Category: Journey

In this, the 3rd part of my series on becoming a professional photographer I want to concentrate on mindset. This is particularly relevant if you’re in full time employment.

Step 3: Mindset

Giving up a full time job to go self employed requires a huge change in mindset.

Going self employed is very simple. You just have to contact HMRC and they’ll send you your UTR or Unique Tax Reference, set yourself up for NI contributions and you’re good to go.*I did it all through their website. It was fast and painless.

[* this is not meant to represent advice – always seek guidance from a professional]

Going self employed mentally once you’ve been in full time employment is a whole different matter.

Your salary is like crack cocaine

When you’re in full time employment you become accustomed to a regular injection of cash into your bank account. It’s like a monthly fix and it’s highly addictive. Continue reading How to become a professional photographer – Part III »

In the first article in this series on how to become a professional photographer we discussed that very first step: making the decision to go and why it’s so important. In part 2, we’re gong to look at identifying the barriers that might prevent you and what you can to to remove/avoid them.

Step 2 to become a professional photographer: removing barriers…

Congratulations! Now you’ve made your decision to go, you’ve officially the first step on your journey to become a professional photographer. You’ve also elevated yourself above all your peers who would love to do something like this and lack the courage and conviction to even open their front door. Watch out for them though as they’ll be sure to offer you their ‘advice’ by telling you you’ll never succeed (more on that in a later article). Now it’s time for step 2: identifying and removing the barriers that will prevent you from succeeding. Continue reading How to become a professional photographer – Removing your barriers »

One question I get asked a lot is “How do you become a photographer?” The answer is actually very straightforward: you just have to go and do it.

There are many routes into the industry and one thing I’ve learned over the years is that everybody’s story is different. Some start by being asked to photograph a wedding or event. Some by being approached by someone who wants to buy an image. Some by uploading images to a stock library. There are many, many different routes and everyone’s is different.

Through this series of articles I’d like to open a discussion about the fundamental steps that most people go through when starting out on their own journey to become a professional photographer. I’ve used the term “journey” deliberately because that’s just what it is: your own personal journey and every journey begins with a few short steps. Continue reading How to become a professional photographer »