Topics to Discuss in Class

Personal

• developing a style
• Articulating your style
  
• coming up with a creative vision of what you what you want to achieve and who you are as a photographer
• improving your drive and passion
• setting realistic goals

Logistics

• Networking (or getting yourself in front of people -- compile a list of local contacts, galleries & photo groups, national workshops & portfolio reviews etc.)
• Getting your work in front of people (what is most effective? websites, blogs, email lists, snail mailings, entering contests, etc.)
  
• Plotting a course from point A to point B: how do you get where you're going?
  
• Should I take workshops/classes?
• Artist's Residencies?
  
• Approaching strangers to photograph them
• How do you establish a sense of trust and rapport with strangers, whether they be models or people you run into on the street, so that they feel comfortable posing for a photo?
• How to be invisible
• What can you do without a model release
  Shooting pictures without permission (street photography?)
• How do you come up with ideas for communicating a pose with the subject? Spontaneity is great, but what happens if you run out of ideas?
  

Economic

• Grants and Awards (compile a list of grants and awards that are available to individual artists)
• Marketing your work (who buys work, what kind of work sells, how much will they pay, creating limited editions)
• Jobs in photography: staff jobs, freelance photography careers, related jobs
• Stock Photography
• How do people handle taxes?
• What is a fair rate to charge for a portrait if you're starting out? Is it OK to take portraits free of charge, or is that unethical?
• What are the normal percentages that galleries take? and what about framing costs, invites, receptions, exclusive relationships?

Technical

• Equipment (hardware: cameras, lensees, computers, printers)
• Software
• Papers, Inks, chemicals, films
• What is "archival"
• How do you organize and back up all your photos so that they are easier to find and also protected from disaster?