Careers in Photography

Results from my interviews with three photographers

I really enjoyed interviewing different photographers.  I picked two from the photojournalism field and one from the wedding and events field.  I was only able to meet with two out of the three due to the third one living in Texas. 

I interviewed Richard Duzzi, who owns his own business, Katie Rausch, who works for The Toledo Blade and Bradley Wilson, who is a profession and a photojournalist in Texas.  I asked the three of them some of the same questions but focused more on the business aspect for Richard.   

Katie and Bradley went to school to become photographers but Richard went to school to be an engineer but still ended up becoming a photographer.  Richard learned all he knows from his mentor and all of the seminars and conferences he attended.  That says that any seminar or conference that you can make it to is a great way to learn more.  I agree with that because I have learned so much each conference that I have been able to attend.

All three of them brought up really good points to me about how to start photography career.  They all pretty much agreed that you should have as much fun as possible.  I really like what Katie told me about not trying to do everything and finding your love and sticking with it.  I am really taking what she said to heart because I like so many different things that I want to keep my options open but I need to focus more just on one thing and pursue that. 

I asked all three of them about being in organizations and if they thought that it was important.  Richard, Katie and Bradley all stress being a part of an organization because you can network so much easier that way.  I am looking forward to joining an organization and networking with those people. 

I am not sure that after talking with them, there was much that they said that surprised me or did not surprise me.  I knew that Richard was probably going to tell me that running a business is not the easiest thing to do.  I also figured that if you are a photojournalist, it is really hard to have a freelance career on the side.  The only few things that surprised me were that they agreed on certain aspects and that they all pretty much gave me the same advice.

The most important thing that I took away from this is pretty much the same thing that Matthew said during the networking fair.  I need to find one thing and stick with it.  It is very hard to be a photographer with many hats.  Matthew said that along with the three people that I interviewed.  I feel like I will be re-evaluating my photography career just so that I can really find what I truly want to do with my degree. 

Overall I learned a lot from the three people that I spoke with.  I wish that I could have spent more time with the three of them.  I feel like they taught me so much in just a short time.  I am very happy that I was able to build a good relationship with these three and I feel as if I ever had a question, I could go to them without any issue



Branding your business
After reading a little more about branding, I feel that I am ready to figure out the name of my company and brand it. Between the book and the article that I read online, I learned different pointers to help me brand better.  

First, you must ask yourself a few questions.  What is your company's mission? What is your vision of your company? What is going to differentiate you from all of your competitors? When people think of your brand, what do you want them to think or feel?  All of these questions are very good to ask yourself.  I have been asking myself those questions longer than what I have been in this class.  I want to make sure that my brand shows who I am and that what work I can do.  I have been really trying to figure out what my vision is.  I want my business to stand out and that is why I came up with the name Paradise Takes and Bakes.  I have a lot to learn to make sure that I can answer the questions that make a good brand.

Second, I need to make sure that I use social media to my advantage when it comes to branding.  Social media is free so I want to make sure that my message for my brand gets conveyed right.  There are lots of different types of social media.  Lots of photographers use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and websites.  Another good way to use social media is to have a blog.  Not many photographers think about using a blog for your brand.  I am one step ahead of my competition because I already learned out to blog in my photojournalist class and I plan on keeping my blog even after I leave school.

I am very excited to take my business to the next level!    


Cold Calling Secrets

Nobody likes to make cold calls but it has to be done.  The article titles 7 Cold Calling Secrets Even the Sales Gurus Don’t Know teaches us how to not be scared to make cold calls anymore.  The articles writer Ari Galper pointed out seven different ways to help with cold calls. 

The first idea is to basically changing your metal objective of trying to sell something.  People do not like listening to someone try to sell something over the phone and for the most part, people can pick that up pretty quickly.  If you change the way that you present yourself over the phone and make it more interesting, the person listening to you will not shut down automatically.

Secondly, you must understand where the person on the other line is coming from.  You have to change what you say and make is sound more interesting.  I know where people call me and they start out with their spiel right off the bat, I know exactly what they are trying to do.  I do not want to waste my time with them so I end up hanging up on them. 

