069: Luci Dumas No More “Starving Artists”

Sep 15, 2020

In this solo episode, Luci takes on the topic of how to handle the challenge of artist who want to have a profitable photography business.

Here are some tip on how to just say NO to being a starving artist.

1- See your photography as a product,
Learn to separate yourself from what you create emotionally. When you do this, your next step is to be skilled at sales and marketing and running a consistent business.

2- Don’t take rejection personally. It is about them and not you and your photographs

3- You are selling love, or success, or memories, not your soul. Focus on them. Serve them.

4- You are selling your time. To make a living you MUST charge enough and learn how to sell to compensate you for the time you could spend at a different job.

5- Good enough is all you need to be. They don’t need to be award winning images. Awards don’t pay bills

6- You do need to be proficient and results need to be repeatable. Learn the basics of photography. Study lighting, learn how to pose people in a way that makes them look their best AND evoke natural expression. And have the right equipment and skill to make it happen.

7- Style. You don’t need to figure this out to make a great living. You need to know how to take photographs people want to pay for that also make you happy to create.

8- Of course, it is vital to have the passion to produce the best work we possibly can every time. As your work is continually better, success does become easier.