What would happen if it all worked out?

There are probably lots of things you want.

• Beautiful, challenging, meaningful briefs that align with the work you love making.
• An income which allows you to support those who need you, and which gives you the freedom to say no to the jobs which don’t float your boat.
• And space to create work for yourself and nurture your own practice (and mental health).

But what if it actually happened? What if you got that brief?

Are you prepared enough to respond appropriately, pull together the treatment, estimate and crew to make it happen? Do you have a decent producer? Do you have your shit together?

What if you got that income?

Would you actually put aside money to invest in your personal practice? How would you make the time?

It’s well worth projecting that scenario and breaking it down.

• If you don’t already have a relationship with a good producer, retoucher and crew, wherever you want to work, start now. Let them know you plan to need them in the future, set up expectations and find out what their requirements, processes and fees are.
• If you don’t have a process and some decent templates for responding to briefs, writing treatments, estimating and production start setting this up now.
• If you’re not carving out time to make personal work, start now, however little time or money you have.

The lovely thing about this is it says you’re committed to those goals. You’re far more likely to reach them if you get used to walking in those shoes, and start behaving now like the photographer you want to be.

I was recently interviewed on the Frames podcast and in it I talk a little about commitment and much more. You can listen to it on the usual podcast channels or find the episode here.

Enjoy the listen!

If you’re an experienced commercial photographer who’d like some help achieving those goals I listed at the top, you can apply for an initial free call with me here. We’ll get clear on your direction, identify the areas you need to work on and discuss next steps.

Thank you to the incredibly talented artist Craig Abell Champion for the image above which he talks about here.