Thirdly, you have to tell them exactly what you can help them with.  You cannot just start rambling on about your product.  You need to tell them what you can help them with and how your product will make things better for them.

Fourthly, do not present yourself.  You must start a dialog with the other person.  You cannot make the sentences yes or no answers.  You have to ask opening ending questions so it keeps the person engaged in the conversation and keep dialoging with them.  Make sure you stay focused on the dialog.   

Fifthly, you start out with your core problem question.  Instead of starting off rambling, engage the caller into the conversation.  You could start off with telling your name and asking them if they could possibly help you out with something.   

Sixthly, you have to diffuse hidden pressures.  You cannot be so enthusiastic that you scare the person away.  You have to look at is as a calm conversation between two friends.  The person on the other line can pick up on everything that you say and the tone that you say it in.

Lastly, you have to find your way and stick with it.  Make sure it is the right time for the person that you are talking to on the phone as well.  You do not want to pressure anyone into anything that they do not want. 

I honestly cannot stand when people do it to me so I am not a big fan of doing them myself.  I am hoping with these tips it will help me present myself better to people on the phone.      

Photo Blast 2015

It is always fun to listen to other photographers talk about what they have shot and how their business is going.  The Photo Blast convention offers lots of different workshops for photographers to go and learn from.  Lots of talent will be at this convention but it is very hard for me to choose because most of the people that are speaking shoot portraits, babies and seniors.  I am not a big fan of these types of pictures but I want to be well rounded in photography so I know that I could still use the help.  There are two people in particular that I feel that I can learn the most from.  One is a speaker named Bob Kunesh and the other is Joe McNemar.

Bob Kunesh is running a workshop called doubling down on your creativity.  He is teaching photographers all about Adobe Photoshop and then some.  Kunesh received a Bachelor’s Degree in 1961.  He opened a studio and shots many things along with weddings.  He retired in 2006 and has won many awards in his career.  I do not know a lot about Adobe Photoshop.  After looking at his website, I feel that I could learn a lot about how he changes his photos so much.  It seems that he has to tools to be able to take something that is pretty and make it look totally different.  I want to be able to do that with some of my pictures. 

Joe McNemar is teaching a class called getting amazing digital files with Adobe camera RAW.  He graduated in 1990 and opened up a studio at a younger age.  He mostly shoots high school seniors but does do some commercial work as well.  McNemar also has won numerous awards for his photography.  For the most part, I have just started using Adobe camera RAW.  It seems that there is a lot to that program.  My teacher has just taught us the basics but is seems as if his workshop would get a lot more in depth.  You could us this knowledge with anything that you shoot.         

Avoiding Business Mistakes All Photographers Make and Photographers’ Cost of Doing Business

John Harrington is a photo business expert that tries to teach us the common mistakes made by photographers. 

Many photographers start out with rates that are very low.  What happens is if you sell yourself short up front, the client that you had may come back and think that you will charge them that same amount.  If you start out to low it will be harder to make a profit.

As a business person you must pass on certain fees to your clients.  If you do not pass on those fees, you could end up hurting your business and not making any type of profit.  You have to charge certain fees like digital processing fees or digital service fees.

It is always a necessity to check your photography equipment before going to a shoot.  If you do not check the equipment out before the shoot, you as the photographer would look very bad in front of the client.  In turn, it would cost more than just replacing or fixing what was broken because you could potentially lose that client too.

Some photographers make the mistake of not having insurance.  If something happens whether it is to their equipment or someone getting hurt inside of the studio, you as the owner are responsible to pays those bills.  You could bankrupt yourself very fast if you do not have insurance to cover everything.

Greg Smith helped developing the Cost of Doing Business calculator in 2003.  The reason why he helped develop this calculator was because he and his colleges did not think that there was enough information out there on how much to charge people for taking photos.  They wanted to eliminate the word day rate because if you do less that a day’s work you could upset the client but it you do more than a day’s work than you are really cheating yourself.  It should be an assignment rate and you should make sure you take into consideration how many hours you will work on it.  You also need to make sure that freelancing is still really tough.  No everyone is going to be able to freelance because it is still very difficult to make sure your rates are where they should be.           

After watching the videos and reading the articles, I feel that I am more prepared not to make the same mistakes that some have in the past. 

