There is a great article over at Fstoppers, revealing the mistakes pro’s have made early on in their career.
You can’t always be prepared for everything but it certainly helps if you know about these things that have gone wrong. Have you made any big mistakes in your photography business? What did you learn from them?
Benjamin Von Wong
I was once at a photo shoot where the hair stylist got so mad at me for not having any food or drinks at the shoot. After the shoot ended, he wrote this extremely angry email saying that I didn’t have the right to use his photographer, or rather, I didn’t have the right to use my own photographs unless I paid his day rate, as he felt completely disrespected and insulted. Since that day, I’ve always brought food and coffee to my photo shoots, and it has made the world of difference.
Jimmy Nelson
It’s probably two mistakes, but they are opposite ends of the spectrum. The first mistake was when I was very young. I was pretending to be a war photographer or photojournalist and putting myself in lots of dangerous situations thinking I was going to change the world. I wasn’t earning a lot of money, but I was using the title to compensate for my insecurities for not having any education or post-graduate study. Then, somebody asked me to do a corporate job photographing some factories and their products for four months. That money would have enabled me to travel without the need to earn anything for two to three years. I said no; my ego was too big. I was in my early twenties, and I didn’t want to be seen as a corporate photographer. I was a photojournalist. and I was going to change the world. even though I wasn’t earning any money from that and I wouldn’t for a long time. That was a massive mistake.
The second mistake is one of time and knowledge and learning. When one is younger, one feels like “if I do A it will lead me to B.” As I got older, I realised that if one trusts situations and just let any doors open, although one might not know the end destination, what can happen in that process can be very exciting. An example of this: I have been invited to have a private exhibition at Sotheby’s in London this summer, which is quite prestigious. That has only come about because I was invited to do a talk in a book shop in a small town in Holland. It was on a Saturday for 20-30 pensioners, and I was only going to receive a bunch of flowers for it. My wife said: “you have more important things to do on a Saturday than to travel halfway across the country to talk about yourself and come back with a bunch of flowers!” I said that I was going to go anyway as I felt it was something I had to do. At the end of the talk, a younger lady came to thank me for coming, as it was her niece’s book shop. She also happened to be one of the directors of Sotheby’s, and the fact that I bothered to come to her niece’s bookshop on a Saturday for nothing prompted her to want to do something for me in return: an exhibition at Sotheby’s next summer.
Amanda Diaz
The biggest mistake that I have learned from as an artist, photographer, and business owner is that sometimes, people can and will take advantage of you as a person and your business if you let them. When I first started out, I was very naive and trusting and didn’t want to upset anyone or hurt feelings. So, I said “yes” and “it’s ok” and “dont worry about it” many times.
The reason these things happened to me multiple times in the beginning is because I had very little business knowledge on dealing with clients (and friends) when I started out and never bothered to create outlined service agreements or contracts, Just some emails and a release form I assumed were all I needed. Also, I had no mentor either and was too stubborn to seek advice. I’m sure people are reading this and thinking: “why the hell didn’t she have a contract or service agreement?” I’m not quite sure. Also, I felt like it was so formal. Oh no, I don’t want to hurt their feelings; I don’t want to make them sign something. They’ll think I can’t trust them, but guess who was hurt in the end? Me. And so, because of that, thankfully, I have learned to be fairly clear on my expectations and my boundaries before, during, and after any type of project or photo shoot.
I would say even in the early stages, even if you are not an official business, create some kind of an agreement that is signed and read over with the client, especially friends and family. Also, make sure you always set clear boundaries, stand up for yourself when needed, don’t be afraid to say “no” when you feel pressured or uncomfortable about something.
Read even more about valuable mistakes over at Fstoppers.
Source: Fstoppers
