Heber Vega is an editorial and humanitarian photographer. Originally from Chile, Heber has been based in northern Iraq since 2003. He specializes in documenting the work of humanitarian organizations and also in portraits of people through editorial photography. Heber works primarily as a freelance photographer, working on assignment. He has been commissioned by various organizations, and lately by magazines as well. He is on Twitter and Facebook. You've got to follow him.

Photography is for the soul. It is therapy for the heart.

Zack Arias: Yes, the well known photographer that we hear a lot of these days. I respect him deeply and consider him an online mentor to many of us. I appreciate his generosity, sharing his insights of this industry, and building a community. He once said: “Those of us who make a living with a camera aren't curing cancer”. Actually he’s said that many times… and I totally understand what he means. Sometimes we take everything in this field far too seriously.

Without taking his words too far out of context, I want to propose the idea that photography can heal our own souls and the hearts of others. Photography can help us rise up out of whatever circumstances we find ourselves.

I love photography; I always have. But I’m from Chile, and the Chile of my childhood was a third world country. I never had the necessary resources to own a camera. My best option was to borrow any that I found. Once I became an adult, I totally forgot about those childhood dreams of becoming a photographer. I moved to northern Iraq (Kurdistan) nearly 9 years ago, and began to live and experience life as a humanitarian (NGO) worker.

Kurdistan is an autonomous region filled with people who sadly know too well the meaning of words like pain, genocide, persecution, death, gas attacks, etc. These people have been under every imaginable hardship, yet have been able to survive. Resilience is what has formed their character as a nation and today that resilience has allowed them to create a new era filled with peace and hope, where they have become self-sustainable and finally respected as a nation. The experience of learning about the Kurds, just like experiences I had back in South America, introduced me to the stories of people and places worthy of filling hundreds of books. The frustration of coming across so many important but untold stories led me back to photography. It has become my tool for telling stories, for expression, for giving dignity and for giving (if only for a few minutes) freedom to people with chained souls.

Since then I’ve been pursuing this passion. I’ve been able to work for other NGOs and charities in Iraq, as well as my home country of Chile. Today I’m specializing in portraiture as a way to understand and reveal more of the souls of my subjects. A year or two ago, I had a dream of using photography for people trapped in difficult situations. Why? Because through the years I’ve witness the power and freedom that a camera can give, in the right hands.

This dream led to the creation of The ONE-SHOT Project. I regularly see the healing that can happen. I want to share some of those untold stories and give you the chance to experiment yourself, and perhaps to help empower someone else with the liberating
experience of owning a camera. The names below have been changed, but the stories are very real.

Felipe: I met him through the internet; he was desperately looking to own his first camera. I helped him, gave him some advice, but then I asked the important question “Why? Why a camera?”

His answer hit me. He said, “I’m a cop and I deal with a lot sh** every single day. I’ve been severely depressed for 2 years, and I need to focus on something else. I need to breathe; I need to find myself and spend some time alone.”

Within a few weeks, Felipe got his first camera and is doing much better. He’s taking weekends off and spending them making landscape images…

Muhammed: He is one of the children we have worked with through the ONE-SHOT Project. He’s an orphan and dealing with a lot of pain from his past. Muhammed took part in a photography workshop with us for a couple months, and during the closing ceremony he approached me to speak in private. “Am I good enough? Am I good at all? Did I do a good job? Am I good enough?” He was so insistent that I had a hard time answering back. Why? Because I knew he’d been labeled as a “problem” many times in his life. He struggled at school and was probably a difficult child to deal with. But you know what? Over the months of the workshop, he was one of the most talented students….

A camera, an opportunity to explore and express his curiosity, plus the therapy that comes with caring was all he needed to do well. That day I told him honestly “You are brilliant! You’re one of my best students. You did an incredible job!” Those words are still resonating with him today, in part because he’s so rarely heard those words.

