Reality #3: You’ll get rejected. A lot. Probably more
than any other occupation. When I was interviewing
a photo editor for my book, he said: “I’m always
looking for that one photo in a portfolio off of which
I won’t hire someone.” There are about a thousand
times more photographers than there are jobs. That’s
being conservative. Your ego is bound to be shattered
regularly. The sooner you learn how to embrace
rejection, not take it personal and just keep it moving,
the better.
Reality #4: You’ll be broke for a while. I don’t know any
working photographer who hasn’t struggled to make
Before a shoot in Milan, Italy last month
ends meet, who hasn’t chased up unpaid invoices, or
who hasn’t eaten instant ramen 3x a day in between
paychecks. Many photographers have had to support
themselves assisting or doing digital tech work in the
beginning, while trying to find their own shooting
gigs. Brokeness is a photographer’s rite of passage. (For
I’m writing this for every person who has asked what it’s worth, I wrote a whole chapter in my book on
me what it’s like to be a professional photographer. how not to be a broke photographer).
Apparently, thanks to affordable pro cameras and
Instagram, being a photographer is today’s hottest new Reality #5: You’ll have to operate outside your
dream job. You and your workmate and your wife’s best comfort zone. Always. From putting yourself out there
friend’s brother all want to be a photographer. And I to get work, to cold calling clients, to networking and
get it. It sounds fun. Why wouldn’t you want to chuck meeting people (never gets any less awkward), to
your boring 9–5 desk job to travel the world, camera in attending face-to-face portfolio reviews, to the actual
hand, taking pictures and getting paid loads of money? crazy shoot itself. You’ll need to do stuff that scares
that shit out of you. This is especially hard to do, but
Except that, well, it doesn’t really go down like that. not impossible, if you’re shy. Sure, you need to “put
I’m not trying to dissuade anyone from pursuing their yourself out there” in most industries, too. But by the
dreams here, but if you’re actually serious about doing very nature of the job, photographers’ work is out in
it, you need to know what it’s actually like out there. the world to be judged and critiqued.
The long version is here in this book I wrote, “What
They Didn’t Teach You in Photo School.”
Reality #6: It’s the best job in the world. The high you
get when you do shoot? Worth all the marketing and
The short version is below:
paperwork and networking. When you get that good
Reality #1: You’re not actually shooting 100% of the money f or taking pictures and doing what you love?
time. It’s actually about 80% office work, 20% shooting. Worth every rejection, worth all the critique, worth all
I, and most working photographers I know, spend the above and then some. Just don’t spend it all at once.
most of our time in our offices, working on marketing
and promotion, planning and storyboarding our next Still want to be a photographer? My book, “What
shoots, managing finances and invoicing, and working They Didn’t Teach You in Photo School,” is a guide
on our portfolio. Most of my time is spent running my for emerging photographers and available at Barnes &
business (because that’s what it is).
Noble and Urban Outfitters or online here:
www.amazon.com/What-Didnt-Teach-Photo-School/
Reality #2: It’s not actually glamorous. If you have dp/1781572690
aspirations of gallivanting around the world, shooting
on tropical beaches flanked by bikini-clad supermodels,
go be a rapper. Being a working photographer is
different. Sure, you get to travel a ton — I’ve been to
Demetrius Fordham
all seven continents, and that’s just last year. But it’s
NYC-based portrait and commercial
photographer. Clients include Conde Nast
work: scouting locations, wrangling equipment, and
Traveler, W Magazine, WSJ. Author of “What
working with clients and difficult subjects swearing at
They Didn’t Teach You in Photo School.”
you in a foreign language. All while you’re severely jet
lagged.
What It’s Really Like To
Be A Photographer
NM CliQ Magazine | February 2016
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