Thursday 29 September 2011

Take every oppurtunity.

Seriously, today has been mega! I've been on-it-like-a-car-bonnet responding to emails, getting stuff DONE!

One of the big lessons I stumbled upon quite early in my photography time-line, was that you should take every oppurtunity you a presented with - low pay, no pay, high pay, whatever. Occasionally when I am very busy I forget this slightly, but today I was so busy and had a massive reminder that DAMMIT ROSIE - the way to get more jobs, to feel secure is to take EVERY oppurtunity.

I've gotten wedding photography jobs from writing my website on a piece of paper bag on a train, just yesterday I saw a Boots sales assistant was wearing an engagement ring and often get into chats with anyone regardless - it's so surprising but when people have just a nice, no pressure chat with you, they naturally want to help you succeed. No advertising, no "mega value deals" - just niceness.

Here's a quote I LOVE:

"All things unequal, people will always buy from a friend. All things equal, people will still always buy from a friend."

This is stupidly true. Luckily I fell into this mantra the right way - not being nice to people to get something out of them, but being nice to them because it's nice to be nice. But it's such a wonderful thing, and has opened so many doors!


Today I shot with clothes sent to me by American Apparel on their suggestion (awesome!!!). Last year I shot the album cover for Maroon 5, a band I am a stupidly massive fan of. I've had emails from Samsung, done book covers for Penguin books and lots of work inbetween. And I'm pretty sure none of this, and I mean none of it, would have happened if it hadn't have been for those little doors opening along the way.

And I'm not talking about massive blogs wanting to feature me or knowing the "right" people. Seriously I knew/know no one. But the every day people, you and me. It just clicked. For every email I reply nicely to, that's one person who might have a smile on their face. A smile on their face generates a click next time I post somethin' up. A click results in a feature somewhere - flickr explore, or a higher google search. And then BAM Maroon 5 see my work on a google search! Job booked, Rosie falls off chair, people everywhere send emails - I GET RESPONDING.


It's not a case of getting something out of people - that "thanks for your lovely comments" email might never lead anywhere, and I'm pretty sure the awesome high schooler who made me a wicked video sure doesn't have Beyonce's phone number. But niceness PAYS off! It does! There's so much negativity on the net, and it baffles me! So many people who want to be successful - the key is just to get talking! Send compliments, post interesting thoughts, have a go, fail, have another go, send thanks, send questions - and bang, watch those doors start opening.


Everyday I think I'm learning more and more the importance of the "unimportant". I'm so excited to release editing tutorials, and I hope they help people out and I'm so glad people are willing to actually buy them (for a noice price ;)). But more than anything I owe everything to the people who click, to the people who email and support even though they don't have to.

For all you guys out there who are waiting for your doors to open - send an email! Like a friends' facebook photo. Do a shoot for free. N-e-t-w-o-r-k. Don't expect anything back, be grateful if it comes back atcha.

I've got so many ideas, help and help alike ones! :) I'll be posting some of them up here

and I'd love opinions on the ones people would like to see me complete :)

Thanks for readin' and thanks for the click :D

Rosie xxx

31 comments:

  1. All of these are absolutely true! I befriended someone from online a couple of months back, sending out travel experiences, tips, and whatnot, and just recently she emailed me again after a long while and asked me to take photos of her wedding. And I wasn't even looking into doing weddings at the moment, but that really is an awesome opportunity that I never would've gotten if not because of the prior contact. Thanks for this, Rosie! :)

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  2. Thanks! Great post!! Keep us all on track!!

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  3. I love the spirit of this post, Rosie! And I couldn't agree more, or be happier that one of those opportunities led to me having one of the prettiest covers ever for my first book. XO

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  4. So true Rosie (and I love the quote!). Being a friend to someone will most def help you succeed in the way in which you want to go rather than being mean or negative. Thanks for the post :)

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  5. awww Rosie, that was so sweet, so high energy!! I loved it!!!

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  6. You are so energized in this post it's crazy! :) It's so true though. Just doing little things will make people stop and take notice! Thanks for this reminder Rosie! I can't wait to be able to buy your tutorials!!

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  7. What an inspiring post you've given me hope! I've just moved to Sydney and am finding it very hard to start up with my photography, you've encouraged me to work on overcoming my shyness and trying to strike up random conversations with people :) love your blog x

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  8. This is a great post! Just the inspiration that I needed this week. Good things happen to good people and we all have to remember it. Have a wonderful weekend!

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  9. Great article. Really encourages me to keep doing what I am doing. It just takes time to build up some networks. =)

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  10. Totally agree on networking and being kind :)
    But girl you got major talent!! people see that without even a word being spoken ;-) - but do agree with what you said.

    Keep it up. I love that 2nd shot with the dress. Beautiful.

    Blessings,
    Drea
    www.dreawood.com

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  11. so true :) I have the same thought, you put it nicely.

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  12. That's all nice and rosy, but not everything works out so well. I spent over a year shooting swing dancing events for no more than free admission and receive NOTHING in return, not even being asked back to shoot the same event the next year. I bent over backwards, did tons of promotion, gave them thousands of dollars worth of my time and hundreds of photos for NOTHING.

