Kari Campos Photography | Chicago, IL

A question that has frequently been on my mind as I’ve been pursuing professional photography is: how do you know when you’re ready to go “pro”? Well, let me tell you, there is no right answer. In fact, if you read forums or other blogs you’ll have a hard time finding an answer, and when you do, it will be very different than the last answer you read. The simple fact is, I think it’s different for everyone. Some pick up a dSLR one day and the next they are “ready” to start photographing weddings. Others take it slowly—baby steps are taken to reach a decision. And then there are others who are somewhere in between.

So, instead of trying to provide advice for others who are trying to make it in the photography world, I thought I’d just share my experience. It’s not necessarily right, nor do I think it’s wrong. It’s just what I did and how I decided to go “pro”, and am now taking the necessary steps (legally and business world speaking) to do so.

Shooting Experience: I am a strong believer in gaining experience by shooting for free before charging (and hence, becoming a business).  I was obsessed with photography, learning everything I could through online classes, forums, and blogs for a solid 11 months before I shot my first free session this past September. I remember being so nervous going into it (even though I was just shooting my little cousins), and nothing will calm those nerves more than gaining experience.

But calming one’s nerves is just a miniscule part that shooting for free offers one. I was able to practice with multiple subjects, young and old, people and dogs, individuals and families, photogenic and not-so-photogenic. I was able to shoot in different settings—playgrounds, parks, inside, outside. I had to experiment with different light. No two sessions were alike.  I personally would not have felt comfortable charging for even one of those sessions going into it knowing that I had no experience in shooting for their particular situation. While my confidence was building session to session, I knew I had to get to a point where I was comfortable in the situation/setting I was shooting and was delivering consistent results before I ever thought of charging.

Developing a Workflow: What many people don’t realize is that photography is so much more than the session. What goes into a session prior to shooting and post is incredibly time consuming. Therefore, I thought it was vitally important to develop a workflow that I was comfortable with from the first contact with a client to the session to culling and editing and finally to delivery of the images. As I shot more and more free sessions, my workflow improved. I was doing things more efficiently.

Finding Your Niche: One thing that I knew I wanted to do was really narrow my focus down on what I intend to shoot as a professional before starting KCP as a business. I knew from the online courses I’d taken from some of the top photographers in the world that really knowing yourself, what you love to shoot, and focusing on that is key to becoming successful. It’s nearly impossible to be a master of all trades. Therefore, I knew it was going to be impossible to shoot everything—newborns, children, families, high school seniors, engagements, weddings, and other events. There are just too many genres of photography out there, each requiring a different set of skills (and equipment), and to really succeed, you have to focus on what you do (and enjoy) best. By shooting for free over the past four months, I was able to get experience with a variety of shoots, and while I may branch out and try weddings somewhere down the line, for now I know that I enjoy and feel I’m best at photographing children, and that’s what I intend for the majority of my business to focus on. If I had just jumped blindly into starting KCP as a business, I may have gone a whole different route, one that I would have likely regretted.

Crossing My t’s and Dotting My i’s: One thing I can freely admit is that I am a researcher. I research everything—before I buy a new gadget, before I decide on a new salon to try, before I choose a restaurant to eat out at—I literally research everything. While this can be overkill, I believe that this characteristic is one that will pay off when it comes to opening a photography business. I’ve heard of a few photographers who blindly jump right in without realizing all that goes into a business and what needs to be considered. I’ve taken the time to research and set myself up for success. I can’t tell you how many hours I’ve spent researching. My husband can probably give you a bit of an idea, but let’s multiply that by three. Just take a look at the list of things I’ve been researching for the past couple months:

• Sole Proprietorship versus LLC (liability versus cost of each)
• Registering the business (county, state, federal)
• Equipment and business insurance (got to cover the potential for liability)
• Pricing (and trying to decide what I want to offer; DVDs of images only, prints, etc.)
• Financial Software (which by the way, sales tax for photography in Illinois is crazy wonky and difficult to figure out)
• Equipment purchases (what do I NEED to start, what do I WANT to be able to afford in the first year, etc.)
• Website Options (yes, this website here will be getting a MAJOR overhaul in the coming months)
• Branding
• Contracts/Model Releases
• Client Management Software
• Budgeting
• Packaging
• Proofing Software
• Client Relations

And this is truly just the beginning. Starting a business is no easy task, and I didn’t want to just jump in feet first. I wanted to research and make sure I was going about everything as legally and “business smart” as I could.

I feel like I’m rambling. Basically, what I’m trying to share with you in this post was that it took four things to happen that really made me feel like I was ready to pursue photography as a part-time profession:

1. I needed enough experience photographing subjects that led me to delivering consistent and high quality results and feeling comfortable doing so. (As an aside, I also needed to hear that clients were pleased with their images and the experience/customer service as a whole.)
2. I needed enough experience to develop a bit of a workflow and appreciate just how much work goes into each and every session.
3. I needed enough experience to decide what I truly enjoy and am good at photographing so that I could focus my business on that niche.
4. I needed to have enough knowledge on what it takes to establish and run a successful business before running off to the county clerk’s office and registering.

