How to Become a Famous Photographer

My last post generated some interesting comments and questions. And man! Do I wish I had the answers.

But I do have opinions.

A reader asked, "Jimmy, if you were advising a new photographer who was determined to become the next Joe McNally or Annie Leibovitz, what advice would you give her?"

Well, first off, a big, BIG part of the answer is right there in your question: The word "determined."

It takes a lot of determination to become a McNally or a Liebovitz or a Richardson or any one of the many true success stories of contemporary photography. It's not only about the quality of your photos. Your photographs might be awesome and yet it's easy, in the world of pro snappers, to remain something other than someone referred to as a great and notable photographer. It's easy to remain a nobody.

I've heard plenty of people say, "Yeah, Jimmy's a great photographer." But they only mean that in the context of the sorts of images I snap. What they really mean is that Jimmy is a competent, perhaps even skillful, pretty girl shooter. The harsh reality for me is that, outside of my circle of friends, associates, clients, and a few others, there is no greatness attached to my photographic rep. I'm just some guy who makes a living with cameras in my hands.

Besides determination, I believe you need a plan. A marketing plan. A divinely-inspired marketing and self-branding plan that details--creatively, uniquely, and aggressively--how you intend to get to where you hope to go in the world of professional photography.

Let's say you want to become a famous fashion photographer. Well, first off, that's probably not going to happen if you live in or near Tulsa or Seattle or Bumfuk, Montana. You'll need to be where the action is. And the fashion-foto action is in the Big Apple, New York City. Maybe Miami to a lesser extent. But NYC is where the action principally resides. You could also, of course, travel overseas to Paris, Rome, Tokyo and a few other hotbeds of fashion-shooting. But, for the purposes of this update, I'll assume you'll be staying on this side of either pond.

Once you are entrenched in a fashion-shooting capital, you need to go after your dream with single-minded purpose. Nothing exists for you except that brass ring! You're a zealot! You wear blinders. Everyday should include accomplishments that brings you closer to fulfilling your goals. It ain't a vacation, it's a mission.

You never miss opportunities to advance yourself. It's all about you and your plan. You schmooze and you network. You've heard that phrase about being in the right place at the right time? You find out where those right places are and you get yourself there at the right times. Don't know when the right times are? You go there at all different times until you figure it out.

I know this stuff all sounds like advice without real substance but the few people I'm more than marginally acquainted with who have managed to grab their desired brass rings, and to hold onto them, literally, and I mean LITERALLY, applied themselves 365-24/7 (for years) to the job of getting to where they wanted to go. They were and remain, in almost every sense of the word, obsessed. Make that insanely obsessed!

And that's my final bit of advice for this update: You want to become a McNally or a Leibovitz? Become insanely obsessed with becoming one. (Some luck and good fortune won't hurt either.)

Photo at top: Tera Patrick in front of her hubby's chopper on the front walkway of their home.