Can you feel the days getting longer and the temperatures getting warmer? Spring is coming and with it the necessary “spring cleaning” to get rid of the clutter and distractions that accumulated during the past year. This concept applies not only to our homes, but to our photography businesses as well.
Here are five of the most important things you can do right away to “clean up” and get organized with your photography:
- Refresh your portfolio:
We’ve all accumulated a clutter of images that we’ve shared online or added to our collections throughout the years. But as your skills improve, now is a good time to trim your online portfolio and keep the images that best reflect your current style and showcase the work you want to attract from future clients.
Clients will sometimes judge your skills by your weakest image. If something doesn’t fit your brand anymore, get rid of it.
2. Update your metadata and keywords:
Ideally, you want to have keywords and metadata added to every photo you upload on stock or fine art sites.
Now’s a good time to go through all the photos you’ve uploaded and make sure they are all properly keyworded and include your recent metadata and copyright information.
This will make it easier for your images to be found by potential clients.
3. Clean up and update your gear:
Our photography relies on our gear, and it’s time to show it some love.
Start by carefully checking everything to make sure it works. Charge your batteries and format your memory cards to have them ready when an opportunity comes.
Clean your lenses and sensors if you feel comfortable or take them to the nearest camera shop for a quick professional service.
Don’t forget your camera bag! You want to get rid of all the dust and sand that may have accumulated in the corners. You don’t want to end up with a scratched lens because of it.
4. Review your workflow:
This is a good opportunity to review your workflow and identify the issues that are holding you back.
Are you happy with your photo organization? Do you have all your work neatly organized in dated folders? Can you easily find images from a certain event without having to go through thousands of photos? If not, it’s time to create a good cataloguing system that works for you. Start organizing your new work moving forward and don’t worry too much about your older photos as you’ll gradually get to it once you have a system in place
And what about your backup process? The last thing you want is losing all your photos to a disk failure. Make sure you have an effective backup plan in place and keep multiple copies of your images on different hard drives, and preferably in different locations.
5. Plan for the year ahead:
And finally, now is a good time to refocus on the resolutions we took at the start of the year and come up with a good plan to work on these goals.
Whether it’s coming up with a personal project or booking the next trip, make sure you have a clear roadmap with defined steps to reach your goals.
This is also a great opportunity to brush up on your skills and learn new things. Ask yourself what you want to improve on this year and set aside some time to learn about it.
Your future self will thank you for it!
