Wow. It’s February. Guess I should catch you up..on something other than a shoot.

I kicked off 2010 with a solid decision. A mentoring session with the fabulous Amy Carruthers. This for sure deserves it’s own post because it’s more than just me having a session with Amy. It’s about the importance of finding a career mentor if you’re serious about improving and creating an environment of trust of real dialogue. 

I did a lot of research to determine who I wanted to do a session like this with. There are photogs all over the country I respect. A lot. But I picked Amy because there is this zest in her. This excitement about the work she does. The respect she gets for sticking to her guns and producing great work with every client. For thinking through the decisions she makes. The consistency in her work. But mostly: She KNOWS who she is and she puts THAT into everything she does. I call that staying true to your brand. It’s easy to see what others around you are doing and want to do that. Or talk like them. Or make your work look like their work. But that just creates a disconnect for your clients and potential clients if it’s not really you. I knew i was reaching a critical point wrapping up my first year in business. Decisions I needed to make. Things I needed to let go of. I knew who I was but I had some uncertainty in other areas and of course had a desire to improve significantly. That made the timing of this session perfect. 

Here is a glimpse into the mentoring session I had with Amy. Some quick points on what we did:

1. Discussed topics that were top-of-mind for me. Things I wanted to dig deep on and required no gear. Things like: Work value. Staying true to your brand. Inspiration – why I chose photography and what inspires me and amy on a daily basis (btw, there’s some posts coming on this soon thanks this session!). There’s a lot more we discussed but these were the hot ones. We did this over lunch at Bodega. Good choice, Amy  
2. I picked Amy’s brain. I wanted to know her story, where she came from, why she made some of the decisions she has made along the way. And there’s so much more I didn’t get to but I’m sure I’ll learn over time. 
3. Focused on techniques I was looking to improve by shooting on-site at one of my June wedding reception locations with incredibly dim lighting. no windows. The day could have stopped here with what I learned. Seriously.
4. Had more in-depth discussion with a little ps action demo I didn’t even know I wanted to know. We ended the session at her studio to continue discussion on some of the topics we started at lunch. She showed me a little photoshop move that I never knew existed and shaved HOURS off of session edits. Priceless. 

That little 4-pointer by no means is all-inclusive but I think I hit the key areas tailored to me. The session was open and honest. Not just the techniques I learned made my investment worth it, but the opportunity to hear from someone who has been there and done that. That’s Amy. We’ve hit the same bumps…she just did it quite a bit sooner:) And she had advice for getting through them.

Are you feeling stuck and maybe a bit alone as you journey through your career? I have a couple things to share if you’re interested:)

1. Find a mentor.
2. Participate in a mentoring session. This is a different person than number 1. This is someone you schedule a half-day or more with. Have questions ready. Be prepared to answer some yourself. Workshops are great too but a completely different style. 
3.  Surround yourself with people you trust and respect. I was lucky enough early in my advertising career to find someone that believed in me, encouraged me to try new things and pushed me in areas I needed to grow. I knew it was equally important to find someone in the Photo world. I mean, there are a few high-quality folks in the ad world I still look to – they’ve helped me immensely when it comes to critical decision making after the crazy transition to full-time photographer in July. They are also the first one’s I call when I’m looking for an honest opinion on just about anything. I respect where they’re at in their career and how they got there. And even more, everyone around them thinks the world of them too. A sure sign they’re just plain great. But connecting in the photo world is imperative. 
4. Get involved. And I don’t mean sign up for everything that comes your way. Make wise, thought-out decisions about what you participate in and why. It’s not fun getting burned out. So be selective about choosing and be chatty when you arrive. Get to know who is there and learn something about them.
5. Give back…online. I think twitter and FB in some ways have made it too easy to take, take, take without contributing. If you appreciate someone’s ideas, tell them. And my goodness, FOLLOW them or try friending them. Stop worrying about that ratio;) Join their fan page. And offer advice to YOUR network. Recently switch vendors and have a fantastic new one? Tweet/FB it. And tag those vendors in the post or give credit to the person you got ideas from. Have a specialty outside of photography? Offer advice where you can. 

Thanks a million, Amy, for some great take-aways