Blah Blah Blah — “Photography WILL make you a million dollars”…and all that crap.

Why working with the best is the only way to make you the best by being different.

Let’s get two things perfectly clear… 1: Not everyone that owns a DSLR or a Pro-DLSR can be a Pro Photographer. I really can’t make it any more plainer than that. And 2: Just because you shoot weddings and own a flash and maybe some nice glass, does NOT give you the licence to be arrogant and think you know everything about photography. Simply doing a course, or going to Uni is not the way to get experience — MOST brilliant photographers are self taught and get their work from hitting the pavement and being PRO-active about their art and about their vision.

It didn’t really occur to me until just recently how much money is in this thing called photography. There are so many types of photography that it will literally make your head spin to learn the many sections and subsections of this misunderstood art. So what must you do?

You need to find YOUR niche. Not the niche of others, but your individual niche that you want to follow and make your own.

Commercial Shoot for Ice Cold Milk Campaign

Do I mean narrowing your type of work to a single type of photography? Not at all. But falling in love with photography happens by falling in love with photography wholly and completely. There is no half way with this craft.

So…this article is headed; “Photography will make you a million dollars” right? And it will. But first…you have to get some house work done and learn a few of the basics about business. This game is NOT about whether or not you can shoot something, correctly expose your shot or understand f-stops, no no! This game is about understanding from the outset what is required by you and anyone you take on this journey with you.

The skill and everything that comes with it is all ASSUMED and if you don’t possess the ability to get up at dawn, battle through the pride swallowing siege that is this business to do what no one else is doing, then STOP NOW, turn off your camera and go back to playing with your kids. And if you don’t have any kids, then buy a PlayStation.

Ice Cold Milk International Campaign

First, you must understand that 99.98% of all who embark on any journey of success, entrepreneurialism , self discovery and making something from absolutely nothing — ultimately FAIL. Once you understand this little gem of advice, then you should probably decide whether or not you think you fall into the .02% category of humans or not.

I know that everyone has the ability to be that .02%, however I also know for a fact that MOST humans are just simply LAZY. It’s not that they don’t believe in themselves, it’s that they don’t have the passion inside them to trudge through the filth and the failure to get to the other side where the true glory exists. Why is this? Because most humans think that they DESERVE success or deserve to be admired, revered and financially free. This is where you all fail.

If you are a young entrepreneur reading this, then let me make myself quite clear. DON’T LISTEN TO ANYONE WHO HASN’T MADE IT! They simply do not know what the hell they are talking about, even if it’s your Mom and Dad. Only follow, mimic, copy and stalk those who have succeeded and made it to the other side on their own and against all odds. If you are an older person reading this and still haven’t made it yet, don’t you see what you have been doing wrong all these years? I certainly can.

And it’s not about doing anything wrong per se, it’s more about doing what you’re doing in the most effective way in order to get the result that you have set out to achieve. Successful photographers ALL have something in common — the ability to spend the majority of their time, at least in the beginning, deep in chocolate brown gooey smelly shit AND absolutely love every minute of it. They know the more time they spend in that gooey smelly shit, is the closer they are getting to the other side where all of their hard work, sleepiness nights, fear of failure have all paid off.

How long? Most over-night successes take anywhere from 9 to about 15 years. So keep digging.

It’s not all bad news tho, as I am prepared to save you the first 5 years by getting you to get past the major hurdles quite quickly, Here is a place to start you on your journey to making it big in photography.

1. Get a mentor — It doesn’t matter if they are male or female, black or white, young or old. If they are successful, famous or both, then follow them around like a freshly hatched chick.
2. Get some flashy business cards made up with your name or business name on them and start from right now by calling yourself a photographer.
3. Don’t grab that camera just yet…Grab your ideas book and start by writing down all your ideas and passions and turn them into projects — cause here’s the thing…Passion projects and personal works are the works that get you jobs, they get you noticed and then when you get noticed you get paid. Pretty simple really.
4. Grab your camera and shoot everywhere, every day at everything.
5. Set up a wordpress or self editable website and upload those images to share with the world, don’t worry about Twitter, Buffer, FaceBook, Instagram or any of that crap right now, just get out there and get some content so that when the time is right, you can start your social media exercises with all the delicious content you need.
6. Shoot, shoot and shoot…Repeat.
7. Do everything your mentor says with out question. They have already made it, so who are you to question it? Be humble, work hard and get those passion projects done.
8. Be different — research all the current photographers that are out there making it big and do the opposite of what they are doing. I don’t mean in business, I mean in content. You don’t have to be better, you just need to be different.
9. STEAL STEAL and then STEAL again. What??? Plagiarism? NO!!! To steal properly you need to understand how to steal. Get out there and take someones idea and then make it better by changing it to make it yours.
10. Have fun — if this all seems like a chore — quit now. Not all will be fun, as I can’t remember when I last had fun swimming around in thick smelly shit, however the fun part is when you have the breakthroughs that get you closer to the other side. For now? Enjoy it — and get used to the smell of shit.

Thanks for stopping by — Im here, everyday, reading and adding content and if you got anything from this and want more — then just ask, and recommend to others so that they can stumble onto something that may be worthwhile for them to get the breakthrough that they need. — Vivian Grey