This is Russ Klettke's interview with Brian Dilg, who is Chair of Photography at the Photography School at the New York Film Academy. In addition to 20 years of professional teaching experience around the world, Dilg's work has been published in The New York Times, Time Out, Village Voice and covers of books published by Simon and Schuster, Random House and Hyperion. He has also worked in post-production for major fashion houses, consumer products manufacturers and media organizations. He also has won awards as a filmmaker and worked as a director, cinematographer and editor of narrative, documentary, music video and commercial films.

Q: What do you tell photography students about careers in the industry?

As an instructor at a New York-based school of photography (The Photography School at the New York Film Academy), I regularly provide advice to student commercial photographers and photojournalists about the kinds of careers they may achieve. It is hugely beneficial for them to envision the heights to which they can aspire – we are is New York, after all, where you can become the best of the best in almost every endeavor – but it is also essential to consider the entry point at which one can enter the profession.

I have a quick way of summarizing what a career in photography likely will entail. In your first job, you probably will be someone’s assistant, and a lot of your time will not involve taking pictures. Across the later arc of your career, you are likely to be self-employed and therefore must have business skills – in addition to your acumen and artistry as a photographer.

Q: So, they are to start from the ground up – but does that mean actually taking photos?

Let’s discuss first things first. The role of the photographer’s assistant, or someone who works in the administrative and support side of photography, is not just about paying dues. You will learn vital parts of what makes a photographer valuable to his or her clients and their craft. Between what you shoot and what is ultimately used in print editorial, multimedia advertising or online publications there is a lot of editing, organizing, legal documentation, processing and selling. Long-term, every photographer has to know how this works and how to manage it.

Q: We suppose this varies, depending on the type of photographer the student hopes to be one day, yes?

The specific path you wish to take – smaller-scale commercial (including weddings), larger-scale commercial (fashion and advertising photography), and photojournalism – would likely involve these entry level positions:

Smaller-scale commercial – Most established photographers need assistants to help with lighting, equipment, on-location support and administrative tasks. Work with a pro and learn to be a pro. Often, the assistant will price out a job (some use contract templates found on Blinkbid.com) and handle client contact to some extent.

Larger-scale commercial – The digitech assistant on advertising, high-end fashion and other large-budget commercial shoots may appear to be the most popular person in the production. As they work on the computer tethered to the camera, clients and talent might be clustered around them as they identify whether or not the shoot is getting them what is intended – in real time. The work doesn’t end there, as a lot of organizing and file backup is required post-production, along the path that selected images take to become a final product.

Photojournalism – While the budgets for photojournalists are shrinking for print media, rare is the project where the assistant can travel with the photographer to newsworthy locales – unfortunately. But there is plenty for the photojournalist’s assistant to do in the office: editing, cropping, backing up files, processing prints and communicating and invoicing are all in their role. This person gets a first-hand look at what clients (media) want and need, and the value they place on good images.

Of course, assistants in each category need to be working on developing their own skills and portfolio, even when that is not their full-time responsibility. For example, the photojournalist should seek out local media assignments, enough to develop credits and tear sheets. Commercial photographers-in-training should jump at any opportunity to work with smaller clients.

Q: Is it essential for the photographer to also be a businessperson?

Concurrent with developing a portfolio, the photographer needs to become comfortable with the business imperatives of a photography career. Indeed, the first job for photographers is to get to know the business. In addition to the skills development mentioned above, the future independent photographer needs to understand the importance of selling in their career. By selling, we mean relationship development. You’re only as good as you hope to be and working as much as you want when clients know you and trust you. That boils down to a personal style, your professionalism, how fun you are to work with and your ability to establish reasonable expectations on the part of your clients – on top of providing top-quality photography.

Do you agree that the first job for photographers who are either professionals or want to go pro should be to get to know the business? Sound off below in the comments section. Your voice counts!

