Why Having a Mentor Can Help You Succeed Faster and with Fewer Costly Mistakes
I have had mentors all through my journey as a creative. Here are a few.
I came up through the ranks a long time ago. No YouTube, no Facebook Groups, no Instagram... heck, for the first 20 years I never even got to hear "you've got mail"...
How did I do it? How did I go from a 40-hour-a-week worker to becoming a full-time photographer working in LA, NYC, and Phoenix? It was probably due to all those brownies we gobbled down in the seventies, you know, the ones with stems in them.
No... stop that. I am kidding.
Mostly.
I had help. Real help.
Short backstory:
I headed out from Phoenix to LA determined to become the next Avedon or something. "LA needs my incredible work", I told everyone who would listen to me. And both of them told me I may find it very different when I got there.
It was very different when I got there. Everyone and their sister were photographers. You couldn't have a meal without the waitstaff wanting to show you their books. Cab drivers had portfolios, valets had books. Motel clerks, cops, lifeguards, shopkeepers, plumbers... everyone had a book.
And some of those books were awesome. I mean REALLY FREEKING AWESOME.
But they were not working in the field they wanted to be working in, they were doing something else. I didn't want to do anything else and I needed to learn the other part of photography. Not the lights, not the posing, not what damn camera you owned. The other side of the business.
The business side.
Here's one example from the big, cold, city of truth.
I met a young photographer who was in his early 20s. His portfolio was simply amazing. He was one of the best photographers I had met in LA and he was... working in a drum shop where I was looking for a new set. We went to lunch and he brought his portfolio with him. Incredible work. A graduate of Art Center in LA, he was well-skilled in the creative, production, processing, and all-around making of great photographs.
He was working in a drum shop.
He couldn't find a photo gig to save his life, he told me.
This was in 1978. There were gigs. I was getting gigs. How else could I afford a drumset?
The stone-cold truth was that he was unable to navigate the business. Whether it was attitude, delivery, choices, personality.... whatever it was, he was destined to not be a photographer not because he wasn't good at it but because he couldn't convert his thinking into a business approach.
Occasionally when I say that photographers think I mean they have to wear Brooks Brothers and be corporate stooges - you know - "professional business people".
Andy Warhol was pretty out there. And he was a tremendous businessperson. Peter Lindbergh knew what business he was in and kept his fingers in all aspects of it. I could go on referencing great photographers who were also great business people but you get the idea. I mean, Annie Leibovitz! Awesome business person and a talented photographer as well.
But the fact that I was getting gigs didn't mean that I knew what I was doing. What I was doing was sheer hardnosed marketing. I showed my book to everyone I met. I knocked on doors with no appointments, I asked other photographers to assist them. I was working at it 12-14 hours a day.
I even had a pager. Yeah, a pager you guys. And when it went off, I began searching for a pay phone to call the pager service, a middle-aged french woman with the most lovely accent.
(Pay phone: extinct technology requiring wires and stuff.)
Then I met a photographer down in Signal Hill (I lived in Long Beach) and she took me under her wing a bit and began educating me on how the business works. She showed me where I was doing well, and the many places where I was blowing it.
We traded info for assisting. This meant that on many days I would work 12-14 hours for someone else in order to get a few hours of direct coaching.
She gave me great image critiques, solid ideas on marketing, how to present my work, how to edit it (choosing, not Photoshopping), and introduced me to a great group of folks who went out of their way to help me.
People want to help you when you are asking for help... they really do. But they have to see how hungry you are for help - no one wants to deliver hours of help to someone who doesn't want it. Show them you are serious and they will step up more often than not.
A few years later, I am shooting for clients all over the Southwest and nationally. But I felt I had reached a plateau... hit a wall... become stagnant in a way. Yes, the gigs were coming in, and they were lucrative... but mostly I was bored with them. I wanted something else.
I hired a consultant from Los Angeles (I was back in Phoenix at that time) and she didn't come cheap. In fact, I had to meet with her once a month in person, and she lived in Orange County. Yeah, once a month I drove to Newport Beach for a 2-hour meeting. And back again.
She was expensive to the point of making you understand that if you wanted it badly enough, she would help, but if little things like being broke and sleeping under an overpass in your car staying half awake so bad guys couldn't sneak up on you and kill you with some garden shears were things that you were more concerned about, then she wasn't the right one for you.
I ponied up the money. It was painful. Whether that pain came from my bank account or my wife I cannot be sure. Both were not happy with my decision.
She tore my book apart. Every image I loved she found fault with. Every concept I came up with wasn't good enough. From the way I worked with the models to the way I used an enlarger... jeeeeezzzzzz!!!!
I would wake up at night and ask myself if I had made a terrible mistake going into this business.
"Have I made a terrible mistake going into this business", I blurted out one heavy critique day.
She stopped, had me sit down, and explained that no, I was right to be where I was. She wanted me to be where I wasn't "and I thought that is what you wanted too", she said - smiling 'that' smile. You know the one... the 'gotcha' smile.
And it hit me like a ton of bricks, the red kind with the cool little edges on them like you use for... oh, never mind.
