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Social culture is certainly an interesting phenomenon. Planning is ingrained into some aspects of our lives and completely shunned in others. Holidays, for example, are often meticulously planned because we want to ensure that we make the most of our time away. Weddings are another example of painstakingly thorough planning. Diets, babies, sporting endeavors and education are more examples of goals and events that are have culturally accepted planning phases.

What is it about these activities and events that lead us to invest so much time into their planning? When we consider that the risk or impact of failing to meet our objective is unacceptable we mitigate the risk by planning ahead. Nobody wants to waste valuable holiday time, nor do they want their weddings to be incomplete or disorganized. We generally recognize that some events will not naturally come to order and their success is dependent on planning.

Career Planning, on the other hand, is often overlooked.

A common misconception about career planning is that the concept is about working hard in order to press for a promotion. But career planning is about working smart. It is about making the right decisions and focusing energy in order to maximize time and effort. In the workplace and during our education, we make decisions on a daily basis and these decisions shape our image as a professional.

Let’s deviate from careers in order to press this point. Which racehorse would you bet on?

Racehorse #1. Recently started racing – formally privately owned and lived in a paddock.

Racehorse #2. Has two years of racing experience and trains twice a week.

Racehorse #3. Has five years of racing experience and trains five times a week.

Racehorse #4. Has five years of racing experience, he trains five times a week and was bred from champion racers. He was raised by experienced champion trainers and began training as a foal.

In answer to our question, racehorse #4 seems the obvious choice. It appears that this racehorse has dedicated his life to the one career and that gives us good odds that he is better at his job than the others.

When your career is scrutinized by a potential employer the ‘odds’ that you are better at this job than the others are calculated on the same rationale. Choices that you made years before stand as confirmation of your long standing interests. Your level of skill and expertise in one field is proportional to the quality and quantity of time that you have previously invested in that field. The great Albert Einstein said “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer”.

Career planning is about making choices that build on your skill set. Just like Albert Einstein – focusing your energy on just a few fields will drive you towards your career goals.

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You may or may not know that there are really 3 areas in which you can pursue a career in photography. Your skills as a photographer and the training which you may have received will most likely influence which area you choose to pursue. These areas will be General, Commercial and Advertising Photography.

The general area is more dominated by covering such opportunities as weddings, senior portraits, family photos, you know the general sort of stuff. A good example of this is David Wadley, who provides Birmingham Wedding Photography. Most of the photographers in this area will not be using this income as their primary source.

Commercial photographers will work for businesses rather than the community. This will be shooting for the likes of magazines/catalogues, newspapers, architectural business, any type of corporation that require photographs to be taken. This could mean that you will be a staff photographer or working as a freelance. Freelance means that your hours are much more flexible but you’re generally not able to rely on a steady income. If you do work in this area then you will probably specialize in a specific area, such as food, concerts or motoring.

And as for advertising, well it’s a bit of an obvious one really because the clue is in the name. These photographers will help companies to advertise. This area is hard to break into, but when you do, you will find your name pretty much everywhere from magazines, tv shows, billboards and other types of media outlet. To get into this area you will have to find out how to climb the ladder to success and be prepared to spend a lot of time and effort doing so.

So before choosing what area you want to get into in your Photography career, make sure you know what it’s going to take and which would be best suited for you.

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