you can, and carry around lots of business cards to hand out. After the event, try to locate and contact the subjects, weather they are an act or an audience member, and see if they would like the images. Be sure to watermark the images before handing them out.
Competitions
Competitions are a great way of gaining recognition and a small following. Sites such as Worth1000 are great for getting recognised, as well as receiving feedback and also inspiration. Worth1000 has a deferent topic each week, in novice, amateur, experienced and expert categories. This keeps you trying new things and picking up the camera regularly.
Some of the more well known competitions are also worth a try. It is very hard to imagine your own images making it to the top, but you never know, and it is great publicity regardless of the outcome.
Newspapers and Magazines
If you have captured a local newsworthy event on camera send them in via email to your local paper. you can also repeatedly send in your photographs to relevant magazines. It will take a long time, but eventually you will get published. As the photographer it is your job to seek recognition, if you expect it all to fall into place, it is highly unlikely you will receive work.
Work often comes your way off the back of something you have done to get noticed. So keep snapping away, updating your pages, contacting the appropriate people. eventually, you will get somewhere.
Thanks again readers!
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