Hi everyone, it's Shell here sharing my thoughts on my experience! I probably will blog more frequently in the beginning because I am still so new, so I can look back on what it was like starting out!
Being NEW is a precious feeling, the excitement, the anxiety and the great joy of getting a little bit of success. In this post I just want to share some of my FIRST experiences since I became a part-time photographer.
1-My first client
Charlie was my first client ever if I count my friend Tess as an exception. He saw the pictures I took of Tess on Facebook and reached out to Tess about me. I was really thrilled, because I did not expect this to come so fast, also at that point I had not decided whether or not to go full force, because I was simply using my old tricks and did the thing I thought was right (you know those tricks I used when I was in photography club back in college). When Charlie asked me if I could take some pianist portrait for him I did not even need to think, I probably would have done it for free if I did not calm myself down immediately.
Anyways, shooting Charlie brought me to another level of eagerness to become a professional photographer. My being part-time still does not diminish the quality of my photos, it only means that I want to do more things in my life rather than one thing. And this eagerness brought me to Thumbtack.
2-My first Thumbtack client
With Thumbtack, you, the freelancer, need to pay a fee every time you put in an offer for a job. Getting clients on this app was frustrating at first because my portfolio did not have enough pictures. In the beginning I would bid on anything, thinking that someone would probably pay in a very low price for someone who does not even have the corresponding kind of pictures in the portfolio. I was completely stupid and overly optimistic about myself. I did not realize that until later. It was after I bid for a week that I decided to narrow it down to portrait only, because that's what I have taken! Girl, you finally know what you are doing right now! So my first Thumbtack client appeared very late on a Sunday night - it was Mazi. He sent a request past mid-night, and because I always look at my phone I snatched that request and sent a quote to him. Quite fortunately he contacted me the next morning and told me he needed this done within the next couple of days and he was really easy-going. I am so glad that my first Thumbtack experience was with Mazi - I even bought my first backdrop cause of him!
I am sure there will be more "first" experiences to come, and so far they are all very good. So long for now, can't wait to share more the next time! :)
My favorite picture of Charlie
My favorite photo of Mazi