What advice can you give for someone starting out?

For a photographer just starting out in the industry my advice is simple: shoot what you love. As my friend John Barclay would say: shoot what makes your heart sing. When you find that niche that you are passionate and excited about, that passion shows through in your photos, which makes people excited about your photography. And when other people get excited about your photography, that’s when amazing things start to happen. That’s exactly what happened for me in the past and what I’m sure will continue to happen in the future. Spread your love and it will come back to you in wonderful ways!

You also need to realize that running a successful photography business, or even building a following on social media, is not as binary as flipping a light switch. Success can be simple but it certainly isn’t easy: it takes persistence and consistency, and being just too dang stubborn to quit. Rarely does it happen overnight, so stick with it and have faith.