What I'm doing wrong?

Hello everyone I need help.

I think I'm having a problem, either it's me or my photography, two days before Christmas i lost my day job and I thought well it may be a good thing as I can start dedicating and working out my photography business. Since then I updated my website I printed business cards, I shot some new photographs to add to my portfolio, also added my websites to some free and payed directories like photographers.co.uk, I send emails to photo-agents but still nothing no emails no phone calls. It is the same with my wedding photography website that it's been running, now, for more than a year. As fellow photographers please give me some advice or point out what i'm doing wrong. I think that I'm having quiet realistic view about my photography and I think that isn't that bad.
These are my websites.
www.mirchevphotography​.com
www.wedding.mirchevpho​tography.com.

Hello !

Disclaimer: I am not a professional working photographer, I am merely a relatively new hobbyist, so please take this all for what it's worth:

I checked out your website briefly and I really like your work ! Well-done ! I like your style, it is fun and interesting, and to me, technically quite good.

As to what you're doing wrong - probably nothing. It's only been what, a bit less than a month or so ? You need to realize that it could take quite some time to build a business, esp. in these times. But maybe you need to do quite a bit more networking and "knocking on doors" (both physically and in electronic terms - facebook, twitter, etc.) You might check out a book called "Crush It" by an American guy named Gary Vaynerchuk - it's available on Amazon etc. He's all about entrepeneurism and building a business using social media. People aren't going to come to you - you have to figure out a way to market your skills and come to them.

Just my 2 cents - good luck with your venture !

Cheers, Mike

It's tough getting your name out there ... I know, I'm trying to do it myself!

I'm approaching established pro's in my area, offering my services as assistant and second shooter.

I've volunteered my services at the local animal shelters (pet photography is something that I'd like to pursue).

Use your connections ... your brother's mate getting married? ... your neighbour's son or daughter got graduation or awards coming up? ... your favourite type of sporting event happening nearby? Get out there and shoot ... have business cards on you ... have a readily accessible gallery available for public viewing ... put links (with friendly non-pushy comments) to relevant galleries on people's/organizations​' facebook pages, etc ...

Best of luck!

Also seek out local networking groups, and get involved with them. My wife holds the videographer chair at a very busy local networking group. At a recent meeting, the photographer of the group said that 62% of her 2011 business came directly from referrals from other professionals in that group. The flip side is that you have to be good at networking (this comes with time) and repay those referrals with referrals of your own.

You can't just throw up a website and expect it to do all your marketing and advertising for you. That's just not a realistic mindset.

Good photography is a only one component of running a successful photography business.

A few questions you should be asking yourself:
Who are your potential customers?
Where will they find you?
How much will they pay?
Who are your competition?
Are they any good?
Are they cheaper than you - or even much more expensive?
And try:
How does your site work for search engines?
Could an Adwords or Facebook campaign help in the short term?

You need to understand that photography is less than 10% of running a photography business. And whilst you have no-one to shoot, you need to work your nuts off to learn how to get some.

Nice images BTW.

you're amazingly talented compared to most photographers in the professional business, especially for just a startup, look for some local art shows and focus on networking, 500px is great for getting your work noticed and I highly recommend it. I'd love to pick your brain on your lighting and processing, especially for shots like the ace of spades in action, almost looks CGI. Unfortunately talent isn't as vital in photography as it should be.

Everyone with a camera wants to start a photography business. It is not like it used to be. The market really opened up. Business is tougher. Most that I know started their business on the side of a full time job. Only when they gathered enough business did they finally switch over to full time photographer. It can take a few years.

Star with a good portfolio. If needed do some heavily discounted or free gigs if you need in order to get that portfolio started quickly. Go to wedding shows and promote yourself. Use facebook. Etc.

A lot of pros actually do not do much shooting. They put on workshops. Speak at camera clubs. Video blogs. You need to be diverse.

And it takes time.

Are you using flash? It seems to load slow for me. You might want to get away from Flash if you want to include those iDevice users.

Not to discourage you, but there are a ton of talented people that just picked up a dSLR at Bestbuy.com and announce to the world that they want to go Pro. Some with great talents some less.

The question you have to answer is what distinguishes you from the rest?

Like any business - network, network, network.

I started wedding photography PROFESSIONALLY last year. Before that I was shooting for friends and family with a Rebel XT. Then I started getting real work requests and I decided to take this to the next level. I bought a 5D Mark II and have been happy with it. I signed on with a wedding consultant company. They provide the chapel and the reception hall and they hire out contractors to fill the holes. I am one of those contractors. While I don't get paid a whole lot of money I still get most of their weddings. The are more of a wedding / party consultant so they do birthday parties and everything else too. You might want to look into doing something like this just to get your feet wet.

You're in London so I don't even know if such places exist there but it wouldn't hurt to look.

Just wanted to say love your first website! As soon as it loaded I said "wow". Well done!

Losing your job can be a wonderful thing. It can be the boot you need to get out and create your own rewarding show. Sounds like and looks like you've made a good start. Good web sites,,great photos,,no customers! oops. I don,t think your doing anything wrong,,just not doing enough things. You speak about web sites, bus. cards, emails......ok,,,but where did you talk about getting out and meeting real people face to face. Marketing , especially when your starting up needs many angles. Introducing your self to real decision makers just so they know who you are. Maybe no work from them to-day,,,but next week there main guy gets sick,,hit by a bus,,,mouths off to them, now there looking for a new guy..and at least they have met you,and seen your photos,,,,you,ll be several steps ahead of the dozens of " EMAIL" photographers that were to lazy to actually take the time to go meet them in person.
Anyway...my point is marketing yourself is a lot more then just this and that,,if you haven't all ready, take some marketing courses,,bus. courses, books,,, and learn how others market themselves.
BTW i am not a pro but i do have 30 yrs of experience running my own bus. and even though word of mouth and repeat bus. was a large precentage of my bus. , marketing still played a important and profitable part in bring in new work. All the best

I just wanted to add, nice profile pic!

But seriously some great work on your site. Keep at it, network and patience!

Are you looking for a critique of your website? To be honest, I found that the portrait part of your portfolio didn't look natural - like the people in the pictures were way over processed. I know I wouldn't want a picture of me like that ... just doesn't look natural to me. I'm not a fan of the gallery - the pictures load very slowly and the pictures are quite small. What kind of business/work are you looking for? If you're looking for more portrait-type stuff, then I think you would need to add more to that section. The landscape pictures are nice ... just not sure how much of a market there is for that. As for getting business, I would tend to agree with the other posters - get out there in person, go to sports games and offer your services as a second shooter for weddings and events.

Do you know how much work I got out of having a website (video editor)? zero. The site is only to show prospective clients your work. You have to go out and hit the pavement. Get your name out there. The more work you do, the more your name gets out there. You'd be amazed how much repeat business and word of mouth gets you more work. It will start off slow but if you stick with it and your work is good you will get more work. By the time I went back to being a staff editor I had to turn work away on a regular basis. My first year freelance I had maybe 2 months of solid work.

No one looks online for a wedding photographer, they ask their friends and family who they used or if they could recommend someone. Sitting on your butt and waiting for people to come to you is going to get you nowhere fast.

Best of luck!

Something that your website is lacking.. is the fact that customers don't know which areas you serve.You have to put that all over your website in order for Google to catch all of it. Also buying some domains in your area might help as well. such as www.photographeridaho.​com