"The Next Step" as a Photographer

Hello,

Hope you guys are having a good day, I've been meaning to make this post for quite some time but it has been ever changing and fluid in my head for quite some time which made me decide to wait until the idea developed well enough to post. With that said, this entire post might not make the most sense but I'll try my best.

I've been photographing seriously for about 13 years now (I started around the age of 14). Since taking my first photographs I knew this was something I would stick to and strive to be the best at. As it's in my nature, I want(ed) to be the best at everything I did as a child (physically, socially, artistically, etc) and constantly viewed things as a competition. Although many times this strained personal relationships, it taught me a lot about discipline and "putting in the time".

As some of my other hobbies began to fade, their retreat into the shadows only fueled my passion for photography. It felt that the more dead weight from my life that I threw overboard, the faster the ship went. I have and will continue to dedicate myself to photography regardless of where it takes me because the love I have for this medium takes a back seat to almost nothing outside of my family.

With that said, as I began to grow and develop a style, I began a small blog to get some experience in showing my work. That was four years ago now. Hundreds of posts later I feel I'm ready to take the next step in evolving my photography.

Although I have a day job as an engineer, every other hour of my day outside of sleeping and 1-1.5 hours of physical training is dedicated to photography whether it be reviewing negatives, going to galleries, studying the work of others, watching interviews and documentaries, networking, etc.

With that said I find it difficult to decide where I want to go as a photographer from here. I have worked on a portfolio and I'm confused as to what the next step should be. Should I start showing at local galleries? I've done this twice as part of a group show with little result. Should I work on a zine or photobook? Apply for fellowships? Submit to publications?

I guess my question here is twofold; how does one know they are ready to move on and by what metric is that measured by? Also what would a natural path from here be for me, if there is a such thing as one?

Thanks for taking the time to read this post. I know it may have been a little disjointed but I'll be here to pick the brain of the multitude of posters here who are much more intelligent and wiser than myself.

Respectfully,
Suraj

Do you want to make money from your photography, or do you want fame? or both?
These are two questions that I think you should answer first then the road becomes clearer.

The next step is whatever you want to do. What do you want?

I would suggest you just continue taking pictures and in the fullness of time your ambition may be achieved.

The next step for me is to always go out and make a photo...

Share some of your work on this forum?

Working and engineer it is huge luck these days where I'm...

Group show and not so much outcome might be a little signal of something important....
Do you know about Fred Herzog and some other photographers who took pictures just because? I know at least one from London and another from Montreal who are like Herzog, won competition in the long run.

There is, in some ways sadly, no universal roadmap to photography. There are no milestones that we are all guaranteed to check off a list while working through photography. And photography is not readily shoehorned into singular definitions that apply to all peoples when you begin to closely examine the subject.

For some it is a career, for others it is a hobby. For some it is a passion and lifestyle that really doesn't fit well when defined as either career or hobby.

I would suggest that you sit back and reflect on what photography truly is to you and how it fits within your life. What drives your desire to be involved? What do you gain energy from? What interests and excites you?

What have you done, and what are some things that you haven't done yet?

Think about new tools and techniques, or even places, that you haven't experienced yet, and ask yourself if any of them resonate with your mind.

Does a challenge interest you? Is there something that you can push the boundaries of what you've been able to do that you feel inspired by? Is there some method of subject that the idea of refining your body of work even more excites you? Or something new that you haven't done before? New subject matter, new locations, new styles or a look and feel that you've not gone after before?


Art and expression are huge subjects spanning the world and time. How do you want to explore them?

Bob Carnie said:

Do you want to make money from your photography, or do you want fame? or both?
These are two questions that I think you should answer first then the road becomes clearer.

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This was my first thought, too. What do you want from it? It isn't a competition, so there isn't a finish line that everyone can strive for. You need to figure out what you want from it in order to figure out how to get there. But the journey is usually more fun than the destination.

faberryman said:

The next step is whatever you want to do. What do you want?

