My Journey to Photography Success - From Novice to Highly Paid Professional
You probably saw in my recent Youtube video the complete story of my photography journey - from when I first picked up a camera, to learning everything I could about it at every opportunity, and to eventually making a full-time income as a professional photographer.
I had absolutely no idea what I was doing when I first decided to focus on photography. Zero.
And even though I’ve really been afraid of calling myself a professional photographer all of this time, I’ve recently looked back at these past 5 years and realized this might not have been realistic.
Looking back I’ve learned a lot and am humbled to say that at this time I’ve been able to help nearly 6,000 students improve their photos and self-esteem through the Advanced Selfie - a concept I created to crack the code on capturing powerful self-portraits. Not only that, I’ve managed to make a full-time income from my photography…which technically makes me a professional.
What to say? It’s been one crazy adventure!
But how did I become a photographer? How does one go from a photography novice - or art novice of any kind- to a highly paid professional?
While I definitely don’t believe that there’s any one path to achieving success, I wanted to break down what eventually got me there and hopefully inspire some ideas for the next stage of your journey!
Step 1: Realization
I first picked up a camera when I was eighteen and, while I wasn’t trying to do anything amazing, my family was really surprised and impressed with what I was able to capture. Photography was never something I had thought about before but it definitely sparked an interest that stayed with me for a couple of years. Though with this I kind of suppressed it for many years afterward and I found myself working a lot of different jobs. I never found any of these very fulfilling.
Step 2: Action
After completing a Vipassana (an intense 10-day meditation), I felt really compelled to reach out to my friend Sasha from Sherbet Birdie Photography and asking about being a photography intern. I had been telling myself for a long time that I wasn’t creative, but the thought kept coming up! I listened and eventually picked up an internship with Sasha where I immersed myself in the world of photography to learn anything and everything possible.
During this period I learned some really valuable things, namely a strong focus on quality, how powerful passion is as a driving force when you don’t always have the talent for something, and learning how to say YES to new possibilities and figure it out as you go!
Pro tip: If it’s something you think you can manage learn to say yes and research and figure things out! You never know how much these challenges will open new doors and rapidly build your skills!
Step 3: Detachment
This is when I said goodbye to comfort - including my own home country, my family, and my friends and headed to Europe to make it on my own with photography.
It was scary as hell. With only 9 months of photography experience, I decided to head out on my own and see what really stuck for me in my photography, which is where a lot of experimenting happened.
Step 4: Copycat Stage
Basically, I had no idea what I was doing with my camera. While in Iceland I watched what everyone else did and tried to mimic what better photographers than myself were doing. This included landscape photography and a lot of other unique styles from professional photographers that were unlike my own, and I learned a lot from studying them!
Yet from all of this, I mostly learned about what I personally did and didn’t like in photography and realized how much I loved capturing that human element in photos. I also didn’t see the point in continuing to capture the same shots as everyone else and from there started looking for ways to be more unique and creative; continuing to look for what really “stuck” for me was what lead me to the next stage in my art.
Step 5: Originality
Eventually, I took the two categories I knew the most about in photography: studio pin-up portraits and landscapes and merged them together. This worked great because I was traveling to beautiful places and I could take photos of myself since I was always available! And thus, the beginnings of the Advanced Selfie were born!
Over time I also found that my confidence in my photography improved, as did my own confidence in who I was and how I could communicate myself to the world.
Step 6: Creating the Movement
Almost as a joke I started calling my self-portraits Advanced Selfies but later it really stuck. Not only that but it started growing like crazy on social media! I absolutely loved what the concept did for me in building my self-esteem and my art, but I found it also helped a lot of others do the same.
After creating content on my YouTube channel and getting a ton of more in-depth questions relating to posing, editing, and composition for Advanced Selfies I created my first course: The Advanced Selfie University.
Conclusion:
To sum all of this up, this journey was anything but a straight line from point A to Z of success as a professional photographer. It was messy, terrifying, and confusing, but I was determined to keep perfecting my work and grow every single day.
Sometimes you can open that first door by yourself by saying that one big, resolute YES to what you’re passionate about and trying to make it work. So if you’re questioning yourself with whether you should really try out something you love, here’s my advice: Go for it!
All the best,
Sorelle