Extremely hot work! Pouring molten cast iron in an Amtek foundry in the UK West Midlands. (Pic by Andy Nickless)
Extremely hot work! Pouring molten cast iron in an Amtek foundry in the UK West Midlands. (Pic by Andy Nickless)
Does it bore you beyond belief to sit at a desk every day, making shedloads of money for someone else, with very little cash or credit coming your way, and being unable to break out of the rut you're in?
Before I (sort of) retired and became a border collie sheepdog trainer, I was a professional product and architecture photographer. It's an extremely interesting occupation which gives you opportunities not available to most people.
In my time, I've photographed everything from archbishops to wheelbarrows - including celebrities, prime mininsters, the Prince of Wales, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Formula 1 teams, unmanned ground vehicles, factories, hospitals, stately homes, laboratory equipment, prestige buildings throughout the UK, and I've undertaken photo assignments overseas too.
Like any career, being a pro photographer can have its ups and downs but professional photography can be an interesting and rewarding occupation which takes you to places not accessible to most people.
The secret is to accept only the assignments you're confident you can do, and try to avoid the ones that you don't like. Of course, you can make good money doing weddings. I tried it once - well twice really. I detested every moment of both weddings. Organising partly semi-drunk people is not my idea of fun, so I decided after just two weddings to concentrate on Industrial photography rather than social stuff.
Of course, the situation's different when you are starting off. You might accept any photographic work you can get if you're wondering how you're going to pay the rent, but if you possibly can, you should steer firmly towards the type of photography that interests you and that you're good at.
When I started, I accepted corporate presentations and award ceremonies but as soon as I thought I could manage without them, I turned them down. Some people love dealing with these events but for me, people mean problems.
On the other hand, I was happy to spend hours in my (makeshift) studio fiddling with settings and lighting until I got the exact effect I wanted. If I worked out the hourly rate I got for these comissions, it would be tiny but it didn't matter to me because I was working from home, doing something I loved.
One of my regular clients was the McLaren Formula One racing team. My work for them didn't involve standing around on a windy racing circuit trying to get action shots (I know my limitations) instead, I took many of the images used in their in-house magazine 'Racing Line' at their astonishing 'Technology Center' in Woking, UK.
This is no ordinary factory. You could arguably eat your meals off the floor, it's so clean, and glass lifts and overhead glass walkways give you the feeling you're in a James Bond movie as you move around inside.
On one occasion, I was photographing a McLaren mechanic working on Kimi Raikkonen's car a day or so before it was flown to its next race. The mechaninc emerged from under the raised car and noticed what I was doing. He politely asked me not to use the pictures because he'd left some cable ties on the floor whilst he was working and that was not allowed!. I assured him the cable ties would be removed using Adobe Photoshop and (of course,) they were.
Sadly, I can't show any of the images because I had to sign away my copyright before I could work for McLaren F1 but you'll see what I mean if you visit the McLaren F1 website.
Another interesting project was in Birmingham (UK). I was commissioned by the construction giant Sir Robert McAlpine to do the progress photography on the rebuilding of the Bull Ring shopping complex.
Engineers cleaning a joint on an aluminium bus bar which will carry huge electrical current for industry.
(Pic by Andy Nickless)
The Bullring was a massive project which involved demolishing much of Birmingham city center and replacing it with a super-modern shopping centre. My job was to visit the site once a month and take photographs from specific vantage points.
This might sound simple but it involved climbing onto high buildings, the most daunting of which was the spire of St Martins church. It was easy enough to climb up the steps inside the tower where a tiny door led to the parapet but (the tower being square) there were four parapets and to reach the others, you had to climb a steel ladder which was bolted to the spire close to one corner of the tower. Once you were high enough up this ladder to be able to avoid the mini-spires that adorned the top of each corner of the main spire, you then had to reach across (and round a corner) place your foot onto a corresponding ladder which went down the adjacent section of roof, transfer your weight across to the other ladder and climb down to the next parapet!
