When you first start out you won’t have anything so the question is what do you do?
Let’s say you are an aspiring photographer, you should do nature photography or portrait shots of your friends. The best part about doing this for free is you get to stretch your creativity and have your own signature shots.
Nobody is paying you to be worried about how the pictures come out or if they agree with the artistic look that you give it. If you want to get into weddings offer one of your friends who is getting married to do it for super cheap because doing a wedding for free will be too much work.
You’ll also want to offer this to a friend that is on a budget because lets be honest if they have a nice elaborate wedding they will want everything perfect including the photos.
Want to build up your portfolio for cinematography? The concept is very similar, maybe you want to get into music videos.
There are many artists coming out with music that want a video but they cant afford it. Offer to do some for free until you have an idea of how long it takes for you to shoot and edit it. Once you have this figured out then you can factor in the cost for future projects.
If you want to get into commercials then go to local businesses and offer to film for free. The best spots to go to are restaurants because you get to eat what you film. Especially since its free they will feel compelled to let you eat free of charge. Then there’s storytelling, which many of us will do our own passion projects for free to build up that experience until we can make a very good quality film.
Over time you will get your name passed around and be able to charge then little by little build up enough income to get more gear. Before you know it a few years have passed and your prices went from a few hundred to a couple of thousand.
Make a badass demo reel with a website to show prospects and continue to network, doors will begin to open for you. Remember this is your race so don’t compare your journey with someone else’s. If you do then it can be your downfall and make you want to give up.