Starting a Photography Business

I personally was very interested in Matt Eich.  Being young and having a child is not an easy thing.  I know how it is because I had my first child at a younger age.  I like it when he said that it was his girlfriend getting pregnant and him having to be the one that made the money motivated him to do better.  That is very profound words.  Sometimes you need a reality check just to get you on the track that you need to be on.

I can relate more to Travis Dove and his career because he went into photojournalism.  He got a job at a smaller paper and he did not get paid that much.  He ended up going to college and networking with some great people.  He seemed to get pulled in lots of different directions after college with supporting his wife through school and other things.  He did not want his business to fail.

I would have to say most of them had inspired me.  Some of these stories of these photographers were really good.  Most of them struggled off the bat but when they found the right path, they ran with it.  I like the idea of not giving up.  Matt Eich had a child at a young age.  He could have run away and get a job that he could not stand but he did not give up and landed a job that him and his wife are proud of.

I do not feel that I would do what Tim Hussin did.  I understand that you want to follow your passion but after all of the internships, he had it in with companies and he chose not to take jobs with those companies.  Instead he ended up doing projects with his brother.  I understand that those projects were successful but I would have never through an opportunity away with a bigger company.   

Pricing your work- Photojournalism

You think of photojournalism and you think about papers, magazines and landing a job at an actually newspaper.  That is not always the case.  There are some photojournalists that freelance to papers.  Some questions that I would ask a photojournalist would be

1.       Does the company that you work for supply the equipment that you need to shoot the pictures?

2.       Where do I go to network with people so that I can get a job with a newspaper?

3.       If you were able to switch what field you are in, would you do that and if you do what would you choose to do instead?

4.       Do a lot of photojournalist freelance to other papers and magazines?

5.       Do you use a lot of social media to spread the word when your work is published?

6.       What rights does the photographer retain when shooting for a newspaper?

7.       As a photojournalist, do we need any type of insurance?

8.       Do you negotiate with clients?  If so why and when do you know that you should?

9.       When you freelance for papers, do you charge specific fees?

10.   What expenses does the client actually cover?

11.   How did you get started in this field

12.   Why did you choose this field?

13.   Do you think newspapers are outdated and soon photojournalism will not be as popular?

14.   How many papers have you worked for?

Breaking into the biz
   My teacher wanted us to watch a video titled Breaking into the biz.  I actually found the video pretty interesting.  It was basically a guide to help photographers with their business.                                              

   Judy was the speaker of the video.  She and her partner had been in business since 1989.  They specialize in produce stills and lifestyle photography for advertising and editorial clients.  Since Judy has been in the business for so long, she has these seminars that help other photographers.  Her main goal is to help the photographers make enough money to survive the industry.

   I have been really contemplating which trade association to become a member of.  Since I want to go into photojournalism I feel that I should become a member of the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) and the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA).  Part of me would rather wait to become members of those organizations until I can land a career in journalism but I know that I could network really well with the members of the ASMP and NPPA to help me get a career too.  I know that I will become a member of the Professional Photographers of America (PPA).  The Advertising Photographers of America (APA) might be another good trade association to join because I can also see myself working with advertisers and getting published that way.  This I am planning on doing right away.  I am hoping that the more trade associations that I become members of will help me network even more and land the job that I want or work with the people that I want to.

   The breaking the biz video brought up a term that I had very heard before.  An informational interview is something that really helps you in your career.  You want to be able to find someone in the field that you want and talk to that person.  You can interview them to get good information about the field along with building a good relationship with them.  If you build this good relationship with them chances are it will pay off in the end because they could give you the opportunity that you want or they could refer someone else to you.  With me being a student it would help to talk to those people now because after I graduate, I do not want them to think of me as their competitor.  Some photographers might not help you out because of that.  Now that I know what this term is I am going to capitalize on doing information interviews.

   Being an assistant is an honored position.  Judy talked about how photographers talk to other photographers about their assistants.  They want to find the right one that works for them.  The main photographers need to be able to trust their assistant.  The assistant must be professional at all times.  They must look and act the part.  Assistants must be tentative and listen to everything that is said to them whether it comes from the photographer or the client.  You must also anticipate everything and be ready.