    I think it's nice that you've had doors fall open for you and had massive amounts of popularity on flickr that have led to you being high on google searches and whatnot, but I don't believe that doing things for free or low pay will provide an absolute return.

    I think it is good to shoot and to practice. It's good to do personal jobs for fun. It's good to try new things and learn new things. But it's also good to learn balance, learn when to say no, and learn to let things go if you're being taken advantage of.

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  13. Thanks for writing this. Everything you said is totally true. These are all basic ideas that somehow I haven't been paying attention to until recently. :-) Nice people deserve every bit of success they get.

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  14. Yep, worst advice I ever took was to charge for a job when they asked for free. I lost the job even though I wanted it, won't listen to that particular friends business advice again ;)

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  15. Awesome post Rosie! Congrats with everything! You totally deserve it!

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  16. Beautiful post, very inspiring. Thanks!

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  17. Rosie,
    You have no idea how this came at the perfect moment for me: I needed reassurance and you gave it to me, I needed inspiration and you gave it to me, I needed to be sure that I'm not a failure and you just pointed that out in this post.
    I don't want to be famous. I don't want to be popular, I just want to be recognized as myself in my photography and being nice is the way I work it through.

    Rosie, you're an amazing photographer but I'm pretty sure you're an amazing person too: it shows through your pictures and your word. And for that, I'm grateful to have stumble upon your work.
    You are one of my biggest inspiration. Thank you, dearly.

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  18. truly lovely pics!!!
    great shots!

    My photoblog: http://www.photographyforpassion.blogspot.com/

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  19. I sort of agree with Fenn. If people are too nice, too available, they are being taken advantage of at times. A friend of mine wants to establish herself as a child photographer and has decided to build a portfolio. She's been offering her services for free, trying to connect with people. She lives in a small town and as the word got around, the damage was done. Now she wants to start charging a symbolic amount of 1€ per photo (she has a full-time job), she's being told off for being "too expensive". Basically, people have come to expect that they should get it for free because someone else did and to print out a photo from some commercial machine costs less. Because she didn't put value on her services, people seem to think that they are not worth paying for. Doing things for free can be beneficial in some cases but can also destroy your value. Surely, people won't expect to get a wedding cake for free or a free haircut/make-up/wedding dress, so why treat a photographer like his services are valueless? It's actually pretty downgrading, I've been there myself. Everyone wants gorgeous photos but many are not prepared to pay for them, as opposed to paying for fags and booze.

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  20. RE Anonymous - in terms of "doing for free", I wasn't speaking so much about shooting for free, unless you're the one approaching the other person, but more so about helping other people out, i give out info here freely kinda thing. If someone approached me to shoot their wedding for free, I'd say no but compromise on a price. That said, I was approached by Tim Andrews who has Parkinsons & is shot by many photographers for free and I said yes as it's beneficial to my portfolio & something I have ideas for. I'm just saying that any oppurtunity is good and useful to take on if you can, this blog post wasn't supposed to be about payment/non payment for work really xx

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  21. I could not agree with you more Rosie. I subscribe to the same philosophy and it has never brought anything bad to my life.

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  22. I love this post Rosie. I need to find a way to bookmark it so i can come back to it as a reminder.

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  23. You hit the nail on the head!

    I got into photography because it's a way to express myself. And, it's a lot of fun! I realize if you run a business. You need to get money coming in. But, at some point, it makes sense for you to give a little to get a little. Not to mention it's just good form to treat others with care and compassion. A free shoot may just open a door to an opportunity you had never ever imagined.

    Friends will buy from friends. That's something I tend to forget about. If it wasn't for my friends, I wouldn't have very many photos in my portfolio!

    Great post Rosie, keep it up!!

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  24. Thanks for you words, Rosie. Very sweet and encouraging. Always love your photos!

    xoxo from LA.

    www.alloyous.com

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  25. hey Rosie! (:

    your photographes are amazing, all of them! you're definitely an inspiration to me, and your work only gets better and better. keep it up girl!! :D

    when we had to remake one of our favourtie photos at school, i of course chose one of yours.

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  26. hi Rosie!

    I have been following your work for many years, and all I have to say is congrats on all you have achieved and grown! You are definitely very talented and creative and a hard worker. This all pays off. Just really appreciate what you have and you deserve it! It's always very inspiring to come over and visit your blog. Awesome job.

    Greetings from a Portuguese living in the States :)

    ballonblanc.blogspot.com

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  27. Rosie,

    I love this post so much. It's just what I needed to hear right now. I just need to remember we all start out at the same place... just wanting to learn and be successful and grow. This may be some of the best advice I've ever heard since I started photography. Thank you for that!! Btw, I just recently got a blogspot and I love this layout you use... can you tell me what it is? The layout I use, the images show up so tiny! Thank you for all the inspiration!!

    -Ali Bee

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  28. Love this post, very inspirational, Rosie!

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  29. you are so lovely, Rosie! No doubt this open-mindedness (and open heart) has brought you to many places. xxx

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