My Little

Black Book

10 ESSENTIAL tips for going pro

CARLA COULSON

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

At 35 I left a successful business in Sydney to

fol low my heart and become a photographer.

I studied at a photography school in Florence

and just months after finishing my final year

had my first photographic story on Naples

published in Marie Claire Austral ia.

During the past 12 years I have had the

great fortune to work with many magazines

including Vogue E & T, Gourmet Traveller,

Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, Inside Out, Col lezioni and along the way my

photography has been published in six photographic books by Penguin

Austral ia.

When I started I loved photography with my heart and soul (and sti l l do) but I

knew after al l the years of having a business loving something wasn’t enough.

These are some of the tips that helped me get started in photography and

that I attribute to my success.

I hope they help you achieve success too as a professional photographer.

Ps. These tips are by no means the whole story. I would love to hear from you

so drop me a note on my blog if you have something to add that worked

getting your career started.

1VISION

Photography is a personal vision. It is an individual way of looking at the

world and capturing a photo that tel ls a story. Your particular taste

and vision wil l set you apart from other photographers and this is your

precious gift. Your style wil l have a great value in the future.

A photographer’s vision can be seen repeated in their photos over

and over again, l ike a ‘brand’.

El len Von Unwerth produces images of sexy girls having lots of fun in

wild colours and grainy black and whites. Fashion photographer Paolo

Roversi creates soft focused dreams with his large format Polaroid

camera and Richard Avedon was renowned for his simplicity, elegance

and his famous white background. These photographers al l have their

own vision, their own style of l ighting, emotions they wish to portray,

and their own way of communicating with their sitter and this shows

in the photos.

You can easi ly recognise their work without seeing their name because

it is ‘branded’ by their personal vision.

Have faith in your vision of the world.

LEARN THE BASICSBefore launching into a professional photography career you need to

know the essentials of photography. There are many different options

to learning your craft including courses at University, Tafe, private

photography schools, photography workshops, on the job experience

and of course studying the masters.

Once you have finished your course I would highly recommend doing

some on the job ‘work experience’ with a working photographer before

you take on the responsibi l ity of a paying job. Assisting a professional

photographer gives you an insight into how a shoot works and also the

business of photography.

This ‘work experience’ is essential and I cannot over emphasise how

important it is to have had experience before putting a potential

cl ient’s work at risk. And you wil l be a whole lot more relaxed when

you final ly do your first job knowing how to deal with things if they go

wrong!

2

WHICH PATH TO TAKEOne of the toughest things to do early on in a photography career is to

decide which path to take. I f ind many different types of photography

interesting but I can’t do them al l . If you choose a niche in photography

such as food photography or portraiture then the getting started

process wil l be simpler and far more focused.

Making clear choices in the beginning can save you years in the long

run. You can start out as a ‘general ist’ photographer but there is no

point trying to do every type of photography in the long term, you

wil l only confuse yourself and your cl ients. This doesn’t mean that

you can’t experiment and change paths but I have found over the

years one of the first questions I am asked when I tel l people I am a

photographer is ‘what kind of photography you do’?

Every different field of photography requires different type of equipment

and materials. If you can define what you want to do early on you

can save a lot of money, time and energy in the long run.

3

CREATING A BODY OF WORK

Creating a body of work is one of the first steps you wil l need to take

before you can consider starting to work. There are many ways to put

together a body of work it can be a photographic story on something

that interests you or a series for a portfol io. It is real ly up to you to choose

how you would l ike to proceed and what type of work you would l ike

to create. This is a wonderful opportunity to take the images you love

and present it as your style.

I chose to put together a body of work that I eventually would on-sel l

to a magazine and it became my first published work, a photographic

story on Naples. The body of work you create doesn’t necessari ly have

to have an absolute end as mine did but if it can serve you a purpose

al l the better. It is essential to have a body of work so that when you

start looking for cl ients you have great work to show them.

4

LOOKING GOODThe way we present ourselves creates an image of how others perceive

us and our photography. The presentation of your work via websites,

business cards, composite cards, social media says a lot about whether

we are professional, responsible and creative.

I am convinced creating the right image is a fundamental part of

your future success. Don’t underestimate this. Your image and the

professional attitude you project as a photographer is as important as

your work and it wi l l assist you getting started.

