Fast Track Photographer, Revised and Expanded Edition: Leverage Your Unique Strengths for a More Successful Photography Business [Paperback]

Dane Sanders (Author), Richard N. Bolles (Foreword)

Book Description

Release date: May 18, 2010

Become the professional photographer you were meant to be.
 
Competition in the photography industry has never been fiercer. But in this empowering guide, acclaimed photographer and speaker Dane Sanders reveals that the key to success is to stop worrying about what everyone else is doing and start focusing on your most powerful resource: you. Discover how to:
 
·        Use your unique skills and talents to carve out a niche all your own.
·        Avoid the mistakes most photographers make.
·        Choose a business style that fits the way you want to spend your time—and live your life.
 
Fast Track Photographer is not just another how-to book—it’s an entirely fresh way of thinking about your business, whether you’re just starting out, or an industry veteran wondering why all your hard work isn’t working. If you want to build a competition-proof creative business in the twenty-first century, it’s time to throw out the old rulebook and get on the fast track!
 
Includes free access to Dane’s popular self-assessment test (a $20 value) to jumpstart your journey!

"I can't think of a better way for anyone to start their professional photo career than to read Fast Track Photographer."
—Scott Bourne, publisher and host of Photofocus.com
 
"As much about finding out who you are as it is about how to become a truly great photographer. Highly recommended!”
—Amit Gupta, founder of Photojojo.com

“This book is worth its weight in gold.”
—Gary Fong, photographer, author, and creator of the Lightsphere

“The best resource for today’s photographer—BAR NONE!”
—Scott Sheppard, host of “Inside Digital Photography”
 

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

DANE SANDERS is a Southern California-based photographer, author, and speaker, who has been featured in numerous publications. A frequent speaker for Adobe and Pictage, he leads Fast Track workshops nationwide and has given platform talks at WPPI, Photo Plus Expo, Imaging USA, and Kevin Kubota’s Digital Photo Bootcamp. He can be found at www.danesanders.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Amphoto Books; 2 Exp Rev edition (May 18, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081740001X
• ISBN-13: 978-0817400019
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.7 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (92 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #201,896 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #50 in Books > Arts & Photography > Photography > Equipment, Techniques & Reference > Professional

More About the Author

Photo District News named Dane Sanders one of the 30 most influential living photographers of the last decade. His work has been featured in Rangefinder, Professional Photographer, Resource, Grace Ormonde Wedding Style, Shutterbug, Photojojo & Design Aglow.

He is the author of "Fast Track Photographer" as well as "The Fast Track Photographer Business Plan" - both published by Random House. He also created the Photographer DNA (pDNA) & Business Stress Test (bST) as well as a host of other resources for photographers. Dane has taught at Photo Plus Expo, WPPI, Imaging USA, SXSW, Brooks Institute as well as international events throughout North America, South America, Europe & Asia.

You can also follow @/+ danesanders on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook & Google+.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

110 of 114 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Mis-titled and a good, common sense approach to building a photography business May 25, 2010

By Bob Tobias #1 HALL OF FAMETOP 10 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

This book would be better titled "Efficient Track Photography" or perhaps "DEAL to a Successful Photography Business" if they didn't sound stupid and if the second one wouldn't get they author sued. He's also building a brand around the "Fast Track" name. No mistake, his method can get you where you want to go quicker by showing you how to avoid spending time doing things that get in the way.

What Mr. Sanders does, in a down to earth, relates-well-to-people way is to divide the photo market into two classes of image makers, Freelancers and Signature Branders. He explains why they are different, what makes someone better at being one or the other, and how to best leverage your innate skills, abilities, interests, and talents to succeed in that space. He even provides an on-line tool for evaluation yourself and deciding which path is better suited to you.

This book contains absolutely no technical instruction ("When shooting into the sun..."). There are references to useful resources for finding out real world solutions and getting real world employment, like Pictage and Grad Images, scattered throughout the book.

If you're looking for instruction on how to take pictures the try Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera (Updated Edition). If you want to know how to maybe start making (more) money once you do then this book is a good place to start.

Funny thing is, depending on your path and personal style, knowing how to take a good picture may not even be the most important thing.

The online test, a "$15 value" that comes free with the book provides some interesting insights into your personality as related to your photographic endeavors. It asks 150 multiple choice questions and produces a 6-page report that analyzes 14 aspects of "you" and provides a description of how you fared with each area and recommendations on how to handle any issues. My strong recommendation would be that you take the test before reading the book. I say that for a couple of reasons. If you wait until after you read the book to take the test (what I did) there's a risk you might recognize how questions asked relate to "bad" traits and skew the results. (Me Grumpy... Never!) Also, you are allowed to retake the test, the author even recommends it. So, you can always take the test a second time, after completing the book.

BTW, I feel that honest, effective reviews can take the place of first-hand experiences that are lacking in online shopping. I've always appreciated the help I've received from other reviewers and work hard to return the favor as best as I can. I hope you found this review helpful and if there was anything you thought was lacking or unclear leave a comment and I'll do what I can to fix it.

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars About motivation more than photography June 2, 2010

By Talvi TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

The budding professional photographer has a library of photography-related topics available in book form: technical ("Understanding Exposure"), business ("Best Business Practices for Photographers"), inspiration (name your favorite photographer coffee book), and now motivational ("Fast Track Photographer").

