So you want to start a promotional portrait photography business, but,

you have no experience,

you have no equipment,

you have very little money,

and to top it off, you have no credit.

Well my friend,that was me when I first started out, one thing that I did have was experience.

In the late 60’s I went to work for Special Pormotions Inc, a division of School Pictures based in Jackson Mississippi.  We traveled coast to coast sitting up in such stores as Zayers, Tops, Fields, Atlantic Thrift, Two Guys and Sears. only Sears is still in Business.

I am sharing a little of my background so that you will know that I know what I am talking about.  In the late 60S, 70S and even into the early 80’s, it was nothing to photograph fifty to one hundred  sittings a day mostly Babies and Pre-schoolers, in those days we offered an( 8X10 or an 11X14) for 99 cents; unbelievable in today’s market, and came back with a pre-printed package, In the 60s, 70, and even into the early 80s it was a photographers market, nothing that you see today, even existed.

It is my firm conviction, that it is possible, if marketed correctly, some of those early portrait promotions, could view given new life.  By sharing my experience and giving you some idea of the equipment  that you will need, perhaps you can be the one; right now, I can’t think of anyone doing promotional photography in small town America.

For a camera, I suggest a Mamiya 645 , the cheapest model that you can find or a C-220 or C330; for the 645, I suggest a good 55 to 110 zoom, not having to move the camera will save a lot of energy, for the 220 and the 330, an 80 mm is normal, for portraiture, I suggest a 105 mm.

For lighting, you can’t beat speed-a-tron, a good three light system  is all you need, a main, a fill, and a back light and a good flash meter; because once you set up, you don’t want to move your lights, until it is time to take them down; by not moving your lights once they are set, all of your exposures will have the same density, saving you a lot of money and your lab, a lot of headaches.

You will need a good tripod with a good head that will enable you to tip your camera and flip it to the side for singles and for groups.  I will go into technique in another article, right now, lets get the right equipment in your hands, then we can get into how to use it, okay?

For backgrounds, the sky is the limit, anything that you could ever desire is out there, My first background was a large piece of canvas, painted black, I used different colored gels on  my backlight to give me variety, m y first camera was a C220 and my lighting was a three light speed-a-tron.  I built my own posing table, arm poser, posing benches, baby poser, posing boxes out of plywood, the legs out of pipe and connecting them to the posing table, benches, arm poser with plumbing flanges, you can not imagine, by going cheap, how much money I saved.

By shopping around, using the Internet, you may be able to get everything that you need for around $2500.00, not a bad price to pay to make it possible for you to do something that excites you.