I was fighting to stay comfortably mediocre, and she was struggling to make me something better than mediocre.
Her assignments were hard. The time commitment ferocious. The work was exhausting since I was also still shooting 5-6 and sometimes 7 days a week.
And then the bigger clients started calling. Agencies from LA, NYC, Boston. Bids were being accepted, and my income increased by nearly $100K within a year. I worked with her for six months, and it cost me $12K. My profit on that twelve thousand dollar investment made me wonder why I had put it off for so long.
One more time I needed a mentor was when I started an ad agency from my home office. I knew how ad agencies worked from shooting for them, but I had no idea at all how they functioned in other respects - like everything else besides hiring a photographer. An agency owner asked if I needed help in understanding the agency business and we settled on a fee of $3K, and three full days of shooting for his agency (not counting expenses). That would be about $10K in total value.
Within 7 years I had surpassed his agency, and OCEAN IMG was the third largest ad agency in Arizona in 1999 with billings exceeding $18M.
Pretty good for an investment of $10K.
Project 52 Pro System is designed for you to have that mentorship. it is a way for me to open your eyes, open up the system, and show you the ways of doing what you want to do without all the trips and falls of doing it on your own.
From concepting and producing assignments, shooting various types of imagery, bidding gigs, understanding where the work is, and getting that work - that is the core of Project 52 Pro System.
I am still the ONLY workshop where you get live access to the teacher every week. The ONLY workshop that consistently creates new and exciting assignments pulled from real-life work. The ONLY workshop where you feel you are guided, focused and pushed to do better within a supportive and positive atmosphere.
This year, the Spring 2023 class enrolling now, will also be doing some of my new workshop, The Creative Class, which is designed to get your photography in line with what is the fastest-growing segment of creative business.
Working together, Project 52 Pro System and The Creative Class will provide you with a way to a sustainable creative business. I want you to succeed and do it rather quickly. There is a dire need for real talent that can also understand the business of creativity.
Here are a few reasons to consider Project 52 Pro System and The Creative Class:
Receive personalized guidance and feedback on your work: P52 can provide individualized attention and support to help you develop your craft. We can offer specific, targeted feedback on your work, and suggest ways to improve your techniques and style. This can help you grow and improve. Constructive criticism and advice to help you develop your own voice and style, and find your place in the industry.
Gain insight into the industry and build connections: P52 and the alumni has experience in the industry and can provide valuable insights into the business, such as how to find representation, how to price and sell work, and how to navigate the competitive landscape.
Receive support and encouragement in your creative journey: P52 and the mentorships can provide motivation, encouragement, and support to help you stay focused on goals and persevere through challenges that confront us daily. We help you maintain motivation, even when the creative process is difficult.
Learn new techniques and skills from experienced professionals: P52 members can share their experiences and techniques with you, helping to expand your skill set and grow as an artist. This includes practical advice on how to tackle different projects and how to approach new mediums and styles.
I have decades of experience in this field and can offer a wealth of knowledge and expertise. I provide guidance on best practices, help you understand the industry, and offer advice on how to navigate common challenges.
We focus on pricing and marketing your work: We show you how to reach potential buyers, how to build a strong online presence, and how to develop a marketing strategy that will help you succeed.
Develop a professional network and build relationships with other artists and industry professionals: P52 can help you build relationships with other artists and industry professionals, expand your professional network and provide opportunities for collaboration and growth.
I - and the alumni - provide critical feedback and advice on your career trajectory, helping you understand strengths and weaknesses and providing guidance on how to reach your goals.
There is no other workshop that will train you in the many ways to make this business work for you and to provide a sustainable and healthy career as a creator. Not in the way P52 can. Not in the holistic, complete, and wide-ranging approaches we use to make the assignments not only relevant but also to produce the all-important portfolio shots you need for your book.
Even if you aren't planning on being a valet in Los Angeles.
PROJECT 52 PRO SYSTEM IS ENROLLING THE LAST FULL-YEAR PROGRAM RIGHT NOW.
GO HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION.
BOOKS I AM LOVING THIS WEEK
A lifetime or so ago, I wandered into a little bookstore in San Diego and picked up a copy of “Slickrock” by Edward Abbey and Philip Hyde.
It totally changed my life. I was already an Abbey fan after reading Desert Solitaire, so this new book was pretty cool cause it had pictures in it.
Little did I know how much it would mean to me. The photographs by Philip Hyde were remarkable. Large format work of land so foreign to my mind that it took me a few decades to even go there on my own. Moab, Waterpocket Fold, ‘The Maze’… names that would stick with me for my entire life. Hyde’s photos are what made me want a real camera and to take up photography as a very passionate hobby. I can remember every one of those images as if they are burned into my senses.
I lost the book in a move a long, long time ago. It was, of course, out of print.
But I always check about once a year to see if I can find a copy. Two weeks ago, I struck gold. My copy is in nearly perfect, although used, condition. You can check this beautiful hardbound book out at Amazon. There are only a few to be had… get yours NOW.
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NEXT UP: HOW I DESIGNED MY BOOK “IN DESERT STILLNESS”