Any advice on being a photographer as a career in the midwest?
Asked by laurie b
Photography has always been my passion. I would love to someday do wedding photography, family portraits ect... and own my own business but know absolutely nothing about the process of getting started, materials needed, how much profit to expect my first year and so on. How would I get started? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

Best Answer:
Start out small. Start taking photos for family and friends for party's and gatherings. Take your camera to family and friends weddings and stuff and take some good pictures and send them to them when you get them developed. If they like what they see, they may call you to do some more. The most important I think is to know your equipment and how to use it properly, don't go spend a lot of money on something that is way to complicated for you. You can take wonderful pictures with a simple digital camera with a good shutter speed and good number of mega pixels. Having an eye for it is really important too, knowing what looks good is really important. Anyway, start out simple and work your way up, don't invest to much at first and build up a little clientele.

Definitely lots of potential for a career in photography. Also check with camera stores and see if you can be an apprentice for someone and they will help direct you to somebody. People always need help. Or another suggestion is get a job at photography shop or where they develop film and that will give you some inside inf. Good Luck! My friend is a very successful photographer who started out at Rite Aid developing film and 3 years later quit his job because he can make more money independently on his own!
Answered by DispatchGirl

I am a graduated photographer and now taking my second online photography course. The first thing you might consider is taking an online course with New York Institute of photography. i am currently taking their course and it is wonderful. It explains you everything and so much material is covered and included with the course is the tapes and cds and a whole bunch of extras to get you started. I have taken one before NYIP, and this is by far the best for your money and they let you pay monthly about 35.00 permonth but it is worth it. As far as a camera and accessories all you need is a SLR camera and a flash. Camera stores will try to sell you alot of extras that you dont need to produce great pictures. Oh and get an SLR camera with the lens it comes with that is all you need for now . Later on you can expand your lenses , such as wide angle and telephoto,but those are not necessary at the beginning. Take your photos to be developed to a professional lab, look some up in the yellow pages they should have one near where you live. You do not need a dark room. If you have any questions please feel free to ask me. My email address is lildlege@aol.com or lildlege1@yahoo.com. Good luck, Debbie
Answered by lildlege