Basic Equipment for Professional Photographers

This is a well written article outlining the bare minimum level and type of equipment you will need if you are considering becoming a professional photographer It doesn’t tell you what to buy in terms of brands but gives a good explanation of what you will need in the different types of professional photography you might want to undertake.

“Unfortunately, most of us work with a limited budget when it comes to purchasing photography gear. Once we consider taking our photography to the next level and going pro, having the right gear becomes even more important. Not only is it important to have the right gear to capture the shots, it is also important to have the right gear to present a professional appearance to our clients.

Let’s say you have what you consider to be the minimum amount of gear to begin your adventures into professional photography – a good camera, a couple of quality lenses, and good working knowledge of post-processing. From there, your wish list has grown to epic proportions and includes everything from a back-up camera body to studio lighting and lenses galore. So how do you know what you really need, and in what order do you prioritize your purchases?”Written by: Tiffany Joyce………more

I am lucky, no I didn’t win the lottery or anything like that but I do get the chance to speak to other photographers regularly. The genesis of the business was as a darkroom and studio hire centre, we opened in 1982 and although we did a lot of developing and printing we also did a lot of talking. Photographers would hang out at our centre because they had no where else to go, we drank copious amounts of coffee, discussed other photographers, their work, put the world to rights and generally improved as photographers by learning from each other. Now I do this via the blog and other forums. We no longer have darkrooms but we do still drink too much coffee. Our profession has become more insular, we are all bunkered down with our computers in our own spaces. The web offers marvelous opportunities for sharing and that is what we do here. It is much like those old days where someone would wander in with a book by a photographer and say, “have you seen this’, and that would spark an afternoon’s discussion. Now I wander the wonderweb and find things I would just love to share with someone, that person is you.

This article, well articles comes out of that tradition, the first part called

How to Relate To and Learn From Other Photographers Written by: Steve Russell

“Here are some tips to help you relate to other photographers and hopefully have a similar experience to mine.

1. Keep in mind that photographers are just people and like people some are super nice and some you wish you’d never met. If you have a bad experience, don’t get discouraged. The good people outnumber the bad ones.

2. Golden Rule. Think about how you’d like to be approached by another photographer, especially one not as skilled as you are. Or another way of saying it, if you were to be introduced to Annie Leibovitz you would want to learn from her, not teach her. Talk about her work, not yours unless asked.

3. Be friendly and patient, not pushy. Don’t expect another photographer to download all their information in five minutes. I learn some little something every time I’m around other photographers. I don’t expect or even want to learn everything at one sitting.”

the full article is here

this is followed up with Part 2 – Relating To and Learning From Other Photographers Written by: Tiffany Joyce

“Steve started things off excellently with his list of ten ways to relate to and learn from other photographers. So excellently, in fact, that I had to give him a hard time because he used many of the ideas I had for my own article. That’s what we do, though – in giving each other a hard time we’re really complimenting one another for raising the bar and creating a challenge.

We all have a tremendous opportunity to learn from one another, and an equally tremendous opportunity to TEACH others. A note on an experience I recently had – a photographer showed me an unedited copy of the photo you see above (Shiprock, New Mexico), and asked my advice on how to improve it. I had a really positive experience showing him how to edit the photo, talking about things he could have done to better position himself so that post-processing wasn’t necessary, and in the end was able to see how proud he was of his work once he finished following the steps I outlined.”

“My point is, being a photographer that others can relate to and learn from is just as rewarding as finding a photographer that you can relate to and learn from! So among my own items of advice, I’m going to add some things we should keep in mind if WE are approached by someone who wishes to learn from us.” want to read more of this interesting article?

Here is that picture talked about in the text

these articles were found on the Beyond Megapixel Blog site

They have other interesting articles such as

Camera Etiquette in a Crowd

We’ve all been there. We’re at an event or a popular landmark, trying to photograph a memory, and we get bumped with a camera bag. Or, we inadvertently bump someone else as we’re positioning ourselves for a shot. Or you miss the PERFECT shot because someone wouldn’t be courteous enough to move. We need to.…..more