Photography seems to be a very competitive business to get into. Many photographers keep their tips, locations, workflow, labs, ect. secret, and I understand. It can be difficult finding your special touch, and that perfect location that makes your images different. For me, my experience has been a roller coaster ride of helpfulness and competitiveness.
I was very lucky to have a wonderfully accomplished photographer take me under her wing and share some tips with me to help me grow (I am still very young in my business and experience). I cannot tell you how grateful I was to have someone with her skill take an interest in me. I became involved in photography groups, and felt like I was really making advancements in my talent and finding my style!
Just as quickly as I was learning, I discovered how competitive photographers can be. Pretty soon I was finding out that some of the photographers that I looked up to were now bad mouthing me. It was a hard thing to hear because these people who were helping me and calling me friend were now making negative comments about my work. I owe so much to them, and really felt grateful for everything just to be hurt in the end. The lesson I brought from this experience what that people will help you until they feel like you are a threat to their business.
This is not the message we should be sending to people trying to follow their dreams and their passion. Remember we all started at the bottom at one point, and who are we to try and kill someone else's dream?
I know also that in today's business of photography, there are tons of people getting DSLRs and all of a sudden starting business and charging super cheap. I personally do not care, but I know it does effect everyone because now people expect these low prices. There is so much that goes into producing a great quality image. I have had countless people ask me to give them all the images I take for less than $100. I take lots of time on each one of my sessions, and once it's all said and done, I am not even making minimum wage. I take time with my clients, answering emails, meet ups, the entire session time (I do not set limits except for mini sessions to ensure that each client gets the care and attention to receive amazing images) post editing, and then creating and delivering their images. You will hear people say you get what you pay for, and let me say it's true in most cases.
I hope that people do not take this post as a personal attack as I am only trying to express what I've learned. To sum everything up, I'd like to end this post with these words of wisdom. Remember we all started at the bottom, and don't just ignore beginners, or try to ruin their business before it grows. Don't look at each other as enemies, but instead embrace each other. There will be a time that you may not be able to take on every client who comes your way, so instead of sending them away empty handed, you can refer them to the other local photographers that you admire. In return I'm sure they would do the same. Always strive to advance. Find workshops or anything that will help you work harder to learn more. Take your best image, and try to beat it every time you go out. Stop comparing yourself to others. Every photographer is at a different point in their business, so only compare yourself to yourself.
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