My Photography Business Evolution
For anyone interested in the business of photography, I have laid out the newly-developed structure for my own: a result of working with my first official mentor.
Around the midpoint of last year, I began the long and arduous process of overhauling my online presence and rebranding my creative business.
I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy feat, and I also knew that the path forward was not going to be a straightforward one either, full of twists and turns, doubts, fears, mistakes, darkness, and second-guesses.
I began to analyse my current website, social media, marketing strategies, communication language, customer journeys, and pricing, realising that whatever it was I was currently doing was not working. My imperfectly raw creative chaos was in desperate need of some order and structure.
Realising I was well out of my depth on the business-y side of things, I recruited the help of my first ‘proper’ mentor, Jeff Brown, who quickly took one look at my website and told me why I wasn’t where I wanted to be as a photographer—on the business side, at least.
As is the case with many artists, I had been excelling creatively for a while, landing multiple features in magazines, appearing on podcasts, and fresh off the back of a solo exhibition in Plas Glyn-y-Weddw, which reached upwards of 20,000 people. But my business was, quite frankly, a mess, especially my website, which represented all that was going on behind the scenes. Jeff told me that in less brutal and more graceful words.
It wasn’t clear who I was, what I was offering, and where I wanted my website visitors to go or what I wanted them to do. My homepage linked to every other page possible; there was no order, intention, or clear journey for its viewers to take. So, I immediately set about making the website changes Jeff had advised, and I invested the proceeds from my Finding Light exhibition into his twelve-month mentoring programme to begin transforming my business and its offerings.
Diversified Writings & Blogs
Finding Light Journal
This publication will continue to primarily feature my own self-expressive, introspective writings about the creative journey. These writings have connected with people across the world for various reasons, and I have always wanted to maintain this space as a place for authentic expression, truth, and vulnerability without becoming too ‘salesy’. I do, however, realise I have a service to provide as a part of my purpose, one that I truly believe makes the world a better place; it is my duty, therefore, to at least signpost people to my offerings and remind them that I am here to help and guide others on their respective paths towards a life of creativity.
Beyond Technique
My evolution as an artist has led me to branch out and offer my services as a mentor, stepping into the deeper realms of creativity, where my intuition has been guiding me all along. As mentioned above, it felt uncomfortable for me to dilute my personally expressive writings with too many ‘calls to action’ and advertisements to work with me. To maintain the authenticity of the Finding Light Journal and my personal, introspective creative essays, I have decided to create an entirely new writing space. Covering topics such as mindset, business & entrepreneurship, and purpose, Beyond Technique will feature dedicated articles to help people unearth their creative voice, uncover their artistic vision, and make strides to reach their potential.
Ten Thousand Hours
New to some of you, I’m sure, is Ten Thousand Hours, which has featured on and off for a little while here on Substack. I have also given this an exclusive space on my website, making the newly rebranded bradwcarr.com a real hub for my three pillars of creative offerings. This publication will feature regular free articles on the practical and technical aspects of landscape photography, such as understanding light, elements of composition, post-processing, and genre-specific topics such as intimate landscapes and woodland photography.
My target audience for these writings is beginner and intermediate-level photographers, whom I wish to help lay unbreakable foundations that will hold their photographic kingdoms in the future.
Finding Light, Beyond Technique, and Ten Thousand Hours will act as non-hierarchical pathways in my educational structure, with people eventually graduating on their journey through the school, so to speak. My vision as an educator, which really accelerated when I was studying to become a personal trainer in my mid-twenties, was always to equip people with the skills and knowledge necessary to fly in their own direction: to restore a person’s sense of self-sovereignty and autonomy in the world. Creativity offers the perfect pathway to continue doing just that.
New Services & Refined Customer Journeys
The School of Photography
Following the success of recent group workshops, private 1:1 tuition, and mentoring programmes delivered for The Royal Photographic Society and PhotoClub24/7, I decided to consolidate my offerings under the School of Photography umbrella. The overview of this, which I wrote one morning a few months back, perfectly describes the vision for The School of Photography services:
The School of Photography has been built on the premise that every photographer has their own pair of eyes capable of seeing in ways that only they can.
As someone who turned to the creative arts to find healing and a sense of belonging following some complex and traumatic early-life experiences, I understand that every human being is unique.
My creative philosophies have been developed to extract every ounce of that uniqueness from a person, so they can see clearly the artist they are, beyond the conditioning and self-limiting beliefs imposed upon them by people not blessed with the tools that we have in our inventory today.
My learning experiences are a revolutionary blend of practical tuition, mindset coaching, and artistic & spiritual development. When you sign up for any experience with me, you step through an energetic portal and open yourself up to the infinite. You should prepare to be transformed by the fires of creative practice and made aware of beauty previously unseen. You will learn not only to develop your vision to see the landscape in your own way but also to reflect and think critically about your work, adding a layer of meaning to what you choose to make.
