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Thinking of a career in photography? Manvi Gandotra, the founder of 1Plus1 studio, a wedding photographer, gives a few tips.
What image comes to your mind when we say, photographer? A Male! Right? The male default is so embedded in our minds that we can’t imagine a woman pursuing a career in fields that are conventionally considered to be a man’s job.
Here are some tips for all the women out there wanting to pursue a career in photography.
Manvi Gandotra, the founder of 1Plus1 studio, a wedding photographer, is an excellent example of breaking the stereotype of what is considered to be a man’s job. She was an electrical engineer from NIT Nagpur with 7 years of work experience in the field. It was her absolute love for photography that opened the path for her to pursue her passion.
In our series Career Ki Paathshaala, she shared with us her journey of switching from a 9 to 5 highly paid job for becoming a wedding photographer and how she was appreciated for the work she was doing. “I had 7 years of experience and knew that I could always go back to a conventional career if it didn’t work out. Fortunately, there has been no looking back on the decision,” she says.
Manvi Gandotra – founder, 1Plus1 studio
Sharing with us her experience being a woman in the field she says, “It is a bias that it’s a man’s job. Society doesn’t think that women can do this. In the beginning, sometimes there was this doubt if I could do it. But I also had a client who called me and said we are hiring you because you are a girl. It gives me joy that my daughter’s wedding is covered by a woman photographer.”
For beginners who want to pursue their career in this field, it is important to understand the field, and it is in demand everywhere. Bring something new to this field and believe in yourself.
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” ― Harriet Tubman.
Practice, practice, practice
One needs to be passionate about it and should keep practicing. These days several schools offer photography after the 12th standard. There are various degree courses, diplomas, and certificate courses online or offline you can do to become a photographer.
Find your niche
Some prominent subfields are there in the field of photography. A few fields you can go for are:
Freelance photography
You can also do freelance photography. Freelance photography is becoming popular nowadays, if you want to work on your terms, and want to opt for photography with other things you can go for this option. There is no set path; it is a full package including business, lead generation, finding your clients, and the competition in the market.
Get qualified
Your basics need to be clear. Once these are in place, find a mentor and learn. When you are ready and feel confident, take it as a full-time job.
You can get detailed information about the courses and career opportunities in the Career Ki Paathshala series by Women’s Web.
Build your portfolio
“The goal of practice is always to keep our beginner’s mind.” – Jack Kornfield
If you want to enter this field you need to build a good portfolio that makes you stand out from others. A good portfolio will make an impression on the client, the growth in this field is dependent on your hard work and passion. If you know what you are doing and are good at it you can get work in this field.
In recent years advertising, media, fashion industry, etc have emerged at a larger scale, and with this boom, a career in photography has emerged as one of the viable options. Just like other art, photography is also an art of expression. You can never go out of jobs in this field.
If you are passionate about it then start working for it, and let your photos do the talking.
Image source: Manvi Gandotra
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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