Inspiration to go after your dream of being a Full time Photographer

Go From Crappy Job to Full Time Creator with These Tips

You might not be dropping everything to move to a brand new country to be a full time photographer.

But you might be working a low-level or just not a job you are passionate about and doing photography on the side. When all you want to do is create full time.

What if you could take the leap and make photography the way you make a living? Isn’t it the dream to do what you are passionate about creating as your full time job?

In this video story, Chris Hau interviews Benjamin Hardman who went from uninspired accountant in Australia to full time photographer in Iceland and is living his dream.

He shares how he got there with a few tips you can apply.

How to Make Your Full-Time Photography Dream a Reality

Tip #1: Build your following and Client Relationships

It will take you some time to build up a following and be known in your local scene by potential clients. To build this following, you can do a few things.

Posting on social media consistently and across multiple platforms. Growing social media or even a youtube following will help you.

You can send your pitch or offer to people, brands, businesses, or whoever you want your clients to be. This way, even if they don’t book you right now, they know who you are and what you can do.

Build relationships with local companies and offer something unique.

Benjamin started doing short photo adventures for tourists in Iceland while working his hostel job and built relationships from there.

How to Be a Full Time Photographer Tip #2: Be Motivated and Make it Happen!

You’ve got to get the motivational intensity like Benjamin had. He was so motivated to get this dream going that he was willing to do anything!

Get that kind of perseverance and grit spirit into you to make your dreams happen. 

Make a goal list and timeline, make a visual goal board, do something to motivate your hustle!

It took Benjamin a lot of hard work, grinding and even failing to make his full time photography job a reality and you can too!

Here’s one of Benjamin’s photos for inspiration:

Tip #3: Use Experience From Your current job for your dream

In this video, Benjamin shares how he worked part time at a hostel making beds and cleaning toilets. But his dream was to be a full time photographer with his own business.

So he decided to use some of the time cleaning bathrooms to lock the door and practice his pitch for photography clients out loud.

This way, when he was finally in a position to get photography clients he had the skills and experience saying his pitch. He was able to hear the pitch and tweak his delivery to get it just right before actually using it on clients.

A very productive way to clean a bathroom!

You can also use this tip for your situation. If you work. In fast food, the customer service and dealing with upset customers is a great way to practice talking to clients.

If you work a menial desk job, practice writing email responses to client enquiries. 

There is so much to learn right where you are that will be useful for your full time photography business.

How to be a Full Time Photographer Tip #4: Try Different Styles and Find What you Like

While you have the time and inspiration trying to get your dream career going, get interested in different aspects of photography.

You can try out macro photography, product photos, wedding shoots, editing as a specialty, knowing lots of technical things about the gear, and more.

Just try out a lot of different types of photography, and when you find what you actually love to do, build your niche on that.

It will help you to know you like what you do and have sampled all the other kinds of photography out there.

With some hard work and creativity, you can get your dream photography career off the ground.

Your photography career can start now, even if you still work that crappy job. Just work towards it a little each day and follow these tips!

Get better as a photographer with this comprehensive photography skills guide!

Which of these tips are you going to apply to make your photography career a reality?

Comment below!