GOIN G PRO : MONTH 10

Every month Graham Parker shares what he’s been up to on his journey to going pro. This month, he’s planning for 2016…

I am not the type of person to make New Year’s resolutions, perhaps because I wouldn’t like to fail! But in 2016 I would like to expand my photographic business enough to enable me to step back from my other business and make this one full-time.

One of my major goals is to make post-processing quicker. That will have to include a new 5K iMac as my 2007 iMac struggles with the software that I use, and can’t deliver the speed I require. I also need to get quicker at editing. On a shoot at a pet shop I can take anything between 800 and 1500 shots, which I cull down to about 250. And 250 edits at three minutes each… that’s 12 and a half hours! I need to reduce that time by at least half.

Advertising my services is another area which I need to concentrate on. Word of mouth is a great advertising medium. Other forms of advertising have been very expensive, in my experience. One avenue I haven’t explored yet is Facebook advertising. I know people who use it, and it seems to work, so I will be investigating.

Another avenue for expanding my business is charity– not necessarily in the pet world. I recently did a shoot for a small charity called Protect a Pup. I got paid, the charity made money and I sold some extra prints as well. From a business point of view it was a great success, and the whole day had a great atmosphere – with the added benefit that everyone knew they were helping a charity.

I’d like to explore some new genres of photography professionally in 2016, too. Hopefully I will be able to tell you about them later in the year when they’re proving successful!