Rasheed: He was a problematic child, more than anyone in his class. I thought it was going to be difficult to keep him in the class; he didn’t pay attention, he was constantly moving, and sometimes was aggressive with the other kids. After a few classes with a camera in his hands, he found focus. He was all about photography: creative like no one else, finding new angles and perspective that only an artist could see. A camera and the experience of making images has made him into a new child. He went from being the most problematic student to the one that arrived 30 minutes before each class, organizing the space so that everything would work well…

Ana: She’s a beautiful person, but after knowing her for a while you can tell that she’s been dealing with a lot of baggage from the past. Behind her warm, candid smile and all the friendship she’s able to share with whoever may happen to need company, she hides pain and problems with self-esteem. Photography for her has been huge. She now advocates for other people with the same problems, especially women. She’s been using her camera to empower people, and today she’s able to share her story knowing that it may help others as well. Step-by-step she is learning how valuable she is for the rest of us….

Myself: For years I wasn’t able to speak in public or a class. I was frightened about what other people would think of me. I was afraid to try new things; afraid they would become the next new failure in my life. I had very poor self-esteem and was incapable of believing that difficult things could be made possible. I was deathly afraid of meeting new people, engaging in conversation. In some ways this is still me, but more and more it describes the stage in life before using a camera broke down those walls.

We are all dealing with a lot stuff. That “stuff” is reflected in our daily lives, in our businesses and in our relationships with the rest of this world.

My call today is to grant you permission to allow your camera to lead you into new situations, and to push out the boundaries of your own life; to allow yourself to experiment with life in a new way. I know that cameras don’t talk, but our souls do. Take a moment (an hour, a day, a week), GO ALONE with your camera, and let it go free. Unleash the talent in your heart. Go somewhere else, maybe the other side of the world as in my case, and allow that camera to discover your surroundings. Allow that camera to discover your true self. Don’t let fear drive you. This is time to connect with ourselves, and to live in the moment with a new pair of eyes.

Travel, seek, analyze, observe, connect, admire the world around you. If you step out so far that fear fills you again, HIDE! But hide behind a viewfinder, until you gather the courage to try it all again. Keep your eyes there, gazing through a lens… and breathe. Breathe deeply.

Ask questions, ignite your curiosity, be gentle and keep doing this, day after day. Don’t worry about all the technical details; learn how to take one photo at a time. Then add something. Ask the next question of your subject; challenge yourself with a new technique or experience. Before you know it you will be immersed in this new world of frozen moments, a world of beautiful details, a world with a window to the souls of those you meet. Photography is a license to get rid of fear. Photography cures, not cancer, but our souls.

Be the next story on the list. Be who you really are!

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Will Wohler resides in Portland, Maine. He is a photographer, musician and optimist at Life is good®. A high school photography course started his journey in the photographic arts and has been his only “schooling” other than the wonderful internet. Portraits and fine art images are his favorite to shoot and has been slightly obsessed with his iPhone. Find him on his website, Twitter & Facebook.

I was recently in a fight, with myself and my life and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. It left me battered, figuratively of course, but my mind has never been clearer.

This fight that ensued has been a long battle back and forth with what I thought I was supposed to be doing with my life. My two passions were in competition for my attention and life had it's way of telling me which way to go but I didn't want to believe it. Kind of like the devil and angel on each shoulder telling you why their side is better. My schooling is in music education and after spending, and still paying, a lot of money to get this degree and be in a field I thought I was going to enjoy for the rest of my life I'm pursuing other things. Things that make me happier and that have been screaming at me to follow for quite some time.

