Why did you become a photographer?

With the beginning of a new year and a time of reflection, this is a great question. For me, I thought about this last summer. My goal, back then, was to get more wedding and portrait assignments. I soon became overwhelmed with editing and found myself spending more time at the computer editing, than out there shooting.

I'm getting ahead of myself...

Like many of us, my parents took us kids out camping and exploring the outdoors. My father was an avid amateur photographer with the bin of slides to prove it. Hiking on the trails throughout Yosemite and Mammoth, many times it was just me and my camera. The camera was a tool that helped to slow me down, to appreciate the little things around me and the quality of light. As I got older, driving along the coast of Highway 1 in California, it helped me stop, make a u-turn and make a photograph of something I would have kicked myself for not making. Many times we're busy, on our way someplace with a Formula Race car driver mentality, but a camera reminds us that there are more important things than beating the clock.

There are many reasons why I became a photographer:

1. Appreciation of everything; nature, beauty, people, friends my life and my time
2. It gets me outside, with the fresh air and smells of outdoors
3. It gets me in front of people, socializing
4. It challenges me
5. It keeps me interested in life and everything it has to offer
6. It has a definite "cool factor". I'm proud to tell people I'm a photographer
7. It helps me to express myself like only art and music only can
8. It's something I can share with my friends and family
9. It's unique. This is the way I see the world, based on my own life experiences, this is how I see it.
10. It helps me capture a moment that I may forget.
11. It helps me to connect with my family by getting us outside and cherishing our memories together.

So, those are some of the reasons why I became a photographer. It's been a fun, challenging and extremely rewarding ride...but something is changing, a paradigm shift maybe. Digital photography happened, thank you. Now we have many more photographers out there, pushing us, challenging us. We're creating better images and more of them...yikes.

We all want to be successful, we all want to be busy with shoots, but it's a cycle, a merry-go-round that's very difficult to slow down or stop all together. As soon as I get busier with more assignments, I spend less and less time doing all of the things in my list. Ever been backlogged on over thirteen weddings to edit, with thousands of images to go through? I'm the kind of freak that has to go through every single image to adjust horizons, clean blemishes and adjust the colors. This is where I was last summer.

In November, I attended a workshop on Maui. It had a spiritual retreat feel to it. We talked about our goals, dreams and some cried. They asked me what my goal was and I said, "I don't want to edit anymore". The workshop leader and his assistant both turned to me with astonishment and replied, "ANYMORE??". I replied, "At all". The workshop leader had also mentioned outsourcing editing to someone like ShootDotEdit and to pass off anything that isn't uniquely yours or anything you don't get paid to do.

During the workshop, I met a co-founder of ShootQ, Mark. What a great guy. Long bushy beard, easy to talk to and he was doing something I had been considering for awhile.

This blog is becoming fairly long...but it's an important blog to me and possibly to you.

I had been running a group on Kaua'i where we took in fellow photographers, most just getting up-to-speed with weddings and portraits. We trained and mentored them, offered to send them to workshops and helped them get more business; even offering "shadowing" opportunities where they can come out with a pro. In reality, this is difficult to do for many reasons. In summary, I was getting away from those top 11 reasons why I became a photographer. I want my time back and I needed to help all of us make more money, not much more, just more money for our family's needs.

We needed to create a business where we can get more business and more time. How do we do that? It all came back to the Maui workshop. Outsource. There are now professional companies out there that can do everything for you, except click the shutter. All I had to do was let go of the things I didn't really have to do. I can be controlling when it comes to my photography business, especially my editing. The workshop got me to think about the things that truly make money for me and the things I can pass on to someone who's probably more capable, with less distractions, up-to-date software and can get it done much quicker than I can.

So that was the plan. A free invitation-only membership to a group that gives you assignments, with competitive fees and does everything but shoot the event for you.

Now we needed to select the outsourcing companies to represent us and you. We can change them at any time if they don't perform up to our standards.

We selected ShootQ to organize our events, billing, communications and workflow....ahhhhh, no more Excel spreadsheets.

We selected ShootDotEdit for our post-production editing. These guys are professional wedding photographers editing your photos. Featured in American Photo and Professional Photographer magazines and used by industry greats such as Dane Sanders, Me Ra Koh, Sara France, and Marc Weisburg.

“Bottom line, if you are a small business owner you must not make the mistake so many do: being a jack of all trades and a master of none. Define what you are the best at and most passionate about (besides photography) and then start handing off the rest. This is the key to making your business successful and thriving. Me Ra Koh (Pro Photographer)”.

With us, you still have the opportunity to do your creative edits. You just have to get them completed within seven days, after the edit by ShootDotEdit.

We’re working with:
SmugMug for our client image viewing and product ordering.

PhotoBiz and ShowItFast for our web sites.

SecondShootersUSA to register professional photographers and photographers who wish to work as a second shooter.

We’ve got some huge goals now. This could change the way photographers work. Of course, we need your help. Our goal is to increase the value of your work, improve the type of business you're receiving, increase your income and most important, get your time back and let you do what you set out to do as professional photographers, shoot.

Come by and check us out!

TPG Signup Site
The Photographers Group Client Site

Let's keep this going. Tell us why you became a photographer!



Aloha no!