For professionals and hobbyists alike
Photography is one of the easiest hobbies – and professions to get started in, as there is no real barrier to entry – and EVERYONE carries a camera about with them nowadays – on their phone.
That’s a great thing as it can be such a rewarding hobby – and indeed business.
But because of the modern digital way, too many new photographers don’t seek out any training at all, and start out in business which ultimately fail as they have no idea how to take good photographs regularly – on demand , and then market them to make a profit/living.
‘Photography is one of the easiest things in the world to be mediocre at.”
I started out in photography in the early 1980’s, back in the days of learning from books, shooting film, and then getting a trainee part time job at a local photographers.
Once I decided (very much later on) to go full on professional, I hunted out good mentoring and training and spent every spare penny on my education. Driving all over the UK to spend quality time with some of the UK’s best photographers.
Then there was also getting qualified up to the top level in the industry (Fellowship) and becoming a trainer & mentor myself.
The work has paid off as we (me and Ali) run the very succesful GWS Photography hiring another two amazing full time photographers and a trainee.
We’ve not stopped there as we push our whole team to improve and get better daily.
And we love to help others too.
Last year we bought into a Photography Coaches franchise – which ended up being a disaster as it was so poorly run, we only had success doing our own marketing. So we have since decided to just do our own training and mentoring. That episode and wasted time/money will be resolved this year we believe.
But things could not be better for GWS and for the people we help… be they hobbyists or new or struggling professionals.
Following our own training regime we have taken GWS Photography from making £46k a year to over £240k offering amazing photography to the most amazing clients. But it’s never about the money – but what we offer and the joy we get out of such an amazing business.
It is our goal to help lift the standard of all professional photographers to a better level so the general public all understand that there is serious art worth investing in, if you go to a proper trained photography studio.
We know many great photographers that fail because of poor business skills, likewise bad photographers that scrape by offering really poor photography at very low prices. Both of those issues could be fixed by some training and mentoring.
Photography studios boasting about being booked out for “Christmas minis for 2024” whilst they sell the spaces at £10 is not a sustainable business, and terrible photography/lighting and posing does the photographer and client no justice.
Every professional photographer should be able to take excellent sellable images to make a living, and every hobbyist should be able to take amazing photos to give more joy from their hobby.
Some people just need a wee bit training, guidance or mentoring.
So if you would like to get more out of your hobby… or turn a fledgling business into a successful one then seek out mentoring. Go to someone who’s work you love and a person you respect and PAY them to help you.
Here at GWS we are not offering any more training or mentoring for 2024 as we have no more spaces but there are many people out there that will train you.
Don’t just do an online course – trust me I’ve tried all those. You need someone to be with you, put their arm around you and give you encouragement and knowledge in person.
