Having spent the past 20 years as the sole proprietor of my own photography business, I’ve done it all. Literally. This is not unlike most of the photographers I know.

Most of the photographers I know started their businesses because of a deep passion for the art of photography. But passion alone does not a successful business make. After many years of doing everything from booking appointments to shooting events to editing the photos and designing albums to marketing the business to writing blogs to posting on social media… at some point it becomes important to have a life. For me that point came when my husband and I chose to have kids, at which point all free time went out the window, as did much of the time I devoted to my first baby – my business.

When I worked for newspapers and magazines I would shoot my assignments, then bring it back to the office where the editors would cull through the images and select the best one or two for publication. Why? Because the newspaper did not have time for all of us photographers to pour over every frame and lament how we should have done this or wish that we had time to do that or obsess over the color tone and crop of every image. Having an experienced and objective set of eyes to either cull through your work and/or do your color-correction will not only save you time – it will make you a better photographer.