With the spread of social distancing as a successful means to limit the spread of the Corona virus, most of us are now staying at home for long periods voluntarily, and for the category of photographers, whether amateur or professional, their work has been affected to a greater degree than others, as the nature of their work requires them to move and move constantly.
But despite these limitations, this can be an opportunity for photographers to learn and gain new skills, and try new creative techniques in their field.
Here are 5 ways to help photographers invest time
1- Learn something new about photography every day:
With thousands of free and paid resources online, gaining knowledge has become easy and affordable. There are hundreds of thousands of courses and lessons available to you in this field that you can search on YouTube or Patreon.
Several companies have also provided resources for users committed to home isolation amid the coronavirus pandemic, such as: camera maker Leica, which offered a series of free online courses and discussions led by famous photographers, musicians, actors, and other creatives.
2- Try new editing techniques:
Photo editing software has developed greatly in the recent period, and there is no doubt that the process of editing photos is never less important than taking them with great professionalism, so you can use this time to develop your editing skills. There are many companies that provided many of their resources to users for free during this period, such as: Adobe, which provided a free two-month subscription to its services to users, to support individuals (especially freelancers) who are facing immediate financial difficulties. You can also register for this training package, which includes 8 training courses and more than 60 hours of content, covering all design and image editing skills.
3- Setting goals for what you want to achieve during the coming period:
Set goals that can be easily achieved in the short and long term, but make these goals based on one big goal, such as: how to create your business website, or how to professionally promote your business through social media sites, or how to get new clients in the coming period.
4- Check out your competitors:
Research what your competitors are doing during this time, and what are your competitors doing online that you are not? Are there any opportunities that can be exploited? In what ways can you improve your online experience to provide more value to your potential customers? How can you improve your current methods to help win more customers? These are all really important questions to ask yourself and figure out during this time, and if you have a website use free or paid tools to scan your site and your competitors’ sites for things like: site load rate, SEO, dig deeper into their websites to see what services your competitors offer that you don’t, and try to measure how much they charge for these services.
5- Connect with colleagues and build your network:
Although you cannot meet people face to face, this does not mean that you cannot network and start conversations to build your business. Go to LinkedIn and start networking with people related to your field, and reach out to them to learn how they are dealing with the outbreak of this pandemic. This communication will help in gaining future business opportunities whether through referral or partnership, which will undoubtedly lead to career opportunities or attracting more clients in the future.