Honestly, if you've ever been to a photography workshop or seminar, you soon find that they are more about motivation than they are about sustainable learning. The same applies to this book: Mr. Sanders' book covers all the usual motivational subjects (be a brand, be unique, build your business from you and not a product like a photograph) and cheerleading without you needing to book a single hotel room at a workshop. In doing so, other topics such as inspiration and business lightly get glossed over as well. But that is also the problem - it's a slim book and it's mostly about using his evaluation test to determine how to develop the 'you' in the photographer. That means there is a lot of rhetoric and not as much meat. I don't know how much is really relevant since the people he uses as inspiration examples all established themselves before the digital revolution took off in the last two years. Certainly, they did not have to compete in such a saturated market.

Those with a business or marketing degree will likely already understand and utilize the concepts. For everyone else, Sanders glosses over a few hard marketing and branding topics in a very easy and friendly manner without all the business double speak. Since so many are starting businesses without even a small fundamental understanding of sound marketing and business practices, there is a strong need for this book in those photographers' libraries. It would be nice if more people realized that aping a professional will never yield the same results as developing their own innate talent.

Mr. Sanders says it early in the book: starting a business is easy and many are doing it; the only way to not have competition from them is to be completely separate and unique - to be a brand unto yourself. Of course, that doesn't really help you get from starting point A of newbie photographer to ending point B of being a unique distinct desirable brand (nor how to get your brand out to potential clients). What I thought the book missed is that being your own brand (or the most amazing photographer ever) doesn't translate into clients. So, you can follow the book and create a YOU brand, being personable and charming, but still be invisible to potential clients unless you do some hard connecting and marketing.

The thing I liked most about the book is that it will enlighten those who don't realize they have no idea what they are doing and will be eaten alive by those who do. You can't compete on price/product - you can only compete by being uniquely you. It is nearly impossible to sustain a business on selling photographs; what you have to learn to do is sell an experience by you.

I'm not sure where the 'fast track' comes in other than that he would like to encourage people not to make the common mistakes that prevent successful businesses. It's going to be a long track either way :)

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An interesting (and different) approach to a photo career June 17, 2010

By Jeff Wignall VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I'm still in the process of reading and digesting this book and while I'm pretty wary of "career" books (most of them are written by people who have never actually done what they're talking about) Dane Sanders is actually a very talented wedding and portrait photographer and so he's succeeded at what he's writing about. (Interestingly, by the way, he didn't become a photographer until he was 35.). Also, I write books about photography and have been a photographer for about 40 years, so usually anyone promising a "fast track" to a profitable photo career is either a huckster or, again, someone who has never done it for a living. But Sanders is not a huckster and he does do it for a living--so again, there is some authority behind the book. Still, being a photographer is tough enough, making a career out of it is much tougher so when I come across a photo-career book, I tend to look at it askance. What I'm trying to say is that I approached the book with a fair degree of skepticism.

But one of the points that Sanders makes in the book (Chapter 2: "The Power of Choosing Your Own Adventure"), and the one that caused me to give him more credence as someone who had something very worthwhile to say, was his very good advice to enhance the things that you are already good at rather than trying to fix all of the things you're not that good at doing. This is such fantastic (and rarely offered) advice. For example, I'm a travel photographer by trade and I realized, after a lot of frustrating years of trying to be all things to all clients, that what I was good at was revealing the soul of a place--period. (No doubt because I love to travel so much.) I'm not a wedding photographer, I'm not a very good portrait photographer, I'm not a great corporate photographer (don't tell my corporate clients that), but I am very good at landing in a far-off place and coming home with good photos of that place. So Sander's advice is to stop trying to get better at all the things you may not be that good at (you might need a second lifetime to get through that anyway--though it certainly can't hurt to get better at those things) but to show off and revel in the things that you are really good at doing. Accentuate the positive. The point is, I think, is that there is a *reason* you're good at the things you excel at--because you love to do those things.

That actually goes to a significant point that Sanders makes time and time again in the book: be who you are. It's *you* that you are ultimately selling, not photography. This is another very valid point that is often ignored in the attempt to build your career from your portfolio instead of your personality. In my books, for example, I talk as much about my life and my own fears and failures, as I do about f/stops and shutter speeds. And when people review my books, the one thing they point at over and over is the warmth of the writing and the humanity (and the lame humor). I can teach you to take a good technical photograph in half a day, but I can never teach you how to blend in with another culture or to make friends with people when there is a language barrier--that has to come from you. It's in you, you just have to let it out. And Sanders gives a lot of advice (and provides a good argument) for letting your personality shine through as you try to build a career. You might resist this advice and still think you build a career on having a studio full of equipment and a great and diverse portfolio--but clients could care less. They want to know that they can trust you, that they like you and that you are human enough to understand what it is they are trying to do in their business.

As I said, I'm still reading the book and I'm at the point now where he is talking more about assessing who you really are and how you can apply that to building a career. The book tends to have a few too many fictional examples for my taste, but they're short and not enough to put me off and they tend to make good points. Also, the book is a big new-agey for me (hey, the author is from California!), but again, the info is worthwhile and I like that he writes from his own perspective rather than trying to write yet one more plastic book without a human voice. I don't know Sanders, by the way, have never spoken to him. But I think that if you're seriously thinking of starting a photo career, or career-changing, you will get an interesting perspective from this book, as well as a good outline for figuring out just who you should be as a photographer.

I'll finish this review when I finish the book--but right now I'd say for the few bucks it costs, it's a good investment (or ask your library to buy the book). You still have to work on mastering camera skills and that takes many years regardless of what cameras you own, but you also have to know where you want to head if you ever expect to get there. [...]