I am happiest when I am photographing, whether it is with my iPhone or on a client session. I enjoy every minute of the creative process behind the camera. Though the guilt and dollar signs from my college days kept shadowing that passion and trying to push me back to teaching after I was let go after only 2 years in my first position. I have not been able to land a single interview since. This struggle has taken the better part of three years. The final blow to my teaching wants happened this past month when I was discussing this with my brother, who is younger but his view point was one that is educated in marketing and social media. I told him that I didn't think I wanted to teach any more. His response was “I could have told you that two years ago, look at what you post online and what you talk about all the time, it's photography, that's you!” He was right. The path was laid before me and I was aimlessly walking down it with out even realizing it. The realization below is what resulted during my path to recovery and a new exciting, yet scary endeavor.

Every time, and I do mean every time, I made the decision to focus more on my photography and not on teaching felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders and I could be me again. I focused on myself more and thusly happier in all aspects of my life. I also used that new found motivation to do more for my fledgling business and every time it helped me, the business grew. I'm not going to get into business practices or anything like that because I do not feel like I have enough experience to talk deeply about it, but I will say that it started with doing what I loved and that was photography. I did it for myself first and found that I really enjoyed portraiture so I took steps to make that happen. All while still enjoying what I did. It did take a bit of time for me to get to a place where I could share my experiences with others but that is all part of the growth. If you enjoy what you are doing then you are on the right track. If you are not, then what steps can you make to doing something that you enjoy? However small a step forward is a step forward. I remember the first step I took toward the portrait side of photography. I was a nervous wreck but that one image that came out just how I envisioned it in my head pushed me to do another one. If you enjoy it make the time to do it. Momentum will build and soon you will be walking and enjoying the scenery.

That one image, like I said, pushed me to do another session with a friend and then another and soon I was almost running down that path. It was like I was flying in a dream. Then I got scared that I was going too fast and headed down a familiar yet dark and overgrown path. Be mindful of these things and if you feel like you are moving too fast then slow down and go at a comfortable pace. No one is telling you you need to run full speed all the time. I eased into it and I am thankful that I did because otherwise I may have burnt myself out. Take your own pace and then you can effectively manage roadblocks and pass on the dark overgrown shortcuts back to where you came.

My path in photography is just beginning, and I know the path never ends but only becomes easier to navigate the longer I am on it. Building my skills in weak areas has made my business and my photography grow even faster. Get the training or read about areas that you are weak at, like sales. That is one thing that I am not good at; even though I do that as a sales associate at a clothing store. Selling your own work is tough but having the knowledge has made a huge difference in my confidence and that is the beginning of everything. Blogs, forums, books, and online video workshops have all been how I have obtained these needed skills. Skills can be acquired in places you may not realize. My teaching background helps me work with people and problem solve to get the desired result. Music has brought another art form into my creative thoughts and often helps when creating. Those experiences will always be with me and I don't think I will ever loose the teaching or musician part of me. It just adds to what I can offer. Think of it like getting a pair of waterproof boots for when you come across a stream.

So now that you have the proper equipment for the journey, know your comfortable pace and recognize potential distractions from the main path and are thoroughly enjoying your trip, how do you know it is the right path for you? Even though the path may change it is always in front of you. You just have to take the steps. Listen to your gut, it is usually right in line with what your heart wants.

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Ferina Santos is part of the team behind Open Colleges, Australia's provider of photography courses. A feisty nerd at heart with an obsession for media and vanity, she captures all her random musings with daily photographs in her blog, A Pink Banana.

“Sorry, but you just don’t have enough experience.”

As a photographer just starting out, you’ll probably hear that kind of thing a lot – I know I did! The problem is that art galleries and publishers are afraid of wasting their time with someone who’s not ready, and regular people who would hire a photographer are doing so for things like weddings and other special one-time events, so they really need to believe you can get it right the first time.

What you need is to start building a reputation and finding people who will recommend your work. But how can you even get to that point? How do you start to make a name for yourself if no one will give you a chance?

There’s no one way to make it in photography, because no two photographers are the same. Do you want to go the more artistic route and try to make it into galleries and publish books of your work? Or are you more interested in just providing quality professional shots and making a few bucks?

