To be able to make it as a professional photographer and to begin to sell your services, you have to have a portfolio, and becoming a photographer’s assistant is a great way in achieving this, the bonus is that you also get to understand how they run their business and the equipment they use.

There may be certain rules and stipulations that come with each photographer; some may not pay you for use of your photographs, even if they are sold to a customer or client. Others may have rules when they are working, perhaps not taking photographs when they are, as it can distract them.

Always chose a photographer that you aspire to be like. If you want to start you own wedding photography business, you should search through various websites and find a wedding photographer whose work you love, and preferably a wedding photographer who has created a successful business.

There’s no wrong way to become a professional photographer, but the most common first step is becoming a photography assistant, and there are plenty of opportunities out there if you search hard enough.

Events occur constantly, whether it’s a wedding, a christening, a school play, a football match or a birthday party to name a few. And each event can make for a great bunch of photographs, especially if the right photographer is selected.

Many photographers class themselves as an ‘events photographer’ but aren’t all photographers ‘event photographers? Some will argue that every photograph has recorded an event. This makes choosing an event photographer quite difficult, and a documentary photographer could provide the exact photographic service you are looking for.

Usually for a wedding photographer individuals will search for someone who only photographs weddings, and that’s fine but for more casual events like a birthday party, you may just be looking for someone to accurately record or document the event through a set of images. This is where a documentary photographer comes in. It’s not to say that their pictures will be bland, that isn’t the case at all, but a photojournalist or a documentary photographer will not stage images or set up shots, which can make the event feel a lot more comfortable.

Another benefit in choosing a documentary event photographer is due to the fact that the images will not appear fake. By this I mean from excessive editing. Usually, a documentary photographer or photojournalist will follow a set of ‘moral guidelines’, and one of which tends to be not to manipulate images to the point of falsification, and your final results will appear real, and representative of the event.