Business...

[darkrainfall]

So, I've been working taking portraits and shooting weddings and doing real estate work, and it has allowed me to be the full time photographer I want to be, however I'm not happy. What I want to do is get back into photojournalism (just as a freelancer, I don't want the newspaper to own me) and to get into advertising photography. I love photographing weddings, portraits are alright (people are too used to the sears/jcpenny way of portraits, where you are in and out in 15 min), and I hate the real estate shots (they're boring). I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions as to how I should approach getting myself into advertising and magazine photography?

[Charles Hess]

Although others like Asylum Steve, etc. will give you more solid advice than I could, I would just suggest, as a start, get as strong a portfolio together as humanly possible. Guys...now that he's got a killer portfolio, what's next?

[Asylum Steve]

Tiffany,

The career advice you're asking for is well beyond the scope of a short reply in this forum.

Not only that, but the two areas you want to pursue, photojournalism and advertising photography, are arguably at opposite ends of the spectrum with (usually) competely different paths to success.

Still, I guess it's not too hard to throw out some general guidelines to try to help you come up with a plan...

First of all, don't abandon the work that's currently making you money, even if it's not what you really like. The trick is to start shooting what you have a passion for, then figure out how to earn an income from it. Sometimes just shooting new things or in a new way (with no pay) is enough to energize you and help you tolerate the boring stuff that does pay.

You keep working on this "balance", marketing your new skills as they improve, trying to get more and more jobs doing the work you like, and who knows? One day you look up and realize that you're starting to have the career you really want. The best feeling comes from knowing you can finally turn down jobs you don't really want to do.

One thing that reportage and advertising do have in common is that, at some point (and as Charles mentions), you'll need a good portfolio of work to show to get jobs. And while the style of imagery in those two fields can be like night and day, the method of building your portfolio for each can be quite similar.

They both start with what's called "self assignment". You look at images in books, magazines, newspapers, whatever, and start collecting or noting what images and styles of shooting really grab your attention. You then try to figure out how they were done, and go out and shoot something similar, or try your own ideas in the same style.

Photojournalism is storytelling, so you go out and shoot an event, or a mock story, or just something of human interest. Maybe take something ordinary and put an unusual visual twist on it. Or use a series of images to tell different parts of a bigger story.

Ads depict people, places, and things in an attractive or appealing way to draw consumers to them. To be successful at this you have to learn to capture a feeling or a precise image in your photos, one that will connect with the viewer in a positive way.

In addition to changing your shooting style, you want to improve your photo skills in general. With this in mind, consider photojournalism school, or classes in advertising shooting. And don't forget business courses...

When you have a small group of strong images, that's when you start making the rounds to try to find work. To be honest, while photojournalism at its best requires great skills, overall it's a much easier field to break into than advertising.

Still, you'll probably improve your chances in either by starting on a local level. Shoot local news and events and offer them to local publications on "spec" (they pay if they use a shot).

Offer stores or businesses a "tradeout", shooting for them or their products at cost if they'll use your images in ads.

You keep shooting, and hopefully, you get good enough and your name gets out there enough, and you show your book enough that you start getting hired for real paying jobs.

Pretty simple, eh? Anything else you want to know???

So, I've been working taking portraits and shooting weddings and doing real estate work, and it has allowed me to be the full time photographer I want to be, however I'm not happy. What I want to do is get back into photojournalism (just as a freelancer, I don't want the newspaper to own me) and to get into advertising photography. I love photographing weddings, portraits are alright (people are too used to the sears/jcpenny way of portraits, where you are in and out in 15 min), and I hate the real estate shots (they're boring). I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions as to how I should approach getting myself into advertising and magazine photography?

[darkrainfall]

*smile*
That was definitely a good response and I guess i should be more clear... I want to get into the advertising side more... I know how to do the photojournalism part... I've worked with some amazing newspaper photographers in Maryland and I'm almost finished with my photojournalism degree. I just don't want to do that full time, as I disagree with a lot of newspaper politics. Perhaps I have the wrong idea of success, but what I want to do is photograph mainly for ads and then do the occasional newspaper freelance job because I want to and also shoot weddings in my free time.
I am not going to stop photographing the things that make money for me, but I do want to expand and I feel it's time to start moving towards what I really want to do... afterall... there is no time like now. *smile*
You're answer did have one thing I was looking for in particular... ad photos are supposed to draw people in... hmm...... *thoughtful smile* and I actually have been cutting out ads that catch my attention... I have quite the collection as I've been doing it for the past few months, while at the same time trying to work on images that have such an appeal...
Just like the goal in photojournalism is to tell a story, the goal in ad photos is to convey a feeling... right?