Stephen Knuth Blog – Coronado Wedding Photographer – San Diego Wedding Photographer »

From time to time I get emails from new photographers who are asking for help in their business and looking for advice on making certain decisions. This isn’t something I do on a regular basis here on my blog because I normally just write the photographers back personally and never blog their questions. For this blog entry, I am going to blog this question because it is one that I asked a ton of people when I was first starting out. I am not going to email back the reader personally but instead throw her question on here.

I never started as a wedding photographer. More like a wedding videographer. Actually, I was a wedding videographer for 4 years prior to becoming a photographer. I found photography through shooting film & developing my work in the darkroom. If you haven’t tried the old process yet I encourage you to try it at least once… It’ll change the way you shoot. So below this are a few highlighted areas that I was involved in and what helped me grow to where I am today. Let me know first that there are two areas that you get started in. First, you have the world of clients and building a referral base when you start out. Secondly, you have the wedding photography industry and all of your peers. Keep these in mind when you read these areas below…

Shoot, Shoot and then Shoot: YOU should be taking pictures everyday. When I got my first camera about two years ago it was a Canon Rebel XTI. I literally went outside everyday and took pictures of flowers, cars, dogs, clouds and every other thing that was in my sight. I did this because I wanted to play with every setting and understand how f-stops work and what each shutter speed does. You MUST understand your camera… DO NOT shoot on automatic. Shooting everyday when I first started helped me a big way for when I started to shoot more often because I know all the settings in my mind and can switch them on the go.

Shoot a couple: This one goes in with “shoot, shoot and then shoot”. When you start shooting more often you will need images of a couple. It’s easy to find couples that you will know from church, work or maybe you can find one on facebook and offer them a free session. I use married couples to model for me all the time when I am looking for some fresh work and as a photographer you will need to love capturing people and the only thing it will cost you is time. You need to find the time to shoot images of people and give them the files in exchange for them modeling for you. There is no excuse for a photographer saying “I don’t have a portfolio”. Your a PHOTOGRAPHER. I believe many would agree with me when I say that your job is to find opportunities to shoot whenever possible.

Find a Mentor: A few months into starting out I met a photographer by the name of Sara France. After a few meetings with her I was chosen as her intern. Having Sara as a mentor & friend shaped me into where I was going for my career. She taught me so much about this industry and how to actually shoot a wedding, taking care of your clients and how to create and sustain growth in your business. That is only a few of the many things I learned. It never hurts to keep on learning and if you have 10-20 hours a week to give into another studio in your area then I believe you should start contacting them and find one that would take you in and intern for the photographer and in exchange have the photographer be your mentor. It will change your life… I can promise you that.

Networking groups: START NETWORKING! There are plenty of opportunities to meet other photographers. Start attending PUG meetings in your area on a monthly basis. You can find the one nearest to you by clicking here. There are also the PhotogShootout events, ASMP hosts monthly dinners in every city nationwide and I believe there are smug groups too. If you get into these events don’t just attend one time then never return. These communities will become a family for you and they will support you through the hard times we all face and they will rejoice with you over your success. These groups are the perfect place to meet new friends and once you get to know the group well I assure you that you can find the chance to 2nd & 3rd shoot for some photographers on their weddings and build wedding experience from there. By the way, don’t forget your business cards when you go to these events.

I hope these thoughts help you blog reader… In my own personal story, I used all of these methods to growing my business. Attending networking groups led me to meeting Sara France. Sara took me as her second shooter on weddings which led me to learn how to shoot a wedding as a photographer. From second shooting for her I was given more shooting opportunities to other photographers. I continued to attend the monthly networking groups (PUGs & PhotogShootouts) and grew into a family style of friendship with other photographers. I was impacted so much by the local networking groups that I started the San Diego PhotogShootout group. All of these events in my career worked together and gave the the confidence needed to succeed. With that confidence I built a strong portfolio and now book my own weddings and shoot as a full-time photographer. After mixing all of this together I was just announced as the 2009 Photographer of the Year. How did all of this happen? I used each of these areas very carefully and understood my strengths and looked to others for help in areas that I was not so good with.

Hope all of this help. Email me if you have any further questions: stephen@stephenknuth.com