My Review on: “VisionMongers: Making a Life and a Living in Photography”
December 29, 2009 – 11:33 pm | by J. Rodriguez
I first heard of this book over on twitter. Random tweeters were quoting this book and letting us all know how good it is. Every day it was something new from several photographers who were reading the book. It really caught my interest, I was telling myself that I have to read this book. It even became a top trend for a couple hours on twitter.
Making a Life and a Living in Photography – By: David DuChemin
Let me first let you all know that this is not a "How to get better at Photography book" nor is it “a book with shortcuts or tutorials on how to make you pictures look better” and don’t expect it to be “your traditional photography book showing you all the authors pictures, telling you what lens he/she used and what to buy and you can achieve the same look too”! NO!, this is a book written by a man (David DuChemin) who has had his ups and downs just like any other person, failed and refused to experience the downfall ever again.
This book is for people who are approaching the world of photography today and actually want to make a living out of it. David opens up in this book explaining who he was before he became a photographer, his ups and downs, his major downfalls and how he got up, dusted his knees and continued going forward without any hesitation.
David makes it very clear, this profession is not for everyone! This profession can take a lot out of you depending on your niche, your element…what your good at shooting! It’s not just about being talented, creative, or familiar in this field. It’s also about being a communicator, being consistent with your creativity and delivering the goods with exceptional results, and that just the opener!
David gets deeper in showing you the ups and downs in the professional field. He also interviews several well know photographers who in the book explain their ups and their downs in their life behind the lens.
“Creating your career – your calling – can be an act of creativity a much as creating your photographs.”
It’s about hard work and paying attention to the business side as much as to the craft of photography. If your ready to start your own business and put food on the table to feed your family then you have to get ready and create your own marketing technique. Delivering the goods in a timely manner is the first approach… that creates viral marketing! Adding some bonus incentives to the goods is boost and will create even more word of mouth marketing. This is just a few of many tips David gives in this book. he also helps you to balance your focus in spreading the word and getting your work done at an even flow.
“It just takes time, and the kind of work you’d put in if you wanted to play the violin”
Making a life in photography involves a lot of gusto. If your going pro just remember that many key elements must be laid out…errr… figured out once you involve your photography with the world of commerce.
Take a break, get yourself a copy of VisionMongers, read it… eat it all up and then improve your sloppy ways. Make clients Happy, create viral marketing… and last but not least… Take Killer Pictures!
I encourage you to visit David at his website, checkout his beautiful work, follow his blog and don’t forget to friend him on twitter too.
David DuChemin – PixelatedImage.com
P.S. – In closing, David finishes off the book with an exclusive interview with the ever so popular National Geographic’s Photographer aka Strobe Guru Joe McNally
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