Why Might Photography Mentoring Be The Right Kind Of Training For You?
Why Photography Mentoring?
Photography Mentoring is designed to help you in an in-depth and all round way. Whether it's technical training, business training, or social media training that you want (or all of the above) - mentorship can be there for you. It can be more intense than other methods, however, I am convinced that in the long-term it is the best type of photography education if you find the right mentor for you.
Mentorship and training will help you to build your business, understand the industry and provide training for your creative projects. The main benefits of training with a mentor include:
- Meeting other like-minded people
-Having a dependable teacher who will help with queries, support, and advice.
-Skipping over hurdles by using your Mentor's experience to propel you further in your photography journey.
-Covering all areas needed, such as lighting, posing, styling, marketing, SEO, social media... there are so many things that go into running a successful photography business.
-It's Personal. As a photography mentor, I like to be able to get to know someone well before we start anything at all. Why? Because if I'm going to help you then I need to know where you are on your journey. I want to know your strengths, weaknesses, loves, and hates. This way I can work with you best and help to bring out the very best photographer and business owner in you.
What Is a Mentor?
Mentor: noun - (synonym: adviser) - a trusted counselor or teacher.
In training and mentoring, a mentor is someone who gives you advice and teaches you the ropes of business as it applies to your industry. In my case, I mentor photographers from all over the world, usually, they are family photographers, like myself, or are looking to start a photography business and take that first step.
How do I find a mentor?
I strongly believe that we are constantly learning, adapting and our success depends on this. I have found that training companies are popping up everywhere to take advantage of this need, but many training companies teach a blanket syllabus and don't take the time to adapt their education for each student. The first thing to do is to decide if mentoring is the best training for you. Workshops happen all of the time and even shadowing other photographers is another way to learn.
If it is then the best way to find someone to mentor you is to find someone who does the type of photography that you aspire to and to find out if they run a mentorship scheme. This way you will get to see behind the scenes of your favourite photographer and understand how they create their images.
The Rose Photography Co., (Laura Parkin) Mentorship Programme.
Being a professional photographer gives me the insight that I need to truly understand your photography brand as well as to know how to go about creating an artistic business that stands out amongst a sea of like-minded people. As well as mentoring photographers, I’m also a family, newborn, maternity & motherhood photographer to the Cotswolds & South Devon and I have been in this industry for almost 10 years.
I’ve been through every high and low that a photography business can experience so there isn't much in this industry that I don't have an insight into. What is so wonderful about mentoring with me is that my entire career and all of my experiences are yours to utilise and fast track through.
You can choose when your mentorship begins, the first session is around 2-3 hours. A pre-session questionnaire is sent out so that I can see what is most important for you as well as to use it to get to know you and your business.
Your second session is around 8 weeks later (this is flexible) to refocus your goals, catch up and fine-tune what you have been working on.
The mentorship is flexible in terms of how you use your time and can cover any subject area including shooting, editing, styling, business, marketing, SEO, etc... Regular check-ins are advised and I am on hand for any help or questions you might have.
Creating a long-term plan during your first session helps clarify in your mind where you are heading as well as setting shorter goals for you to achieve.
The aim is to incorporate you in your work and throughout your business to make it stand out and unique to you alone, and therefore memorable to your clients.
An online workspace board is provided so we can communicate throughout your mentorship via your set goals as well as keep track of your progress.
Online via zoom calls or face to face- whichever is best due to geographical locations. I have mentored people in the UK, US & Australia so there are no limits.
