Leaving Behind the Legion of the Snapper

“Ok,” you say, “alright, Tony, you railed in your last blog against ‘guys with cameras,’ aka ‘snappers,’ as you called them. No one wants that ugly distinction applied to them; so how do I avoid being labeled with that pejorative moniker?” In other words, “how do I take my photography from the amateur level to the semi-pro or pro level?” How do I leave the legion of the “snapper” and become a semi-pro shooter?

Never fear – that’s the topic of this installment of the Semi-Pro Photog Blog.

Lots has been written by authors and photographers more experienced and eloquent than I, but I’ll attempt to wade neck deep (well, at least waist deep) into the issue. To tackle such a broad topic, though, I’ll have to break it down into manageable bits. Throughout this series, I’ll talk about three major points: 1) a photographer’s product – the ability to produce a quality product with consistency over time; 2) the photographer’s interaction with his clients – how a pro’s approach differs from an amateur’s; and 3) a photographer’s view of himself and his business – or how a pro walks the walk.

It’ll take a couple of blog entries to do it, but, it’ll be worth it to readers in the end. In this entry, let’s talk about product.

In my experience, the number one thing that separates amateurs from professionals is the ability to produce a consistent, quality product for clients, time and time again. That means shooting with vision and purpose every time out. That means translating the client’s wishes, needs and desires into a photograph. It means delivering a product that the client is happy to pay for, over and over. How? How does the pro photographer accomplish this? I believe all of these deliverables can be summed up thusly: know your equipment; know your client; and know yourself.

A pro photographer has to know his equipment. He has to know the tools of his trade. In another lifetime, I was a Marine infantryman (ok, it wasn’t another lifetime in the “past life regression” sense of the word, so much as it was so long ago it seems like another lifetime, but the point’s the same). The Marine Corps did an incredibly efficient job of indelibly printing in my brain that my rifle, the tool of my trade, was my lifeline. I carried my rifle wherever I went. I studied it; I had classes with it; I ate with it; I ran with it; heck, I even slept with it. I could disassemble it blindfolded and reassemble it in under a minute – I wasn’t unique or especially gifted – that’s what was expected of me as a member of the profession of arms. The same should be true for every photographer who claims to be a pro. I’m not saying you should sleep with your camera (you can love your camera…just don’t “love” your camera…to misquote Janeane Garofalo’s line from “The Truth About Cats and Dogs”), but I am saying a pro knows his equipment inside out.

That means reading the users’ manual. That means studying charts and settings, knowing what the controls on the camera do, and knowing and understanding how to apply photographic techniques to a subject using the piece of equipment in your hand. By knowing your equipment and understanding how to use it correctly, you can navigate your way through any number of shooting scenarios. If it’s too bright outside, what do you do? If it’s too dark inside, what do you do? If you want to blur the background of your photos, how do you set your camera up to do it? If you have taken the time to get to know your equipment, you’re not surprised or unprepared to handle difficult or different shooting set ups. If conditions change on the shoot, you, as a knowledgeable handler of a camera will know how to adjust your equipment on the fly to keep up. Knowing your equipment and how to use it will allow you to produce a consistent, quality product for your client time and time again.

And speaking of your client – the second component the pro photog uses to produce quality products is a fundamental understanding of his client. The ability to translate the client’s vision into reality is a hallmark of the professional photographer. The title of one of my previous blog articles was, “My Client; My Friend.” In that article, I advocated getting to know your client on a personal level. This notion is counter to the cautions promoted by other professions such as doctors and lawyers where practitioners are prohibited from forming personal relationships with clients. In those professions, it makes sense. A doctor or an attorney has to remain objective in order to give the best care or advice to his client. A doctor or an attorney can be caring… they don’t have to be callous, but to “remain professional” (in the sense of the phrase as used by the AMA or ABA), the practitioners of medicine or law must maintain a separation between themselves, their emotions and their clients. As a professional photographer, however, your role is different.

Regardless of what you’re shooting, you have to know your client (and, importantly, the client is not always the subject of the photograph). Generally, the client has commissioned the pro photog’s work. The client could be a couple who has hired the photographer to shoot their wedding (the most likely scenario in the kind of photography that I do). The client could be an ad agency exec who has hired the photographer to shoot a new product or an event. The client could be a model who has hired the photographer to produce a portfolio. There are an infinite number of possibilities of who the client is and what that client’s relationship to the subject of the photograph is. The key, as the photographer hired to translate the client’s vision into an image, is to get to know the client. The photographer must understand what makes the client tick – what makes the client a satisfied customer. Meeting with the client is essential, whether in person or virtually. Establish a rapport; listen to the client; understand the client; and then, translate what you have learned about the client into the image he or she desires. When you can do this consistently, you’re on your way to being a professional.

Why did I say you’re “on your way” to being a professional? Because there is still one more element you must master. Not only do you have to know your equipment and your client, you also have to know yourself. This is perhaps the most important element of the three. You can “sort of” know your equipment (and let’s face it, there’s always more to learn); and, you can make a superficial attempt to know your client (based on similarities with others, past experience, etc.); but the one element you can’t fake and still consider yourself a pro or semi-pro is knowledge of yourself. This is where the snapper truly reveals himself.

Let’s take Uncle Bob (with apologies to anyone with a real Uncle Bob who doesn’t fit this description) as an example. Uncle Bob bought a nice DSLR camera. He used to shoot film back in the day and has decided that since he has a nice new camera that he can shoot professionally. Uncle Bob knows a little bit about cameras, and he knows a little bit about the family (aka “his clients”), but what Uncle Bob lacks is the good self-awareness of what he can produce as a photographer. There’s a huge difference between someone snapping pictures with a nice camera and a pro photographer producing a consistent, quality product for his client – the pro knows what he can produce; Bob hasn’t a clue. To take another example – I know I am not a sports photographer. It’s not something I’ve studied; it’s not something I have the equipment for. It would be wrong for me to represent myself as a sports photographer and attempt to produce images that are outside my expertise. I have to know myself and know what I can and can’t deliver.

In order to deliver a consistent, quality product to your client, time and time again, you must know your equipment; you must know your client; and importantly, you must know yourself. When you can put these three components together, then you are on your way to leaving the legion of snappers and becoming a professional photographer.

In the next installment, we’ll discuss the second major element that separates a snapper from a pro - the pro photog’s interaction with his client.