# Your Photography Journey



## chuasam (Aug 8, 2019)

What was your photography journey and what stage are you at?

I started doing weddings *LOL* right off the bat...as many beginning pros end up hahah
then I switched to commercial and pet photography. Shot a few billboard ad campaigns and kickstarters. I did a few fashion shoots but found that they barely paid at all.

I found my niche in Actors headshots with some Business portraits and commercial. I stopped weddings, pets, and greatly reduced family photography.

Now in my third stage: I will be starting my next job as a Field Researcher. Architecture Photography combined with documentation and reporting. I am going to cut back on my portraiture and headshots. 

What is your journey?


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## Original katomi (Aug 8, 2019)

My photography journey started in my teens with a zenith paid for from doing film extra work, moved on to Pentax k1000 and a roll I flex always as a hobby.  Then as now I wanted to do more than I could,, big dreams that did not come true. The hobby was dropped for some years du e to family life. About 5 years ago I had to give up a lot of things due to disability and started photography again but digital this time. I have written the booklet with my own photos that I dreamed of and have just finished a 71inch long panarama, I still push the limits of both the kit and my reduced abilities, I did do a study to see if I could make a living at it! No I could not, in the past I have displayed work at the local cafe just for people to enjoy, it’s still a hobby and even disabled or because of it I have a very out of the box style inc UV or ALS photography. Not to mention the various animals that I photograph 

Well that’s my journey so far, I have style that is known to be different and my photos as called 
Marmite photos like them or hate them


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## Jeff15 (Aug 8, 2019)

I started in a muddle and I am still there...............


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## GeraldEdward (Aug 10, 2019)

I started out around 2000.  I enjoyed photography but wanted to focus on nature, scenery and wildlife.  If I could be a hermit, I would be.   but that didnt pay well, so I had to forgo my hermit dreams and started to work on the portrait side of things.

I went to college to learn how to use a camera, to learn lighting, and how to use photoshop.

I got a job at a studio that was more focused on quantity than quality, it was a crash course on many things what not to do and some things that were good to know.

I also got a job assisting a wedding photographer, very part time, every other weekend for 8 hours here and there.  pay was good, work was good, made me realize weddings paid well.

After I considered myself finished with the learning phase I went out on my own.  I should have stayed longer and learned more about the marketing and pricing side of things.

I wasted years not knowing how to price myself correctly and years not knowing how to market myself correctly.  It was a struggle during these times financially but I persued.

One day I discovered creative live and spent the next 6 months absorbing what I could.  It didnt help every other video conflicted with the next one.  But I realized how to calculate codb, how to create packages that encouraged bigger sales on their own, and fb ads!

FB ads was great for a while, filled my schedule, spent minimal time marketing.  then fb changed things and all my marketing was in one basket and none of it worked anymore.

I spent the next 6 months researching marketing ideas, trying to focus mostly with offline methods.  I slowly started amassing ideas that would bring in paying clients.  mostly creating clients than waiting for one to price shop and to reach out to me.  It made things easier since im far from the cheapest in my community. 

Now im doing well, shooting the amount I want to and enjoying photography again!


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## Pierre Rios (Oct 17, 2019)

My photography journey started since I was young. That time my interest in the world of photography and filming. After graduation, I went to New Zealand in 2008 after that Bahamas in 2012 for photography study. Also, I work with many leading photographers from the United States of America including Dixie Dixon, Rob Grimm, Aaron Ace and many more.


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## webestang64 (Oct 17, 2019)

I started my journey into the photographic world in 1980 after I received a Pentax K1000 for X-Mas. After I graduated from high school in 1983 I took a photo course and a computer course in college. I decided that photography would be my vocation after I got an A in Photo-1 and a C in the computer class.
In 1985 I got my first job working in a photo lab and to this day it is my main source of income (currently a retouch artist for Schiller's Camera here in St. Louis MO who has been in business since 1892). I've also worked in studios taking photos of product for catalogs and selling my "Art" photos in shows and small art/craft stores.
Still shooting film I love to process and print my black-n-white in the darkroom.


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## star camera company (Dec 16, 2019)

As a curious child I’d scooch up the attic steps and admire a wooden folding plate camera my Dad had.  UhOh....it Started!  From there, 620 Box Cameras, Kodak X15, Leica IIIc, Rolleicord Vb, .....then the fascination with wet plate hit about 1988,  finally learned the process in 1995 from Mark Osterman.  Using that old folding camera at the top of the attic steps, my Dad made a wet plate back for it.   Then....10 years doing Civil War Re-enactment Photography.... about 10,000 plates I estimate.   Got tired of the travel.... started to help Dad make Wet Plate Cameras to sell.   That began 20 years of camera building, currently up to #433.   The turning point was when I realized I’m more (and a better) collector than photographer.   Though now 65 and enjoying semi retirement ( still build small wet plate cameras at home), I’m happy to pursue collecting interesting cameras.


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## star camera company (Dec 16, 2019)




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## webestang64 (Dec 16, 2019)

star camera company said:


> View attachment 183770



That is one purty camera...................


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## Soocom1 (Dec 16, 2019)

Grew up in a darkroom in the 1970's.  

Didn't get started in large part until around 1979 and early middle school.   

Mostly just snapshots then tried various diff. forms throughout the years. 

Now I mostly shoot landscapes and nature.  I have found people shooting to be difficult.


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## Sharpshooterr (Dec 24, 2019)

Jeff15 said:


> I started in a muddle and I am still there...............



My dog fell into a muddle...., have you seen a German Shepard there anywhere??? LoL 
SS


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## Sharpshooterr (Dec 24, 2019)

star camera company said:


> View attachment 183770



WoW, that's a beauty!!! looks like the cameras the newspapers were using to create copy, only they aren't wood!
I see you've got a lathe back there, are you turning those lens barrels yourself??
Very nice
SS


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