 | Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com | VisionMongers: Making a Life and Living in Photography is a book for any photographer who's ever felt compelled to combine their craft with the world of commerce and make the transition to becoming a vocational photographer. More like a sketchbook of ideas and wisdom than it is a system to get rich quick on photography, VisionMongers takes a look at the changing landscape of professional photography and the various journeys that can be taken to get there. Driven by passion and vision, and guided by his own unlikely journey to becoming a full-time photographer, David duChemin leads you through his own thinking and experiences, as well as those of others, as he discusses aspects of the craft of photography as well as the business of it, touching on everything from branding to contracts, from logos to blogging.
The book is peppered with inspirational and real-world case studies from photographers from various disciplines, including: Chase Jarvis, Kevin Clark, Gavin Gough, Zack Arias, Karl Grobl, and Dave Delnea.
Illustrated by these stories of other photographers, VisionMongers covers the practical aspects about what it takes to turn photography into a career, such as knowing your market, discovering your brand, finding a mentor, listening to your critics, and more.
As encouraging as it is realistic, VisionMongers is about making a life and a living in photography.
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Average Customer Rating:  Telling it like it is David builds on the success of Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision, sharing an insider perspective on how to now turn that vision into a career.
The things I love about this book:
1. He doesn't sugar coat things. This isn't a "turn your hobby into a profession in 3 easy steps" kind of book. In fact the first section scared the heck out of me. But then you realize that he's just being honest - it's a very hard art to make a living at. As you go further into it though, you start to realize that hey, this really is possible. There are just many more things to consider that you may have realized at first.
2. The case studies. He has many of the top photographers in the world share their stories about how they got to where they are today. Each unique, each giving you ideas for possible strategies for your own success.
3. The insider knowledge. David is very willing to share everything he knows about the profession. He takes the old-school line of keeping all of your secrets to success private and just shatters that paradigm. He's open about every aspect and wants you to be successful. He knows that in this new world, your success is good for the entire profession.
David writes with a clear and friendly style that's easy to follow. You'll find yourself taking tons of notes and bookmarking pages for future reference.
In the end, you'll come away knowing that if you follow his advice (and work very hard) everything is possible. It won't just be a dream any more, it will be reality. Business is tough, but if you insist, David will show you the Way! Vision Mongers discusses about how to survive and hopefully, thrive in the professional photography world. It contains a lot of insights about the professional photography landscape especially in USA and Canada.
At first, I am a little bit surprise that the tone of the book (especially first chapter) is not encouraging at all. David repeatedly warns amateur photographers or hobbyists about the negative sides of going pro. Despite the negative tone, I feel that David is right. It is hard to make a living being pro especially if you lives by old rules. Every aspiring pro photographers now need to craft their own niche. style and brand.
In fact, branding for photographers are everything now, and I am glad that David dedicates a large portion of the book in developing your personal brand. It consists of advice on your logo, business card, and social media such as website, blog and twitters.
David is an active blogger and twitterer (@pixelatedimage). David is smart enough to follow the trend of social media which I think will replace the role of traditional media such as prints and television sooner or later. More and more people are going online, this including potential clients. It is wise to establish some presence on the net. Also, the nice thing is.. it is free for everyone to use.
David also discusses a bit about business operation, such as contract, negotiation and sponsorships. He does not give you many detailed examples, but you will get pretty clear insights on how to do business.
As a bonus, David inserts some biography of some of his famous pro-photographers friends: Chase Jarvis, Zack Arias, Gavin Gough, Darwin Wiggett, Grace Chon, Kevin Clark and some others. Each photographer is successful in their niche and all of them have some presence in the web.
This book is very valuable for aspiring pro photographers. It explains very clearly about the current pro photography landscape and why being business savvy, especially on personal branding and social media marketing are the key determinant of your success.
For more review about photography books, camera, lens, or general photography tips, please visit my blog (click on my profile). Thanks for reading. |  |
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