   I went to Judy’s site www.shouliworkforfree.com.  This site was basically a giant diagram that helped you answer questions to free jobs that you take.  It helps you see what jobs with help you and what free jobs could potentially burn you.  There are positives to taking photos for free like getting your name out through an organization or people.  The disadvantage is that people could take advantage of the free thing that you are doing and go overboard with it.  You need to know what to do and what not to do and this diagram helps with that.

   Since learning about what an informational interview is, there are a few photographers that I would like to contact to help me understand the field a little more along with networking.  There are two Toledo Blade photographers that I think would help me with the photojournalism side.  One is Katie Rausch and the other is Amy Voigt.  Both have won awards for their photographs and have been in the business for a while.  If I want to contact people outside of Toledo, I would like to talk to a photojournalist named Corey Arnold.  His work is beautiful and again he has been in the field for years.  If I want to explore my underwater photography side, I found two of them located down sound.  Nicholas Samaras and Jimmy White both own their own business and take gorgeous pictures of the deep blue sea.

Photographers MBA introduction and chapter 1

   There are cons to becoming a professional photographer.  You basically become an entrepreneur.  You become a businessman whether you like it or not.  There are always risks with business adventures.  For instance failing is something that nobody wants to go through but yet if you start a business there is always a chance that may happen.  Another con to becoming a professional photographer is figuring out where you will operate out of.  You want your client to respect you and if they come into your place of business, it needs to look a certain way.  For instance, if you want high paying customers it will be hard to have a studio in your basement.  There will always be competition not matter what career you embark in.  Make sure you compete with the competition so that you can keep your business alive.  Balancing your work and life is a big con to becoming a professional photographer.  You could be constantly working because of having to run your own business.  You stop understanding what the work sleep is.  There is always a lot of expenses especially when starting up your business.  A lot of people do not realize how much it is going to cost in the long run.  They blow through all of their money and then there business comes crashing down because they cannot pay all of the bills.  Along with the cost you will also need legal services.  If something were to happen in your studio you need to be covered.  Today with technology constantly changing it is hard to keep up.  So many people use their cell phones to take pictures and post it to social media.  Everyone thinks they are photographers now.  The last con is that your clients are going to have certain expectations about you.  Yes you want to have great customer service but your clients look for more than that.  Sometimes a client becomes made and you do not want to have to deal with that issue but it is your business so you must deal with it.  You do not want to upset the customer because they could walk away and tell off of their friends about how bad you are and that is how some people get bad names.  Sometimes word of mouth is a good thing but sometimes it is very bad.

   Pros should always out weight the cons.  Some pros to becoming a professional photographer are being about to be creative.  You can express yourself the way that you want to.  Let your creative side be free.  A positive thing to having your own business is working for yourself.  You do not have a boss bugging you about getting something done.  You call the shots and if and when you succeed it was done all by yourself.  It is a great feeling to show someone the pictures that you took of them.  Your client is very happy which in turn makes you very happy.  You are there to capture those moments and put smiles on their faces.  If you set your prices right and get the right cliental you can make a lot of money.  With working for yourself you are only paying yourself.  Lastly being a professional photographer you get to define your own success.  It is all up to you to decide what will happen with your business.  Choose your destiny no matter what you want it to be.

   I feel that I understand the pros and cons to becoming a professional photographer.  Again will all jobs there are going to be pros and cons.  If you love being a professional photographer the pros will out weight the cons.  I have networked with my family and friends a lot.  I have shot numerous pictures of events, portraits, weddings, etc.  I know that I like photojournalism.  I feel that I will be a really good photojournalist as long as I found a job in that career.  I know that I am talented in more than one field so I will keep my options open to other things.  I can also see myself as an underwater photographer as well.  I also like to shoot studio work when it comes to fashion and products.  I am not a big portrait person but again it is a field that I am pretty decent at.  I do have some photographers that inspire me.  I look at their work and I get lost in their pictures.  I hope one day that I can do that for someone.  I research things online all the time.  Things are constantly changing so I want to be in with new technology, lighting, poses, ideas, etc.       