Either way, what I learned the hard way is that there are several common things that every budding photographer needs. And by the way, if you’re having a problem with people dismissing you because you’re too young, there’s a way around that, too.

Figure out who you are as a photographer. This is one of those things that sounds super simple and incredibly hard at the same time, but it’s important to decide (to a certain degree, at least) if you’re going to have a focus or just shoot whatever interests you. Having a focus (say, you shoot events like weddings) can help when you’re trying to get hired by people because you should have the specific kind of photos they are looking for and that will help them to see that you can do what they need. Speaking of which …

Build a portfolio. If there’s one way to “prove” to people that you can do it, it’s by actually doing it. Don’t be afraid to take chances, and never give up on a particular kind of shot or subject just because one shoot doesn’t go well. Unless you just know that you’re going to be a wedding photographer and that’s it, the best thing to do is take a wide variety of shots (of anything that interests you) so that you can show your range.

The nice thing about this, too, is that you can pick and choose what you show different people. Up for that wedding job? Here are your photos of people and events.

Be an apprentice. Want to learn a lot and make a great relationship that can potentially help you a lot? See if there are any working photographers who would be willing to show you the ropes in exchange for you essentially being their intern. If you find the right person and they like your work, this can be a fantastic way to start getting jobs and building your reputation if they throw a few jobs your way.

Work for free. No one wants to do work and not get paid for it, but when you’re starting out, unfortunately that’s often the reality. Instead of thinking about it like you’re not getting money you deserve, looking at it as training and getting your name out there. Doing a few free jobs is one of the best ways to get portfolio-ready photographs – and meet people who may actually want to hire you for pay in the future!

Take a class. Just like becoming someone’s apprentice, deciding to take a class can help you to improve your skills, learn new techniques, and forge helpful relationships. Not only will you be meeting other people who share your interests and might know about jobs or other opportunities, instructors can often be great resources. Much of the time, they are photographers themselves, and may be able to take you under their wing or introduce you to other professionals who can help.

Let your work speak for you. So now we come to that whole age thing. If you’re fresh out of college – or even younger! – you’ve probably been told that you’re too young or too inexperienced, but think back on those situations where this happened. Did you approach someone in person or lead with your personal history?

If someone has the option of hiring a baby photographer (meaning you’re young, not that you photograph babies) or getting someone with a decade of experience, chances are they will go with the person who’s been working longer. That’s why you can’t start by talking about yourself. If possible, mail in your portfolio or start a website and post it online so that people can see your work first.

This way, they’ll see you first as a photographer and judge you by your work before they even think about age and how long you’ve been working. Most people, if they see evidence from your portfolio that you can do the work, won’t even ask how old you are!

What would you add to Ferina's list of suggestions? Chime in below!

Salonee Pareek is the better half of Ramit Batra Photography. She assists Ramit at his shoots and chronicles their experiences on their blog. When not travelling, or writing, she loves to spend her time with her books and can be found on Twitter.

A few days ago, I had the chance to interact with a prospective client and a fellow wedding photographer. The interaction was around two terms – one listed above, mentioned by the photographer – the dream client; and another what the dream client said “… if someone can put their heart and soul into doing a great job of the photography”. This got me thinking about our expectations as photographers and our clients' expectations for us and how it is like walking a tightrope to manage both of these expectations.

For a photographer, perhaps, there is no greater feeling than working for a client that wants the photographer to put her heart and soul in her photography. What would my dream client be like?

Realistically, what does a client really want? This may not be a million dollar question, but is definitely worth a few thousand dollars to us photographers. Some of us went to school or college and studied the craft of photography and some of us learned it in a more hands-on manner. But most of us have developed a manner of photography, we call our own, even as it changes and develops over time. There are certain things one is willing to do, and quite a few things one is not prepare to commit. And at the end of a hard day, we all want a client that appreciates our work and sees in it, a good value for her money.

