Art is all very well, but it won’t pay the rent.
“There is a general belief among many of the younger people coming into the profession that the secret of success is totally vested in the quality of their pictures. They look at the photographs applauded at the National Print Awards and imagine their creators make a living from them. But those pictures are often show rather than dough images. They are made to impress judges, other photographers and those few clients who are visually sophisticated, and are not what the business of people photography is all about.
The person who realizes this and who organises his procedures, himself and his time, and conducts his business efficiently and with good humour,is the one who will survive. The product, provided it is reasonable and competitive in price is largely irrelevant.
Photography should be a business conducted by those who want to make pictures which delight and satisfy their customers.
That commitment will lead to other areas of concern, such as how to get the business, how to keep the business; how to create a selling environment; How to impress yourself upon your community and how to be profitable in a small business,how to fund that business, and, most importantly, how to organize yourself.”
- Comment from an Australian legendary wedding portrait photographer Ian Hawthorne.
Ian Hawthorne, a much loved and admired photographer from Geelong passed away aged 85. His book ‘One mans eye – A decade of people – Geelong 1980 – 1990’ has some of the best environmental portraits ever made in this country. For the past 10 or so years the Victorian Division of the Australian Institute of Professional Photography has made an annual award named after Ian Hawthorne for an emerging photographer demonstrating excellence in their craft.