Every experience has been carefully designed to build creative confidence, challenge thoughts and beliefs, and empower people to discover their own artistic vision and unearth their creative voice, both of which will awaken the storyteller within, who is capable of reshaping worlds.
Tuition: Practical 1:1 Sessions, Group Workshops & Residential Creative Retreats
The School of Photography offers students two pathways for their journey towards self-expression through photography, healing, transformation and creative liberation.
The first is the more conventional form of photography education in the form of private 1:1 tuition, group workshops and residential photography experiences: although my residentials are following a more introspective ‘retreat’-style experience, which I hope will appeal to a certain type of person, focused not too heavily on technical, traditional landscape photography, but more on the spiritual & self-expressive dimensions of the art.
My 1:1 tuition and group workshops follow two pathways: one for the beginners who are interested in developing their technical understanding of the camera and building their confidence to take full control of it, and another for those who are more experienced photographers and wish, for example, to understand my philosophical Five Pillars framework, or develop their own unique vision of the landscape.
Mentoring: Private & Group Cohort Programmes, Portfolio Reviews, & Guided Creative Writing Sessions
The second pathway in The School of Photography is through creative mentoring experiences. There are many possibilities for those wishing to work with me to build creative confidence, curate themed portfolios, develop projects such as exhibitions & books, and produce creative essays, artists’ statements, and poetry. They are as follows (click the titles to learn more):
Creative Development Portfolio Review: An in-depth portfolio review designed to help photographers identify themes and concepts within their work, uncover deeper layers of meaning, and build the confidence to develop projects, launch an exhibition, apply for accreditation, or simply for self-validation away from the stringent judgment of camera club competitions.
Language of the Inner Landscape: A guided creative writing service dedicated to helping photographers develop accompanying essays, prose, poetry, and artists’ statements for projects, portfolios, and exhibitions.
The Photographer’s Foundations Mentoring Programme: A 12-month mentoring programme that guides photographers through different stages of the photographic journey, from mastering the technicals, to understanding their ‘‘why’’, to preparing for a first exhibition, to building the confidence to approach a magazine editor.
The Hero’s Journey Mentoring Programme: A 12-month mentoring programme that guides photographers into the deeper realms of creativity to refine their vision, unearth their creative voice, birth new writings, overcome self-imposed limitations, build confidence, and develop meaningful projects such as books, exhibitions, and presentations.
Photographing with Purpose Group Cohort Programme: A short, 6-week online journey into the deeper realms of meaning-making in photography. Participants will attend a 3-part workshop to learn more about my deeper creative philosophies, such as presence, intention, observation, and reflection. This is designed to be an introduction to my Five Pillars of Meaningful Landscape Photography, hopefully kickstarting a journey into the inner landscape for those who attend.
A Bridge Between Two Worlds: Photographing with Purpose Group Programme: Building on the success of my recent Photographing with Purpose mentoring programmes with the Royal Photographic Society & PhotoClub24/7, I developed an extensive 12-month journey, which will lead cohorts of 10 photographers into the deeper realms of creativity and meaning-making. Through the programme, attendees will be encouraged to curate portfolios, uncover themes in their work, and develop projects such as books, exhibitions, and presentations, overcoming self-imposed limitations and building creative confidence along the way.
The Finding Light Creative Academy
Slowly birthing in the background of it all is the Finding Light Creative Academy. I have been gathering thoughts, data and opinions from fellow photographers recently via this online survey as I listen deeply to what is wanted and needed in the world of creative photography.
The academy will be an online hub for meaning-making photographers, and, perhaps in the future, even other artists, writers, and educators. Here, the community aspect will be the most important pillar: a space where people can connect, engage, share, learn, grow, start conversations, ask questions, and seek support, advice, or simply friendship with other likeminded creatives.
The community aspect of The Academy will be backed up by:
Various pathways for creative growth and development, which will follow the three blog structures mentioned above: Finding Light (vision), Beyond Technique (purpose), and Ten Thousand Hours (craft)
Educational resources such as eBooks, frameworks, editing tutorials, and videos
Online courses covering all aspects of the creative journey from technique to portfolio development to finding your ‘‘why’’ and more
Discounts on mentoring calls, portfolio reviews, private tuition, group workshops, creative retreats, and training courses
Online community calls and live Q&A’s
The Finding Light Creative Academy is shaping up to be a powerful space for anyone who wants to use photography to achieve personal growth and prefers a more process-driven approach to the practice, rather than a results-driven one. Moving forward, the Academy will take much of my energy, as I shift my focus and attention towards creating more valuable content that will feed the community and educate and inspire others on their paths to live the creative life. I feel in many ways as though my entire 9-year journey has been moulding me into a man who can lead a community with trust and integrity. I am excited to see where this new venture leads and how much the community and I can grow together.
If you’re interested in any of the services I have listed above, you can use the links to learn more. If you have any questions regarding my business evolution, I’m just a direct message or an email away. I’m always happy to engage with photographers who wish to walk a similar pathway and share wisdom from my own journey so far. You can reach me via email at brad@bradcarrphotography.co.uk.