Day One - the normal day of a photographer

As I entered the all too familiar studio of Gail Nogle I was overwhelmed with the fact that this was not going to be a walk on the beach. Right away Gail informed me that we had a daily schedule, something to keep this very busy artistic mind in order. From the very beginning Gail had me working, to much surprise I was not going to just watch her start her day but be apart of it. I checked emails and got the address to the studio we would be visiting later that day. After calming down from the rush of fast passed movement in the studio, I was introduced to Kelly, someone Gail brought in to help her sell some very old prints that were cluttering up her work area. These prints went all the back to the 1900's. This is when I learned my first lesson of business. Not only is it very import to find and use a great system to categorizing anything of value, but often it is important to go through everything and purge of what is no longer needed. After helping out coming up with ideas and methods of selling these prints to clients Kelly was gone and we were on the road. As we hoped in to Gail's car, and went down town to another studio, Gail taught me my second lesson. As she was telling me how she got started in making her own business and renowned career, I realized that everyone has to start out small and work their way to the top. It took Gail many years working under someone else to finally decided she needed to be her own boss and fork up the money to make a studio. With out time and hard work Gail would not have been able to make her dream of being her own boss possible. As we arrived at the studio of Dan Sellers, another noted photographer, I was overwhelmed by the 14,000 dollar camera that was being presented. Although Gail never wanted to buy the camera it showed me that I'm going to have to decided if I always want to stay old school in my business and equipment or if I will want to buy every new advanced product out there. To finish out our day Gail took me to the editing lab even though she didn't need to pick up anything. As she was introducing me and showing me around, point thing out her friends photography on the wall, I learned my third lesson for the day. Connections matter, not only is it important for social events but its import to market yourself to others so if you need there expertise in a style of work they will be more willing to help. Great things happen when people collaborate and all of that is built off of connections. With my day concluding I realized that although I don't wish to go into the field of photography I am going to learn a lot about how to run a business this week with the one and only Gail Nogle.