Without photography, a lot of memorable moments would be lost through time and failing memory. Photography captures the beauty and raw emotions of a moment in an unrivaled manner that even sometimes a thousand words cannot suffice.
Despite doomsday predictions that the digital era would signal the death of professional photography, it has been a blessing. Photographers can now take advantage of the internet revolution to grow their skills and market themselves.
For starters, quite a good number of photographers are self-taught having learned their skills through YouTube tutorials and photography blogs. The internet has also made it easier for photographers to display and market their skills as well as exposing them to billions of potential clients.
Here are what you need to build your photography portfolio.
A good camera
A camera phone is great if you want to take selfies and photos for your social media networks but doesn’t make the cut when it comes to professional photography.
Invest in a high-quality camera capable of shooting quality pictures under various conditions of lighting if you want to be taken as a serious photographer.
There are affordable DLSR cameras you can start with and upgrade later on as you grow into the industry. Sometimes a change of lens can do the trick and save you on costs.
Shoot in good locations
Choose locations that bring out the best out of your photographs. Remember you are marketing yourself and therefore you should post only the best photos you can take.
As a budding photographer, you are likely to experience financial constraints that bar you from traveling to far-flung exotic locations for your photo-shoots but you can make up for this through photo editing skills.
Wherever the location is, it should be reflective of the kind of shoots you want to take when you finally get clients. Choose a location that is right for your photography.
Create a blog
A blog is a fantastic way to get word out of your talents of skills.
To create a blog, you need to create an account with a CMS like a WordPress and choose specific WordPress Themes for a photography blog.
Of course, there are other blogging platforms like Joomla but WordPress is more popular because of its user-friendly interface and ease with which you can customize the templates or switch from one theme to another until you find what works for you.
Having blog is a great method to professionally market your photography skills and you can simply send a link instead of several attachments to potential clients.
Paid traffic
SEO and social media sharing is never enough to drive enough traffic your way to realize the conversions you want, which is to get clients for your work.
With a professional blog, you can put up a paid campaign that is specifically targeted to your potential clients. The advantage of a pay-per-click campaign is that you pay only when someone clicks on the call to action.
Put up a paid campaign on search engines or social media platforms with the aim of making sales of your photographs and getting hired for gigs.