While I am in no position to generalise, I have worked for clients who have appreciated the hard work I put in, gone a few steps further and asked for suggestions as to what would help me do my job better. And some, who have at the very outset, communicated the desire to always be in control of me and directed me to work accordingly. It is the latter variety that I am wary of. Here's why: because that does not come across to me as being honest. It appears as though this person only requires a camera operator with good equipment, not someone who uses their mind to control their equipment and create photographs the way only they can.

And thus began my dream of my ideal client. And here’s what I dreamed of:

My dream client would have some awareness about photography, if not especially about wedding photography. She would see me as a professional doing her work and not merely a camera controller. She would not vanish at the mere mention of payments (quite frankly, I know a lot of fellow photographers who have had brides vanish as soon as they receive an estimate). She will want to hire me as she likes my work, and not because she thinks I would do well to ape another’s style. Most of all, she will inspire me to create not merely capture.

Wow! Now that is quite a wish-list.

About being the client’s dream photographer? That would be another day, another story.

Want to win Sarah Petty and Erin Verbeck's book, “Worth Every Penny“? Comment below. Their book walks you through the steps you need to take to set up a boutique business. It's a great read, with lots of information that you can put to use right away in your photography business.

Respond to these questions below: Can you describe your dream client? What would she or he be like? What are your expectations? What, typically, are theirs? (I'll pick the best responses on August 1st. Winners will be notified by email so please use an email address you check regularly when you post your answers.)

Spencer Lum is a storyteller with an indelible belief in the raw humanity of weddings. He is the founder of the photography journal, Ground Glass, and with 10 years of experience running Brooklyn-based 5 West Studios, he has developed a style that combines influences from fine art and photojournalism. He has also enjoyed time as a designer, creative director, and filmmaker, and he is a doting husband and father of two beautiful children in Brooklyn, NY.

In the simplest terms and the most basic words, you are not your business. No structure, entity, or process could ever contain the complexities and beauty that you possess. As you become intertwined with the day to day burdens of living, life, and the baggage we acquire that makes pack rats of us all, remember that you must always let your vision lead your business and not the other way around.

A friend of mine has a lasagna recipe from the old world. Passed on through the years, it was tradition that each generation added one improvement to the recipe. The current iteration is a sight to behold. Laden with grease, muddled by complexity, and very clearly the result of more than one too many a generation, it is a beastly thing that no person should have to consume.

The problem wasn't that no one cared. It was that each person who added their special touch saw only the trees and not the forest. Lamb instead of beef? Yes! Three cheeses instead of one? Yes! More layers? Yes! And so it went. No lasagna should have to suffer so merciless a fate. Yet this is life in action. It's not just lasagna and cooking and generations of people. It is the day-to-day. It is us, running our business, trying to get by. We don't have time to think about what we are at every moment in every action. But never let it get too far away.

It is tempting to treat business like that lasagna. To break it all down into a series of isolated steps, where each thing we do becomes severed from the actual goal we're after. More schwag? Yes! More follow-ups? Yes! More previews? Yes! But no amount of more will ever match the power of a simple, meaningful gesture. Each act that truly expresses who you are – your care and your value – is worth 10 times more than any generic gift or email.

What you want is not more. But better. What you want is not for people to like you, love you, be happy with you, or even recommend you. What you want is to be essential.

The rest will follow suit, but it will not work the other way around. It is when you are essential the referrals don't stop. It is when you are essential that you create bonds, and no one else can replace you. This is when people go to bat for you. To do this, you must make your beliefs theirs. You have to seek out those clients who can share your vision, and let them become a part of it.

In other words, you have to stand for something.

You must have beliefs that you put into action and let them roam the world. No one will ever hire someone for their opinion who is unwilling to express it. Yet this is exactly what you want to be hired for. Not just to know the rules of photography. Anyone can pick that up from a few online tutorials. Not even for that finely-honed instinct about where to be when. But for our decisions about what to capture and how to capture it. For each choice we make when we press the button and say that this image we create – in our way with our abilities – is the best representation of the moment and the day. When we are hired for that, our clients give us the greatest thing possible. Their trust. They are believing in us and not just in our skills.

