I love answering questions. I REALLY love it- the ability to supply information that someone is seeking makes me really happy for some reason. I also love being generous with my time and knowledge to help other grow- that’s how I was taught by my mentor, so that’s how I choose to run my business, hence where all of my Lessons Learned and Questions From The Audience posts hail from! Throughout my time in the photography industry though, I’ve learned that it’s a two-way street.

If you read my “getting started” story, you’ll know that my “in” with the wedding industry began with an email to a local photographer that eventually resulted in an informal mentorship. I could ask Mike anything I wanted and I knew he’d always answer me to the best of his abilities. He taught me about lenses, wedding timelines, in-camera settings, contracts, etc; I really and truly believe I wouldn’t be where I am without all of his help. It was a mutually beneficial relationship, though- as I grew and matured as a photographer and began to do my own research, I was able to contribute to our conversations, instead of just receiving. We traded ideas, shooting advice and business tips. I shared my newly-gleaned information with him whenever I could, and the more I was able to contribute the more comfortable I was asking questions.

There’s a point to all of this, and that point is that as much as we as artists and small business owners love to share our knowledge, there has to be some give and take. Think about it like a pitcher of water: if that pitcher is constantly pouring into other pitchers and glasses but is never refilled, it will eventually run out of water. We’re the same way- if Mike was only ever answering a constant stream of questions from me and I never contributed or gave anything back, he’d eventually start to feel taken advantage of and burned out by the relationship.

There are a lot of photographers in the area who consistently receive emails from people asking to pick our brains about our businesses, and I’m so encouraged about the plethora of people who are hungry to learn. But we all also have businesses to run, photos to edit, websites to update, and families to dote on, so we have to VALUE our time. A lot of photographers rememdy their love for sharing their knowledge with the need to value their time by charging a fee for mentoring sessions. Others just share their knowledge on their blog. Some don’t mind meeting up for coffee to chat about the industry.  And still others offer workshops so that they can share their knowledge with multiple people at one time. The common theme, though, is photographers valuing their own time.

I know (trust me, I know) what it feels like to want so badly to learn from someone else, and reaching out to other professionals is one of the best ways to start. Just be prepared to understand that there is give and take. Professionals have spent hours, days, months and years perfecting their craft and it’s important that we value their time- sometimes that means paying for a mentoring sessions, other times that means assisting on a shoot, and still other times that means committing to a relationship or offering a favor in return (i.e. you have a degree in graphic design and you notice a photographer is in need of some minor website updates- maybe offer to help out?).

I hope this comes across as lovingly as it does in my head- this is supposed to be a source of encouragement, pushing us to get out there and form RELATIONSHIPS. Yall should continue to ask questions- I still ask them all the time! I love getting emails with queries about gear, settings, etc.- sometimes I answer them directly, other times I respond with an email telling the questioner that I’ll address the issue in a future QFTA post. And if I can’t answer it, I point them to someone who can. Asking questions is AWESOME- don’t ever stop. Just also know that you should be generous with your knowledge, too, and that in order to form a healthy relationship there has to be some give and take :).