   I want to shoot as many pictures as possible.  I like doing events for my friends and family and probably will still do them even after I land a job in my field.  My next step would be to try finding a part time job or internship with someone that could help me out.  I would love to be able to work with people in the field that I want to go into.  I want to be able to learn as much as possible from them to make myself a better photographer.

Photographers MBA chapter 9         

   I have a couple niches that I think I would excel at.  I love taking pictures of landscapes.  Ansel Adams is one of my favorite photographers.  I would get lost in his beautiful landscape shots.  The downfall to shooting landscapes as a profession is the fact that everyone thinks they are a photographer.  People travel all over the world and take pictures.  It would be hard for me to sell my pictures of places if people already have something similar that they shot themselves.  Also depending on where you visit, stores sell pictures of landscapes that are cheap so it is very hard to compete with that.  I also enjoy event photography.  I have shot a few events already and I enjoy watching everyone smile and have fun at the event.  With event photography it is harder to be creative because of the fast pace of things that are happening at the event.  You have to make sure you keep up with that so that you do not miss a moment.  I am not a big portrait person but I like taking pictures of families and babies.  I do not like taking pictures inside of the studio.  When I have done babies and families in the past, I take them on location.  The downfall to going into families and babies is all of the competitors.  There are places like JCPenny and Sears that have studios in them that can charge less for their pictures.  You can do this on the side but it is very hard to keep this as you field.  My last niche that is mentioned in the book is weddings.  I have taken pictures for a few weddings now really liked it.  I like to see the grooms face as the bride walks down the aisle.  But again this field is very competitive along with being very fast pace like other event photography.  There is a lot that goes into wedding photography like contracts.  In other fields you do not have this business aspect.  Weddings mostly happen on the weekends so you are constantly busy when your family could be home.  Sometimes the bride does not tell you everything that she wants and then she gets mad when you do not read her mind and do what she wants you to do.  Dealing with a crazy bride is never fun and it could drive you crazy too.

   A specialist is someone who only shoots on particular type of photography like weddings or portraits.  A generalist is someone who shoots pretty much anything and keeps there options open.  Being a specialist has a more advantage because you get very good in what you specialized in verses being a generalist were you never really find a niche and stick with it. 

   Figuring out your style is sometimes that hardest thing of all.  Even if you choose to be a wedding photographer there are all different types of styles that you can be.  It could be traditional or even edgy.  Your style will impact your potential clients because if people do not like the way you shoot, they will not end up becoming a client of yours a go somewhere else where it is more of what they like.    

Contemplating your photo career to date

   You have to love your job in order to want to get out of bed every morning.  Lots of people do not like every aspect of their jobs.  Photography has lots of different aspects to it depending on what type of photography you go into.

   While attending Owens, I have taken many classes in the photography field.  I realized that I did not like all of the classes that I took just because of what I had to do in them.  Studio class was totally different than what I thought it was going to be.  It was so fun to be given an assignment and you had to come up with how you wanted to set up the shoot and what you wanted to use.  It was really challenging at times but I found myself being very creative at taking shots that I never thought I would.  I enjoyed having partners to help you set up your lights and move a white card right in the spot that it needed to be.  It did help that I had great helpers helping me and one awesome teacher!  Yes, you can create a great image but your assistants help just as much sometimes. 

   There were also times in studio that I could not stand especially during portraits.  Taking a business portrait was not my cup of tea.  When you are telling a person to move a certain way it gets so confusing.  I always felt bad when the person was not moving the right way so I would have to invade there space and move them myself.  Model photography was similar but I really never had to move my models.  There were professional so they were more relaxed.   

   Owens is actually one of the few colleges that still offer film classes.  Not being able to see the picture you took right away was hard at first but I feel that it taught me more and I am a better photographer because of that.  Being able to develop your film and print your pictures in the darkroom was very interesting to me.  Actually right now I am more comfortable manipulating a picture in the darkroom than using Adobe Photoshop.

   My favorite adventure was my photojournalism class.  We did a project at the end of the semester where we went out to a place called Bittersweet Farms.  Everyone in the class did different things.  Between the interviews, pictures, sound bites and video, we were able to give them one of the best gifts.  I loved to interview and get to know some of the people at the farm.  I feel in love with photojournalism when I joined the paper and now as the Editor-in-chief, I enjoy it even more.  I love the thrill of a deadline and making sure that you make it.  I also find it exciting to walk around “roving” looking for the next best story. 