If you want to achieve this, do not fall into the trap of “yes.” Do not pit yourself against your client as adversaries, where you are deciding how much of yourself you're willing to give in exchange for how much money they are willing to pay. You're not a parking meter, where dropping in a few more coins gets more time out of you. Yet too many of us position ourselves that way.

While “yes” is an the essential quality of good service, you must remember that good business starts when two people find a common nucleus of need. It is about mutual opportunity. What is good for you must be good for them. What is good for them must be good for you. No business is sustainable when you drive yourself into the ground in sacrifice of your client. If “yes” puts you at ends with your client, if getting it done hurts you whenever it helps them, it's time to re-examine what you're doing.

Being essential and earning trust requires two things. First, you must offer true value to your client. You must establish that it is them you are looking out for and not yourself. This seems at odds with the notion of mutual interest, but it's not. When you put your client first, what you lose in time will be returned in spades in the form of respect, trust, belief, and opportunity. In a good relationship, you will not just feel better about who you are. You will become better. Money may will be a byproduct of a good business relationship, but it cannot be the foundation for it.

Second, you must be willing to offer your truest opinion. Sometimes, you'll even need to push your clients for their own good. This is hard. We fear rejection. We are afraid to offend. We think we'll lose the business. But you cannot shelve this part of yourself. An opinion forged by the pressure of experience and the intensity of belief is everything. You are at your most potent when you can stir this mix into the soup of the present. This doesn't mean diva behavior. It doesn't mean grandstanding, showing off, and being abrasive. It means you can only give all of you when you create an environment that lets you perform your best. And that never happens if you don't show people who you are, what you're after, and what they need to know to let it all happen. If you want people to believe in you, give them something to believe in.

In reality, both of these are just flip sides of the same coin. To look out for the client is to engage the full value of your experience and judgment. Or to put it another way when “Yes” works, art and service are aligned. It is too common a misconception that we create the art for ourselves and offer service for others. It is equally common that we should create art for our clients and not for ourselves. In one model we are too invested. In the other, not enough. Neither should be the case. Service needs to foster art. Art needs to foster service.

Service is an enabler. It doesn't just hide our mistakes and fulfill our obligations. Good service should relate to the product we deliver. Use it to tell your story. To paint the picture of you and your value. Not just the technicalities of what you do. Service should guide and cradle our clients. It can make them excited and get them on board with our ideas. How much more interested will a client be if they feel like they're participating in the same journey? How much more trust will they give? Service carves out the space you need to perform your best.

Too many people sit passively by until the wedding day, then scratch their heads wondering why no one gets them. Service creates opportunity. How would anyone know what to do and what to expect if we don't let them in on it? That is our responsibility.

Good art, on the other hand, powers service. Without it, there is no way to show an opinion, fight for a perspective, or to even find the meaning of what we do. It will determine the words we use in our brand, and it will tell us the things to ask as we prepare our clients. Art demonstrates the values we espouse. It is a foundation.

Neither art nor service should exist in isolation. If things aren't working, examine the relationship between service and art. If the art is too self-serving and disconnected, it becomes detached from the service. If the art is too mundane, it gives the service no fuel for the fire. On the other hand, if your service only fulfills the duties without crafting a fully-fledged process, it won't establish the value of the art. It will leave us positioned as a vendor and nothing more. It is the duty of the business to show the value of the art.

At the end of it all, you must not be afraid to share yourself. Don't be afraid of the person you are. Don't bury the very best you, while the lesser parts slave away for a few extra dollars. It's when each part of what you do aligns and points in the same direction that everything comes together. It's when you never lose sight of what you're after that things happen. That's the sweet spot. And the formula couldn't be simpler. Make people part of your world, and let yourself become part of theirs.

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