Hire me, hire me not

Realistic wake up call: I need to put myself out there. 

There are lots of extremely talented photographers in the Triangle area and I need to contact them and make them my new best friends. And what do I have to lose? Nothing really at this point. But telling myself this and then actually reaching out to them are two very different things. The fear of rejection, the fear of them actually saying "sure, tag-along!" Both are very intimidating. The Professional Photographers of NC experience gave me a few leads, but since I wasn't an official attendee/member at the conference, my networking opportunities were limited to the trade show vendors - although I did score a free 16x20 canvas and learned of some additional and affordable workshop opportunities (more on that later). I'm thinking next year, I'll have to suck it up and pay the dues. But until then, I need a new game plan.

I live by To Do lists, so my plan will be to send at least 5 emails (or phone calls if I'm feeling especially brave) to professional wedding and children/family portrait photographers every week. Hopefully one will stick and give me a shot! Another idea is to start contacting wedding professionals and find out what photographers they like to work with and recommend to clients - and get on their good side as well!

Then the next part of my plan is to join the [b] school (thanks for the idea Katie!). It's only $10 a month and would provide opportunities for networking and learning. I've already gone through most of the helpful hints on the blog archive, which are a treasure trove of information. So I'm adding that to my To List as well.

Okay, I've put it in writing, so there's no turning back now :)