If You're a Photographer, It's Time to Get Involved!

Life it is not just a series of calculations and a sum total of statistics, it's about experience,
it's about participation, it is something more complex and more interesting than what is obvious.
  David Libeskind

by Skip Cohen
 
​​I've written a lot over the years about getting involved in your community to build your brand. As we slowly come out of the pandemic, it's time for you to also get involved in the industry! 
 
I'm not suggesting you need to be a speaker or grow to be an industry icon, but being involved will help build your network and strengthen your business by association with other people having the same interests as you.
 
There are some definite steps to being more involved, and they all start locally.

• If there's a local guild or affiliate group online or photographers getting back to live meetings, you need to join. Most often, before the pandemic, they'd meet once a month, usually at an inexpensive local restaurant. Over the last year, in-person events have morphed into Zoom meetings, often with a guest speaker. 
• In the "old days," Pictage had their PUGS (Pictage User Groups). But there are still areas of the country with independent groups that sprouted up where there's a need. Many of them have their own pages on Facebook like Cache Valley Photographers.
• Do you have a state association? PPA is most prevalent, but it doesn't have to be associated with any national organization.
• Who are the local manufacturers or vendors in your area? From local retailers to labs, album companies, frames, and all the hardware and software manufacturers, get to know somebody on each company's staff.
• Online programs like ClickCon Nation, KelbyMedia's online conferences, Out of Chicago, and Mentor.photo offer ongoing programs and guest speakers to help you fine-tune your skill set.
• National membership and attendance at various conventions and workshops (once they come back) offer you an opportunity to meet people from other areas of the country and, in fact, the world. You never know when a simple conversation, while sitting next to somebody at a workshop, might give you an answer to challenges in your market that have already come and gone in another.

Here's what you're looking for in all of these opportunities: people to listen to. The industry is starting to buzz again, and you need to be on the front line to hear it first. New technology, new techniques, and recent trends – you need to know about them as they're happening.  
 
Being involved in the industry is like voting. It's your right and responsibility as a citizen to vote in every election. Well, it's also your right, as a photographer, to make an effort to be involved and help the industry that's responsible for feeding your passion.
 
There are also some interesting side benefits, exposure for your work. For example, many years ago, I was working on an annual project with Graphistudio. They were doing a day in the life of WPPI book, and we needed four photographers. The photographers who were picked each year were chosen because they were involved, and we knew who they were. 
 
And don't forget the other vendors out there. Getting to know a specific vendor might get your work seen in national or local ad campaigns or simply have your work displayed in a blog post or booth. Years ago, my friend Steven Katzman's images wound up in the Kodak booth. My friendship with Jerry Costanzo kicked off because we needed an image in the Hasselblad booth at what was then PhotoEast. Numerous photographers have had their work featured in articles and magazines because they worked to build relationships with the various editorial staff.
 
The key to be involved is nothing more than putting in the time. Don't jump into the involvement game with high expectations; just be engaged for the sake of growing and learning what's going on. Great things happen when you least expect them, and if you're active in the industry, you'll eventually get noticed!