Today's guest post is by Don Giannatti. In 2011, PDN named him one of the best photography workshop instructors.If you didn't catch his CreativeLive programs, read on. You can find Don on Twitter, his websites: Lighting Essentials, Learn To Light, Now This Is Cool … and Project52. He is thoughtful, opinionated, controversial and funny. Check out Don's first guest post as well.

Portraits.

Photographs of people. People in spaces. People in environments. People in places where the light doesn’t cooperate.

People in studio settings where the photographer has ALL the control – and all the responsibility – to make the light the way it must be to capture the subject.

People.

One of the most interesting and fleeting of all photographic subjects, the portrait can show us a beauty unseen, a glimpse into the soul of the subject, or a simple smile that will last a lifetime.

Or more.

The good folks at UDEMY.com asked me to discuss portaiture on their education site and it became a full course in no time. That sort of thing happens to me when it comes to teaching.

I absolutely love to teach.

This course is for the beginners – the guy who wants to do more fashion like headshots or the gal who wants to make better location photographs. Intermediate photographers who are a bit uncomfortable with their strobes may also find some choice nuggets in the class.

I want to help photographers see exactly what I see when I am planning a portrait. The goal is to not only understand how the light works, but WHY the light works the way it does. Knowing why the light works is the best way to figure out where the light goes in any situation.

The class is currently at 5.5 hours and will grow to nearly 7 hours of video by the end of the year. I am planning new shoots for each month until January, 2013. I hope to incorporate some of the questions and comments of the students in the next four shoots.

We have also set up a Flickr page (currently invite only) where we will critique, offer suggestions, help deconstruct and have an open conversation with the students. In addition, UDEMY offers a way for live lectures and Q&A with the instructors. I plan on having a live show twice a month – two time slots so we can get involvement from folks who may be in way different time zones.

As I stated, the course is for beginners and early intermediate photographers. They should have a working knowledge of their cameras, and how to work the flash mechanically. There is a suggested gear list as well, but it is small and basic. No need to spend hundreds of dollars when simple gear can get the job done.

I am including the low-res version of the workbook as it currently stands. I expect it to nearly double as we answer questions, discover some new and interesting tricks, and add more shoots/demos/discussions to it. However, that workbook is for the students only.

Please feel free to download this low res workbook to see the images we are looking at in the course. If you are comfortable with the style, and would like to know how to repeat these lighting situations, this course is for you. If you are totally sure how to do these images, it is not the course for you. (I don’t want advanced shooters being disappointed. However, two pros who have reviewed it said they learned a couple of things … heh.)

Now understand that I am not a ‘video’ guy, and the small cameras are not broadcast quality. But we do have good video, and good sound, so the information is imparted … and that is the goal.

I hope you will take a look at the materials and if the course looks like something you would be interested in, check it out.

Tiffinbox readers get a discount of $20 off the regular price of $50. I have given Seshu 50 discounts for the readers of his blog. Simply follow the link or enter the code: “Tiffinbox” into the coupon code when enrolling.

I attended Don's workshop some years back in Boston. He knows his stuff and his love for teaching is very obvious. I do hope you will take advantage of the discount and sign up for his course.

Angela Pointon loves photographers and artists. She studied photography, but had a love affair with business and marketing. She decided to combine all three together when she started Steel Toe Images. She coaches and inspires photographers and other artists to kick major butt through her one-on-one sessions, blog, emails, workshops and her first book (coming soon), called “ A Swift Kick In The Pants: Business Smarts For Us Creative Types”. Follow Angela on Twitter, Facebook or her blog.

When you're working by yourself for yourself, you're often left to your own (bad) devices. So how do you manage to pay attention, get stuff done and keep on keepin' on toward each one of your goals?

Make yourself accountable to someone.

If you’re anything like me, I value a bit of “nagging” in my life. I like when people ask me “what’s up with such and such for your business?”

For me, running my business is a lot like going to the gym. When I go by myself, I might not get the most sweat-induced workout in. But, if I am working out with a personal trainer, I am damn sure I do what I am supposed to (or I risk disappointing that trainer!). The same goes for my accountability coaches. My coaches happen to be my husband (he’s tough!) and some of my business heroes that I’ve connected with over the past few months.

