16 Tips I Would Tell Myself When I Started Photography In 2016
I'm 31.
Full-time photographer, filmmaker, and author.
I started my journey in 2016, here are 16 things I would tell myself when starting:
Austin Smith Ford slashing a turn at Ano Nuevo State Park. Photo by Dalton Johnson
1) Your camera and lenses only matter if you know how to make happy accidents
2) You are homeless right now, that's okay, shoot every day and don't worry about money right now
3) Learn how to tell and create a story, that will be the most second important thing in this career
4) Your network will be the most important thing, so make friends
5) Have a website and use social media, but don't let it be your life
6) Sell prints and books, those will keep you afloat during hard times. If you can, show your films in person!
7) Learn marketing and selling, but not for a few years, get good at your craft first
8) You can do everything, just not at the same time. Start with photo, then video, then put it all together with books and films
Prints and Books For Sale
9) Access can be your limitation, figure out how to leverage you camera to access unique things
10) Become a great writer. Being good doesn't get you very far
11) Don't be afraid to self-publish or self-fund projects you can about
12) Pay off all of your debt, it feels great
13) Niches are over-rated, but being known for what you do is critical for inbound messages
14) Pitch solutions, be really good at listening, and figure out how to help people (maybe this should have gone closer to the top)
15) Love and love hard! There is nothing better than loving and being loved
16) Don't give up along the way
That’s me :-) Photo by Jonathan Thorpe
I'm Dalton Johnson and I am the go-to content partner for brands with an adventurous clientele. I have delivered over 160 campaigns for some of the biggest brands in the world, created award winning documentaries, I have published over 1000 articles, and a released a poetry book. Yup a poetry book.
If you are a brand that wants to connect and level up your content game, let's schedule a discovery call. You can do that while checking out my work on my portfolios.
