Randy’s Career Tips

Whether you want to learn how to earn a full time living with photography or you simply want to make some money on the side, working with magazine photography is the way to go. There are so many things that you will be able to experience and be a part of when taking photos for a magazine. You can either become fully employed with a magazine of your choice or you can freelance and sell photos to all kinds of magazines based upon their current need. As a freelancer, you can easily make $300 to $800 per photo. If you have captured a great shot of a celebrity, the price most certainly goes up.

One of the first things you want to do if you are interested in this field is to become familiar with the type of cameras and film that will be best suited for your photos. Some people simply start out with the digital camera that they already have for their personal use. These cameras can work well for a little bit, but eventually you will want to move up to something a little more high tech.

Taking classes on photography is a good idea. These classes are the perfect way to make sure that you learn everything you need to know about lighting, focusing, placement, and shadows. A simple search through the yellow pages or the Internet should bring you to a few different places that are offering classes. There are also many online courses that you can take which will allow you to learn a great deal of information. Grabbing as many books on the subject is also a good idea.

If you want to freelance for magazines, you will need to study how to approach these magazines, as they are certainly not going to approach you, at least in the beginning. Each magazine will have its own set of guidelines on how they would like photographers to approach them. This means you need to buy magazines(more…)

You know what they say about putting the cart before the horse.

Want the job? Then maintain your focus.

When interviewing, your goal should be to move the process to the next round. Period.

Too often, though, candidates jump way ahead of themselves.

They ask about vacation time or the benefits package too soon. They come right out of the gate asking if they can telecommute. They start listing their requirements, like the fact that they’ll need some time off to take a vacation that’s already on the calendar - very early in the conversation. And so on.

Ask about schedule flexibility or whether you can work from home before you’ve sold the company on the fact that you’re the best candidate for the job - and there won’t be an offer. Without an offer, everything else is irrelevant.

When you’re interviewing, all your concentration should be on the prospective employer: their challenges…what’s important to them…their goals. Your wants and needs aren’t the top priority at the moment.

Of course you’ll have questions - valid questions - about all sorts of issues. But there’s a time and a place to bring them up.

Until you get the offer, you should be thinking about what the hiring manager wants - not what you want. Once they decide you’re the person they want to bring on board, the dynamic will shift. At that point, they’ll be the ones doing the selling. That’s when you can get your questions answered and concerns addressed.

You may decide to accept the job or not - the point is, by then you’ll be in the driver’s seat.

Don’t get ahead of yourself. Focus on the immediate objective - to move the process forward - and the other things will fall into place in due time.