As you can see, establishing Kari Campos Photography as a business and becoming a “pro” is not an easy or quick road. Luckily, I am at the point where all of that research I did in the fourth step is being applied as I legally establish KCP and get it up and going over the next two to three months.

I hope you’ll stick with me and follow along on my journey. I’ll do my best to share along the way.  And if you have any words of advice, I’d love your input!

Hey there! I have lots to share since I last posted. I was hoping to share what I’ve been up to a bit earlier, but I was in VEGAS last week for my “real” job. Boy oh boy, does Vegas wear one out, whether working or playing. Anyway, back to the topic at hand…

1. Since the weather has officially turned here in Chicago, and the snow will likely be on the ground until March, my sessions have come to a halt. I’m not necessarily opposed to doing indoor shoots, it’s just that I have no experience in shooting portraits indoors. I know the importance of natural light, and I’ll have reflector by year’s end, so I may be open to giving some a try. One that I know I’ll definitely be shooting is my new nephew or niece who will be arriving in late January/early February. So stay tuned!

2. I can’t believe I’ve kept this one from you guys! I’m now the proud owner of a Canon 7D!! Ain’t she pretty (pictured here with the 5omm f/1.4 that never leaves my camera)?!

I haven’t had a lot of chances to shoot with it quite yet, but I did snap this shot of my husband and father-in-law the day after I got it. I can’t wait to try it with a full-on session!

I’m also the new owner of Adobe Lightroom. I’ve played around with it a little bit, but I’m so clueless of where to start. Anyone know of any good resources to learn the basics?

3. I’ve been making a lot of progress with the whole establishing a business route. I attended a free small business class at a local university to gain some information in addition to what I’ve been reading up on online. I’m currently drafting my business plan–one of the biggest tips I received. The plan in and of itself doesn’t guarantee success, but it helps one really think through all of the different aspects of their business (the current market, business structure, competition, pricing, niche, financial projections, etc.). It’s a lot of work, but I think it’ll definitely be worth it. Come January 1st, my plan is to officially submit my paperwork to become a business (sole proprietorship for the time being), which means I can take the next steps with a lot of other things I need to do, such as opening bank accounts for the business, purchasing insurance, getting a tax ID number, being able to write-off my expenses and pursue things like an overhaul of this website, my logo, etc. There’s so much I’ll need to do, but I’m hoping the break from session after session during the winter months will allow me to be totally ready to roll with Kari Campos Photography come spring! Whew, I have a feeling it’s going to be quite a ride!

I’ll be sure to share the journey along the way. I know when I was interested in pursuing photography, I didn’t know where to start (and in many ways, still don’t). So I figure, the more I share, the easier it will be for others out there who are also interested.

And if I don’t post before the week’s end, Merry Christmas to everyone!!!

My goal when starting this blog was to share my journey, the good and bad, the ups and downs, of pursuing a photography career. At first, I was very good about sharing what I’d been up to, what I’d be learning, my fears and worries. But lately, I’ve just been blogging sessions. Which isn’t a bad thing in and of itself, because really that’s what I’ve been doing in photography land. But I still feel like I have a lot more to share, especially with those who first started reading this blog because they were interested in photography themselves and enjoyed reading about someone else’s experiences and not just looking at session pictures.

So I’m going to try to be better about it and share more. Starting with this post.

See this picture here?

This is a picture of my not-so-glamorous packaging. You see, when I offered to shoot a session with my little cousins in September, little did I know that my free session offer would take off from there (not that I’m complaining or anything). Before I knew it, I had several weekends booked with photoshoots.

I decided that, while I didn’t (and really still don’t) consider myself  a “professional”, I still wanted to present myself as one. My feeling was that if I were wanting to build clientele, then I needed to impress from the get-go, whether charging or not. Just mailing a CD of images a couple weeks after the session wasn’t memorable. I knew this because the photographer who took our engagement pictures and was just building his portfolio as well did just that. However, my wedding photographer’s packaging was memorable and beautiful. It’s something I still remember even though we received it a year ago.

Now here was the dilemma, I was shooting these sessions for free. I’m not made of money, far from it actually. I didn’t want to invest a large sum of money in packaging, yet I still wanted to make a good first impression. So first on the list was business cards. I used the logo that is on this website (which I designed on a whim one evening in about 30 minutes), slapped it on a card with my email and website and ordered 500 of them from VistaPrint. For the disc of images, I bought basic CD cases and mounted two business cards to the case.  I put together an informational sheet regarding their images. I also write a nice little note thanking them for the opportunity to photograph them, because really, I am so thankful that they trusted me enough to photograph them. I print out mailing labels (with my logo too) and put it on a padded envelope. And wala! There you have it–inexpensive yet semi-professional packaging.

Here’s the thing about it. Everyone has to start somewhere. I’m not “in business” yet. I’m not bringing in any money, so breaking the bank with pretty packaging just isn’t feasible. But, as with most things including my logo and website, I do plan to upgrade and step up my packaging come springtime when I “open shop”. 

“Baby steps,” I tell myself. And I have a lot of those steps to make in the next couple months.