Planning and perfection are just other words for procrastination.

Know yourself. Are you going to plan the bejesus out of everything you need to do? Are you obsessed with getting things “just right” before you move on? Have you ever said, “but it’s not perfect, yet.”

Some of us go over and over and over something so much that we get bored of what we’re working on and move onto the next thing before we even reveal anything to anyone. Being disciplined also means knowing when something is good enough to ship to the rest of the world.

Want to find out more about being disciplined?

Tamara Lackey, an unbelievably successful photographer and highly disciplined business owner, is joining Angela Pointon and Tiffinbox for a live webinar on Wednesday, October 3rd from 8:30 – 9:30 PM EDT. We’ll be discussing exactly what it takes to be disciplined in your photography business. Register for this webinar, along with three others in the series, here.

This webinar session is part of a series of four webinars, all available for just a $25 donation (all donations go to support Tiffinbox). This webinar series will sell out. Learn more here.

Can’t attend live? Don’t worry. All registrants receive a recording of each webinar.

Inside this webinar series you’ll get access to the brains and experiences of people who’ve worked with hundreds of businesses just like yours. In addition, the photographers speaking have published books, taught hundreds of photographers and have work featured in places like Vogue, O-The Oprah Magazine, Professional Photographer Magazine, and many more. Reserve your spot by registering immediately here.

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.)

Amanda Reseburg is a wedding and portrait photographer from Beloit, WI. When she's not photographing for clients she's hanging out with her kids, shooting for fun and blogging incessantly. In the spirit of personal passions, Amanda started Kindred Spirits Hospice Photography in 2009. Follow her on Facebook and on Twitter.

Starting a career in photography is a lot like dating.

In the beginning, the passion is ignited and you want to be with photography ALL. THE. TIME. Your camera is your constant companion and you will photograph anything that moves. You love photography. Photography loves you. It gives you butterflies. You will be together forever.

As you become more serious with photography, you begin to settle into a typical routine. Sure, you still love photography, but the passion has waned a bit. You have regular clients. Regular shoots. Regular poses. It’s all very comfortable. All very regular.

There may come a time when you become SO comfortable with your long-term love Photography that you start to hate the very sight of it. Everything your camera does starts to bug you and you just want some time to THINK … ok, maybe not … but, much like dating, if you don’t feed your relationship with photography … it will die. Those butterflies you felt in the beginning will go away, and what you’ll be left with is a JOB. Yes, I maintain that even at its most hectic I have the best job in the world. But, that doesn’t mean my passion for the craft couldn’t use a little pick-me-up.

Enter personal projects. Diving into personal work is a way to not only practice newly learned skills, but it’s the best way to really enjoy your craft again. With personal work, the rules fade away for the most part. You are shooting for yourself and yourself only. There are no clients to please and no deadlines to meet.

Last summer I started a personal project based on my love of turn-of-the-century children’s portraiture. I wanted to tap into what I call the natural “creepiness” of kids. It was a departure from what my portrait clients typically ask for, but it was FOR me, no one else. The project morphed into what people started calling “Creepy Kids.” It was met with mixed reviews. Some people LOVED the darker take on children’s portraits. Some people thought I had made the precious children look dead or evil. But, I was satisfied in the end that I had created something that I liked and in the process learned something new about my aesthetic.

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Tapping into a darker, moodier feel to my portraits changed my outlook on my regular client-based work. In that sense, stepping outside of my “9-to-5” to shoot just for me really changed my work as a whole. I could have continued shooting what easily sells, but I wonder how long I could continue to do that before I reached maximum burnout.

I challenge all working photographers to take time out to shoot for you. Reclaim your passion, embrace what others may find strange, and find those butterflies again.

Are you working on a personal project that you would like to share with other photographers? Tiffinbox welcomes your submission. Simply contact me if you are interested in guest blogging.