What kind of photographer are you?

    Our teacher had us take a quiz online to see what kind of photographer you were.  I was a little nervous even though these quizzes are never right.  This quiz was compiled of multiple questions about what you like shooting or doing. 

   The results were broken up into four different categories.  Each category had a percentage added to it.  The categories were broken up into commercial, photographer and artist, portrait and event and photojournalist.   

    I was very surprised at the results that I received.  I scored a 15% in commercial, 30% in photographer and artist, 18% in portrait and event and a 37% in photojournalism.  I was not surprised that I scored the highest in photojournalism.  I love the thrill of catching the news before everybody else does.  The one thing that I was stumped on was that I scored so low in commercial photography.  I really thought that since I loved doing studio work along with other things that I would score higher in that category.
   Before it shows your percentages it gives you a little blurb about what you got.  Mine said that my camera is my medium for communication.  I like my work to be a catalyst for chance and that I like to work alone.  Now I agree with all of that except for the part that I like to work alone.  I am actually the complete opposite.  I enjoy working with others and I get a litter nervous when I am working alone.  I know that most photojournalism work alone.  If I actually achieve my dream and work for a newspaper, I will have to get over my fear of working alone.

   This quiz really makes you think a lot about what part of photography that you would go into.       You can take that quiz at http://artbistro.monster.com/careers/quizzes/44-what-kind-of-photographer-are-you

 Jobs that appeal to me

   I decided to do a search for photography jobs in Toledo.  Using three different key words photographer, photography and photo, I realized that there are lots of different jobs that came up.  I found some jobs that I was actually interested in and will probably apply for them and see if I can land the position. 

   One of the jobs that sounded interesting was for a broadcasting group that is affiliated with WNWO NBC 24.  They are looking for a full-time news photographer.  I would cover day to day general, in-depth, features and investigative assignments. For the position I have to have a valid license because I will be driving one of their cars.  Possessing excellent people skills, a strong work ethics and have a great attitude is a must have. A passion for story telling is absolutely essential in this position.  This job would be like a dream job almost except for that I would be working for a news station instead of a newspaper.  The one thing that struck me as odd is the fact that it did not say anywhere what type of college education that you needed.  All it said is that you had to have one year of shooting experience and knowledge of editing and photo equipment.

   The next job that looked interesting would be for Teddy Bear Portraits.  You would drive to different schools and take pictures of preschoolers.  I know that I am not a big portrait taker but the thing that I found interesting about this job is the fact that you travel to different locations so that you are not stuck in the same studio taking pictures of people.  That would make me want to apply for the job because it is different every day.  The one thing that stuck out at me about this position was the fact that all you needed was a high school diploma and no real experience with cameras. 
  
   Searching www.indeed.com seems to be a pretty decent place to look for job opportunities.  Some of the listings that came up had nothing to do with photography.  Most of the listings had to do with portrait work in studios.        

Time management for photographers

   Time management is very important for photographers because of all the work we do on the computer.  There are many distractions that can stop us from doing out work.  Distractions like checking social media or looking at your email can stop you from finishing the tasks that need to be done especially if you have a deadline that must be met. 

   Everyone is different when it comes to creativity and when they are the most creative.  Photographers need to find out when there golden hours of creativity are and capitalize on working during those hours than playing around on the computer.  I have two small kids so I have to get them ready for school.  While they are getting dressed or eating, I usually check my email and look at all of my social media.  I get very distracted up until I drop them off and then I can sit down and focus on the tasks that need to be done for the day.  For me, my golden hours are after nine in the morning.   

   Keeping a list is very crucial.  Instead of just writing a list of tasks that have to be done, it is easier to write down most things because you can get overloaded at any point.  If you have all of these items written down, it would help clear your mind and elevate extra stress that you do not need.   I am very good with writing a list of the items that I have to do that day.  For the most part, I have a different list every day of the week.  Try to only look at just a few tasks for that day because if you keep looking at the whole list, it can become very overwhelming and then your brain starts to shut down.  Hide part of year list and focus on the things that you know you can get done in that amount of time. 