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tomorrow I make the best photograph I've ever made... but I say that every day

For some people it is not about making money, or fame, but about finding an audience for the work. For me it is a thrill to have a picture on the wall at an exhibition, even when the exhibition is a small-time operation in a small town with little publicity. Hanging a print I have made on my wall at home is also satisfying. I feel the same about photography group meetings where pictures (not cameras) are studied and appreciated, this is an audience and rewarding.

Go do a portfolio review . .there are many venues to do this ...it will save you time as you get to go into someone else's head and not yours.. sometimes our world is smaller than we think
Go to one of the photo fairs and pick some qualified people to look at your work

Photography is a process not a goal. If you want to pursue it more, then make more images, submit to publications, submit to juried exhibitions, build a body of work that can be shown in a cohesive portfolio of images that you're proud of (and not just a 20-piece "greatest hits" album - a body of work that shows you can focus on a concept, explore that concept, and say something about that concept in a 16-20 piece portfolio). Each act you take will lead to another opportunity, either to learn something from the experience or to make a new connection that will lead to another opportunity.

hi suraj

i wish i had some earth shattering advice for you. doing group shows is a good way to let people who are interested know what your photography is like.
networking is a great way to let others know you are doing what you are doing, and doing as much photography as you can is a great.
are you interested in doing "commercial" or "assignment" photography ? or are you interested in selling your photography as "works of art"?
they both require the same sort of thing -- talking to as many people as you can about you and what you do and what you offer. if you want to do commerical work
tailor make your portfolio to your hopeful client base (people that need portraits, show portraits, people that need photographs of wigits photographs of wigits )
and if you are hoping to get gallery representation show your portfolio to galleries that show that sort of work (bird+natural environment photographs to lanscape type galleries,
bridge photographs to galleries that show engineering and building and architectural type work ). if you have banks, businesses, cafés &c that allow people to show photography
do it, frame shops, do it, get your images/representation of your services infront of people who might want them.
email people talk to gallery or art buyers, continue networking and make sure you have good digital representations of your work because often times that is what people want to see.
ask for informational interviews and feedback from the people who you show your work
because you are just starting out and the people looking at the photography look at things all day long, and they know what works and what doesn't. take their advice and adapt your
portfolio ( marketing piece ) and continue. i am guessing you are not old with peope who depend on you for income/food/shelter &c and engineers make OK $$ so maybe you have some savings ?
my advice might be to keep workiing your day job and maybe every once in a while take a day off and market yourself if the people you will need to talk to "business hours" since they might not be around on weekends.
and have a thick skin. people might be harsh, blunt and honest and say things like " if i didn't know so-and-so who suggested i look at your photographs, i wouldn't even be having this conversation with you"
not everyone likes everything and some people like nothing. and if you get shredded, pick yourself up and move on to the next person because they may be the one who says " perfect ! "
my advice might also be take a sabbatical from your "job" and jump in with both feet to see what happens,
the worst thing that could happen is that you go back to your engineering job and continue doing your photography to balance your work / family life.

good luck !

tron_ said:

With that said, as I began to grow and develop a style, I began a small blog to get some experience in showing my work. That was four years ago now. Hundreds of posts later I feel I'm ready to take the next step in evolving my photography.

Although I have a day job as an engineer, every other hour of my day outside of sleeping and 1-1.5 hours of physical training is dedicated to photography whether it be reviewing negatives, going to galleries, studying the work of others, watching interviews and documentaries, networking, etc.

Click to expand...

It may just be your writing style, or it may be a Freudian Slip, but making photographs does not appear on that list.

If you truly have the "discipline" and believe in "putting in the time", certainly do all of the list, but, please, make photographs. There is no shortcut!

You could move up to large format photography and combine photography with that daily exercise. Contests such as those in Dead Link Removed can be rewarding for a few. Read the fine print: some contests benefit the sponsors far more than the contestants. I find camera club contests stimulating. Showing in arts & crafts fairs can be initially expensive, but may give one extensive exposure.