Even before you have seen your first prospective cl ient, prepare yourself

to make you look as though you have been in business for years. Make

sure you have a portfol io, website (if possible) otherwise a simple blog

to present your images, business cards and if possible composite cards

that you can leave with your cl ients.

If you look professional and act l ike a professional no-one wil l question

otherwise.

5

BUSINESS PLANA business plan is a formal way of putting down your ideas about

where you want to be in the future. Business plan sounds so formal

and the name is the antithesis of what you imagine when you start

working as a photographer. I think a much more apt name would be

‘how I am gonna get where I wanna go plan’! Because fundamentally

that is exactly what a business plan is.

A business plan includes defining your type of photography, making l ists

of prospective cl ients, communicating your work through marketing

strategies (if any), equipment to purchase, SWOT (strength, weakness,

opportunities and threats), budgets and it gives your daily l ife focus.

A business plan can be made for one year, five years or ten years or

whatever period of time you choose.

Before embarking on a photographic career a business plan can help

you identify what you want to do, where you want to go and how are

you are going to get there. It is the rudder that wil l steer your ship.

6

COMMUNICATE YOUR WORK

If you have beautiful work and no-one knows you exist it is hard to

keep going month after month. Communicating your work is just as

important as being able to take a breathtaking photo and marketing

is fundamentally this.

Marketing plans don’t necessari ly have to have huge budgets they

can be simple approaches that wil l communicate your work to your

potential cl ients effectively. A lot of about getting on in photography

is about you and your personality so you are your photography’s

greatest asset!

There are many forms of marketing that you can include in your plan:

Your own great personality

Email l ists of your Contacts

Direct contact

Advertising

Website/Blog

7

Social Media/twitter/facebook

Word of Mouth

Cross Marketing

Getting Published

FINISH ITOne of the greatest difficulties creative people have is finishing things.

This may seem obvious advice but so many wonderful photographers

don’t succeed because they don’t finish what they set out to do.

Life as a photographer general ly means that we can be working on

numerous projects at the same time and there is no-one to help us. We

are our own bosses and it is hard to stay focused when you feel there

are hundreds of things to do and you are sinking in knee deep mud. I

make l ists and these l ists are my savours and keep me focused on the

detai l without losing sight of the big picture.

I write everything down and then I try to work towards finishing at

least one of these tasks as quickly as I can. Likewise when I have done

a photography job I try and finish my work as quickly as possible. If a

magazine calls tomorrow and wants me to leave at the end of the

week for a new job I want to be able to go and I don’t want to leave

my cl ients work in a mess.

8

TEAM UPIf I had been given the advice to ‘team up’ with other professionals in

the same business at the outset things may have moved a l ittle faster.

Fortunately I found this gem of information early on.

If you team up with professionals in your own business you are no longer

afloat on your own – there is a ‘spider’s web’ of contacts out there to

protect you. You can help each other when a job comes up and pass

the love around.

I now have a l ittle black book with numbers of my fel low journalists,

make-up artists, styl ists, assistants and photographers special ising in

different types of photography that I don’t do. When a job comes

up via a member of the group we al l try and help each other work

on that project if possible otherwise we pass it onto someone who

special ises in that field.

9

WAYS I LIVE AND WORK BYThis is a quick l ist of some of the ways I hold important to my success

over the past ten years. These tips have kept my cl ients happy and

coming back for more.

I don’t promise what you I can’t del iver and I del iver

what I promised!

I ask for a written brief and I fol low it

I research my jobs, location, styl ing, l ighting and equipment

I have learnt to make decisions quickly

I get help when I can’t do the job on my own

I know how to problem solve and my priority is to make sure my

client is happy

If I give someone my word I won’t let them down.

I put everything in writing

I have learnt to say no. Not al l jobs are right for me.

I have a strong work ethic

I put my creativity back with down time and looking at other

people’s art.

I treat each job as if it’s my first job.

I always try to take the best possible images on every job.

I always take the images I love.

I never forget why I got into photography for the pure love of making

images ful l of emotion and soul.

10

NOTE FROM CARLA

I hope My Little Black Book shed some l ight on starting your

photography career. Please feel free to pass it onto friends

who are also thinking of starting a photography career.

If you would l ike to stay in touch and receive more information

about photography you can subscribe to my blog here.

web | carlacoulson.com

email | carla@carlacoulson.com

twitter | @carlalovesphoto

facebook | facebook.com/carlalovesphotography