Networking – The Photography World

Okay, I’m just going to say it…out loud…here.

Most photographers in the St. Louis area are NOT open to sharing and networking with one another. At least the ones that I’ve come into contact with. They are typically greedy and think you’re going to steal their business from them. I know, that’s harsh to hear. But, it’s sad. When I look around the country and the photographers that have become close and share and learn from each other in other parts like southern California, it makes me wonder why we don’t have that here.

I am certainly not the most successful photographer in St. Louis. I don’t know that I’ll ever be. But, I want to know that I can go to my colleagues and share and hopefully learn at the same time from them. There is a wealth of knowledge that is there to learn from the technical standpoint and the business standpoint. I just can’t understand what many are so worried about. The number of people in our city that have babies, graduating seniors and weddings – well, it’s just not possible to cover all those by the number of photographers in our area!

One time, I shared a while back that I wasn’t so sure I was interested in doing weddings. The photographer I mentioned this to immediately said, “send them all to me!” Why couldn’t that person have said, “what is it about them that is turning you off right now? Would you ever want to second shoot with me and get a feel for it?” – I didn’t even hear, “well, if you aren’t interested in them and you get requests, I could refer the type of subjects you like and vice versa.” It really just turned me off immediately from this photographer. I realize we’re all in this to make a living, but I truly believe that we’re rewarded by the actions we make and our openness to be helpful, kind, and friendly. I didn’t get that from this photographer.

So, after being in Phoenix with Audra last month, she shared with me how a photographer on Facebook gathered a bunch of photographers together and created a group. The goal was to create this practice group of photographers in the Phoenix area that could share ideas, techniques, business experience and more with each other. Their first meeting was successful and they have been keeping it going.

Last night, we had “OUR” first meeting here in St. Louis. I just found a few people I knew from online and created a Facebook Group too. A few of them invited some others and well, it was a great meeting. There were only five of us, but that’s good. We realized that it was nice to have a small group come together and we could brainstorm what we wanted to learn, do and experience from this group. We’re all so excited now to have met, talked, and for our next meeting in April. We’ve started planning our first “shootout” day and I think we could all agree that it would be nice to meet more than monthly if we all had the time.

After I finally figured out the timer on my point and shoot (ha ha how funny that I can operate a BIG camera and not a point and shoot?) we grabbed this quick shot of us. If you’re a photographer in the area, please let me know if you’re on Facebook and we’ll invite you. It’s a closed membership because this is really for professional business photographers and not a “learning group” for hobbyiests. You should either be in business, or have started shooting for money and considering business as an option.

Thanks everyone for attending! Rochelle, Robin, Jason, Courtney!

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