At the beginning of August my father died unexpectedly and I suspended all my business activities to be able to support my mum at this difficult time. Just after the funeral, I set off on a holiday to Dubrovnik which we had planned months ago, and which my mum told me I was not to cancel.
During that time away I gave a lot of thought to the future of Ian’s Studio and what sort of business I wanted the studio to be. I will be honest with you, for a while I seriously considered closing the studio. There are so many studios in the NW of England and around Manchester that it is very difficult for any of us to have the income we need to keep going. But what could I do instead? Someone once said that photographers should shoot what they are passionate about. I thought about what aspect of photography I am passionate about – and it is training, teaching and mentoring other photographers. That is the reason why I opened the studio in the first place.
My thought processes then moved on to how I deliver that training. The studio is a key part of it – but it is not the only part of it. Lecturing on the cruise ships, my YouTube channel and even this newsletter are all part of that. Five and a half years ago when I opened the studio, I was one of the few studios that provided training as part of every event that took place. Now that standard is what many studios provide and what photographers expect. The challenge I face is how to set the ‘gold standard’ for photography training into the next five years.
All photographers have challenges and I think I have identified the most common challenges facing photographers today. And I am not going to tell you what they are… at least not till next week. Next week I am going to make a big announcement about the future of how Ian’s Studio provides training to photographers, not just in the NW of England, but globally. That announcement will deal with what those challenges are and how together we can rise above them.
Until then – can you do me a favour? Please post a comment on this blog post saying what you believe YOUR biggest challenge is, and let’s see if YOUR challenge is the same as what I have identified.
And finally, to be absolutely clear – Ian’s Studio is open for business – I am here to help you develop as a photographer. And as a sign of that commitment the next six weeks worth of Friday Night at the Studio events are up on the website and open for booking. Just follow this link to find out more about each event.
As for what happens after those six weeks…? well you will just have to wait for next week’s newsletter to find out. If you are not a subscriber you can subscribe here.
My biggest challenge is studio work, arranging and understanding lighting and confidence shooting with other photographers.
My biggest challenge? Getting motivated enough to go out at night to a camera club where I might find help to work for an ARPS. And then doing something useful with my pictures.
Ian
My aspirations as a photographer are to get better in the fields of Landscape, sport and post processing, hopefully I can achieve this in 20017/8.
John
Getting the perfect picture in terms of framing (no cropping) and sharpness on the relevant spot in the picture. This is especially hard when the subject on moving
My biggest challenge is to produce vacation and annual event video dairies with stills and video shots. Your last year’s Canadian Cruise was excellent.Peter Toft
My biggest challenge is to take better photo’s of motor racing and holiday photo’s. Also to be able to use Lightroom as it should be used.
My biggest challenge is to go back to what I used to do, which was a professional type shoot, with stunning talented model, MUA and artistic lighting.
The depth, detail and saturation of the captured image detail, within an acceptable time frame.
I will second what Peter has put. But I also feel that I could do a lot more with my camera, but still do not understand the half of what it can do.. Beryl
Finding something to photograph.
To get past this i usually work in projects, however working with others on a project would be good
I think my biggest challenge id to give my images a lot more impact and a lot more appeal to people who know about photography. My portfolio on ePhotozine probably illustrates what I mean – the greatest number of votes I have ever had is 19, well short of the 30 needed for a Readers’ Choice award. I need to raise my game and I am not sure how to do it.
Two challenges I face are a) I am an amateur who is trying to improve the quality of whatever I take, but when working in a popular or photogenic environment Jo. public sees you trying, thinks your a pro, seeks advice or gives you an unfamiliar camera to take ‘the holiday shot/family group etc.
The second is the most popular photographic scenes, by definition, means that the photographs you want to take are ‘invaded’ composition and atmosphere is denied.
(maybe I’m selfish)
Hi Ian. As I’ve just had a very lengthy dialogue with someone who has set themselves up as a photographer and has now come unstuck, there may be some mileage in offering a basic ‘How to Run a Photography Business’ workshop. You have a lot of experience in this area and could guide someone around the pitfalls hopefully before they encounter them.
Yes, it would create more competition for us working photographer, but I’d rather have competition from people operating professionally rather than someone just bumbling around and ruining the market for us.
What do you think?
Sounds like a good idea and certainly fits in with my current plans for the business. Do you fancy working with me to produce such a training event/course?
Would love to if time allows. I’m just heading in to a manic phase though so don’t know when I would be able to contribute anything.
For us, getting good pictures unobtrusively in workshop conditions – low light, people, big lighting contrasts, movement, and without using flash.
Which reveals the underlying challenge: how to make decisions about what equipment to buy on a limited budget, when it’s expensive and the market changes all the time.
Hi I’m V from Argentina.
My biggest challenge is to with photography, manipulate reality and create other things. Mix photography, photoshop and art. oh and another major challenge is to take great pictures in travel.