   When you are working on your task, try to stay as focused as possible.  We tend to forget things every easily and if your phone rings and you were right in the middle of working on a project for a client, you may completely forget what you had just done.  Things tend to slip minds easy so if you keep yourself in your own little “bubble” while you work, you will be able to stay more focused and get the task down at a reasonable time. 

   Working in batches is the best way to work.  Basically working in batches is when a photographer works on one client’s project for a few hours than takes a break from that project to go work on another client’s project.  You are not getting distractions in between so you will still be able to stay focus.  When you switch up what you are doing it helps you take a step back and get more creative juice flowing.  I find this method very interesting.  I find myself working that way when I have a lot of homework to do in multiple subjects.  It really does help me take a step back especially if I am getting frustrated because something is not working the way I want it to. 

   Outsourcing is very important to a photographer.  It is hard for a photographer to understand this term.  You need to understand that you are not good at everything and instead of spending all of your time on something that you may not be that good at, outsource it to someone else that would be able to do that task in a timely manner.  The hours spent on something that you did not like doing or was not good at could be spent on the things that you are more passionate about.  When you get overwhelmed with clients and do not have time for everyone outsource them to fellow photographers that you trust that way it gets all of the stress off of you.
  
   A reward is a great idea to do for yourself even if it is something very small.  Do not push yourself so much because you end up getting overwhelmed and can go crazy.     

What is in my future?

   I always saw myself taking pictures of landscapes, wildlife, any that had to do with the outdoors.  Then I joined the paper at Owens and got really interested in photojournalism.  My dream is to work for a newspaper but I am not sure if that will happen so I need to be prepared to fall back on my second passion.  Working for a company that does consumer publications seems to be the next best thing.  I can also look into a stock photo agency and trade publications. 

   After looking more in depth at some consumer publications, I came up with three different ones located in Ohio.  Two are towards Cleveland and one is in Columbus.  Akron Life and The Cleveland Magazine are looking for environmental pictures of the area along with events, sports and etcetera.  After looking online at those two publications, they have amazing photos.  The only thing that I could not find out is how much they would pay and would it be a temporary job or a permanent job.  Fur-Fish-Game located in Columbus buys photos from freelancers.  This company looks for more wildlife photos for their outdoorsman magazine.  I could see me possible submitting photos to them on the side.  I could make a living freelancing to multiple publications and not just working for one particular company. 

   Restaurant Hospitality is a trade publication located in Cleveland.  I am attending Owens for two separate degrees, one in commercial photography and the other in culinary arts.  This particular trade publication is looking for photographers that take pictures of food, food trends and restaurant interiors.  I could take my love and knowledge of cooking and use it for a publication like this one.  This company also accepts work from beginners so I would not have to be well established in food photography.      

   Any type of stock photo agency would help me get established and my name out.  The Image Finders is located in Cleveland.  They are pretty much looking for any type of pictures with a list of clients to show them to.  Again it would be more freelance work but it would get my name out there better than what I possibly could. 

   I would love to move to a different state because Ohio is not the prettiest state to live in but having two young children and husband; it would be hard for me to uproot my family.

   Photographers do not always land the dream job that they want off the bat.  I know that I will have to work hard and take whatever I can get even if I do not like taking pictures of what the company wants me to.  Keeping freelance on the backburner is a way to keep any photographer afloat especially in this market. 

Getting to know this lover of photography!

   I am a photography major at Owens Community College in Perrysburg, Ohio.
  
   During my time as a photography student at Owens, I began to be interested in photojournalism, so I decided to join the student paper called the Owens Outlook.  I started as the photo editor spring semester 2014 and the next semester than was promoted to the Editor In Chief.
  
   The more I worked at the Outlook, the more I enjoyed reading the news.  Now I want to be the first one to leak the story.  I never thought that I was a talented writer, but I have yet to reached my potential. 
  
   Taking photos is a love of mine, and now I have the opportunity to merge that talent with my newfound passion for journalism.
  
   Working on videos for the Owens Outlook, as well as on the website itself has helped me learn more aspects of the photojournalism field.