Repeat this procedure three times and you'll get some idea of what was involved. Not too difficult? Well, try doing it whilst carrying a camera and tripod in a howling gale!
As a sufferer of acrophobia, I only had myself to blame because I was asked at the interview for the contract I was asked whether I was 'OK with heights'. I really needed the work at the time, so I casually reassured the interviewer that I was fine.
Interestingly, it was the same interviewer who showed me the twelve vantage points on my first day . . . and when he saw what was required to reach the three camera positions specified for the spire, he declined!
It took all the resolve I could muster to navigate that church spire but once I'd done it, I actually looked forward to doing it again each month!
I didn't start this business with any assets, other than my own amatuer photographic skills and a helpful old mother (she loaned me some cash to buy a decent camera and some lenses). I didn't even have any existing clients, I started from scratch.
I was unemployed, recently separated from my wife and living in a rented bungalow. If you're a good amateur photographer and you'd like to go professional, bookmark this site and soon I'll show you how to turn your hobby into a career.
I'll also be telling you how I graduated to Video and made two successful Border Collie Sheepdog DVDs selling thousands of copies worldwide. You can watch a YouTube Trailer of our Border Collie Sheepdog DVD on this link.
Surprisingly, the most successful DVD we made was about sheepdog training for beginners. It's called First Steps in Border Collie Sheepdog Training.
PLANNING:
Once I'd decided to get my life back together and earn a living, the first thing I needed to do was plan my campaign. At the time I was unemployed and my capital was zero, so starting a business wasn't going to be easy.
It was the year 2000 and I was lucky enough to have a personal computer. It was a very old one which had been given to me by a member of a club I was in, so that I could write the club newsletter.
Because I was unemployed, I had time on my hands and I put that time to good use. I can't tell you how useful it was to learn to 'touch type'. Being able to type (with all my fingers and thumbs) whilst looking at the computer screen or a document, has been a wonderful asset to me ever since.
The other extremely good decision I made was to learn how to build my own website. I didn't just study web building websites and forums to learn the vital HTML, I realised that even if you have the prettiest website in the world, nobody is going to see it unless you tell them about it.
The simple option was 'Pay per click advertising' on search engines like Google. I tried it, and was horrified by the cost of it. Fortunately, after just a few stressful days spent watching the PPC bill go up I was able to cancel the campaign, but how was I going to get my website 'out there'?
Back on the forums, I dug deeper and discovered something called 'Search engine optimisation'. This must have been the single best discovery I made at that time. I learned about keywords and meta tags - especially the title tag on a web page. It's vitally important to add the keywords that appear on your page to the title tags.
I'm sure you will have seen web pages with 'Home Page' or something similar for a title that appears at the very top of your browser window. This is a huge waste of resources. Google and most of the other important Search Engines use the words in your title tags and (provided they appear a sensible number of times in the actual content of the page) they attach importance to them and give your page a higher ranking (it comes up higher in search results).
The interior of a brand new operating theatre.
(Pic by Andy Nickless)
I know I promised you I would tell you how I started a successful photography business and I will . . . very soon For now though, take a good look at the index page of what was my photography website and take special note of the Keywords I used to attract plenty of hits on Google.
When this website was active, all you had to do was search for "commercial photographer UK" or something similar, and it came up in the top five search results - worldwide!
After they'd noticed my website, hopeful salesmen used to call me in an attempt to sell their 'optimisation'. My reply was the same each time. I'd ask them to search for 'commercial photographer' and then ask them where my site came up. It was always on the first page, and usually in the top five results.
Then I'd ask them to search for 'search engine optimisation' and ask them where their company came in the results . . .
They never seemed to have a reply to that. Sometimes, I'd rub it in by offering them some advice on 'optimisation'
Search Google for 'Website Optimisation' or 'Search Engine Optimisation' then weed out the sites that want you to give them money - you can do it all yourself - completely free of charge!