You need to determine if photography is going to be your vocation or your avocation. For me so it is an avocation, it is how I can express myself artistically. I make photographs only for myself. If someone likes an image I make them a copy as a gift. I draw a distinction between photographs and pictures. I take pictures of stuff for my wife to post on line, the grand kids at events, portraits of family members at events. Pictures are usually just an means to an end, photographs are something I take seriously and have special meaning to me and are always on film.

How can we see your blog?

What genre(s) do you like?
What people/promotional skills do you have?
Any business sense or tax/accounting knowledge?
How would your work fare in local/state/national competitions?
Member of any camera club or other affiliations?
A lot to consider here. Don't jump into anything. How will you build clientele?

Peter Schrager said:

Go do a portfolio review . .there are many venues to do this ...it will save you time as you get to go into someone else's head and not yours.. sometimes our world is smaller than we think
Go to one of the photo fairs and pick some qualified people to look at your work

Click to expand...

By far the best advice the OP has been given...

All too often I see really driven image makers celebrating them selves and pumping them selves up for that "Next Step" when they have never really taken the time to see where they actually stand in terms of how good their work is in the real world.

There are literally millions of image makers and photo enthusiasts who through forums like this or flickr or within their followings on social media think they are better than they really are because of a near constant stream of obligatory glowing praise.

The real world is different and if you want to *truly* be good or even great, the real world is where you want to be seen. You initially do that by finding mentors, getting real honest portfolio reviews and eventually by approaching publications / galleries with sound ideas, brilliant portfolios with the intention of getting paid....NOT by offering to give the work or your time away as a means to break in. You don't get anywhere by urinating in the very pond in which you want to swim.

So your "Next Step" is to spend a lot of time getting your work evaluated by very established and talented pros who's work you respect or by gallerists like those at the Palm Springs Photo Festival who will flat out tell you like it is.

Once you have done that initially, you will have a direction. But be forewarned....it does not stop there, you need to do this routinely. I do and I get paid very well to do the work I do full time, getting that critical acclaim and honest feedback is very important to me and always will be.

Bob Carnie said:

Do you want to make money from your photography, or do you want fame? or both?
These are two questions that I think you should answer first then the road becomes clearer.

Click to expand...

...then start showing your work... it may be great, or not. the feedback will help you find out. options and paths will start to become apparent, especially if you have a "voice"!

Lots of good advice here. I would caution that there is a difference between a talented photographer and a successful photographer. Many times the successful photographer is better at marketing his photographs than he is at making them. So don't confuse the two. In addition, be wary of critical acclaim. It makes a great deal of difference who is dispensing the critical acclaim.

faberryman said:

Lots of good advice here. I would caution that there is a difference between a talented photographer and a successful photographer. Many times the successful photographer is better at marketing his photographs than he is at making them. So don't confuse the two. In addition, be wary of critical acclaim. It makes a great deal of difference who is dispensing the critical acclaim.

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There can be a difference, it is not cut and dry so lets try to avoid those all-too-common internet blanket statements.

As far as critical acclaim, this is why it is good to go with well established programs such as those at Maine Photographic Workshops, Sante Fe Photographic Workshops, Look3, the Palm Springs Photo Festival, Photoville NYC or even Paris Photo if one is up for the trip abroad.

All of these programs employ the use of top talent who are also very successful as a means to mentor-on-the-fly. Some are legendary as both successful and super talented shooters but also happen to be renown mentors and truly believe in paying it forward in order to keep the bar high and the financial rewards for all worthwhile.

RalphLambrecht said:

tomorrow I make the best photograph I've ever made... but I say that every day

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Your photographs must be pretty damn good by now!...

Ai Print said:

As far as critical acclaim, this is why it is good to go with well established programs such as those at Maine Photographic Workshops, Sante Fe Photographic Workshops, Look3, the Palm Springs Photo Festival, Photoville NYC or even Paris Photo if one is up for the trip abroad.

Click to expand...

None of the encouraging comments you receive from the talented artists at workshops and portfolio reviews constitute critical acclaim. (Of course, you can market them as such.) Nevertheless, such comments can give you a warm, fuzzy feeling for a job well done, and can be very valuable in focusing and improving your work.