595: Claire Thomas – Chasing stories and an income as a documentary and fine art photographer

Premium Members, click here to access this interview in the premium area Claire Thomas www.clairethomasphotography.com was briefly interviewed as a lead-up to Alex Vita's recent SEO and Website User Experience Masterclass. The reason is that Alex built her website, which she says has been life-changing for her business. I also said in that introduction that if you were to visit her website, I'm confident that you would love, love, love to have her portfolio as your own. The images are fantastic, and the subject matter and locations are just so varied. This is a photographer who appears to be living her best life. She is leaving a trail of gorgeous imagery like breadcrumbs, revealing snippets of what she's seen, where she's been, and who she's met. From Europe and the Middle East to the USA, Asia and Africa, war-torn cities, landscape vistas, and intimate portraits—there isn't much missing from this incredible portfolio. In this interview, Claire shares how to survive and thrive as a freelance documentary, editorial, and fine art photographer. Here's some more of what we covered in the interview: What’s on Offer for Premium Members If you’re on the fence about becoming a premium member, join with the $1 trial today and get access to the FULL interviews each week, a fantastic back catalogue of interviews, and have ALL future interviews delivered automatically to your phone or tablet. Plus, special member-only interviews. There's no real roadmap, I think, to success as a photojournalist. It's hard, and everybody has their own way of making it happen. It was a struggle, continues to be a struggle. But I just love storytelling, and it's such a privilege to meet people and have the opportunity to be able to try and share their stories. – Claire Thomas You'll also receive access to the members-only Secret Facebook Group, where you can connect with other Premium Members and interview guests to help, support and motivate you to take ideas you hear in each episode and put them into action. The group also has FB live video tutorials, role-play, and special live interviews. You will not find more friendly, motivated, caring and sharing photographers online. Seriously, that's not all. I just love these connections, you know, whether or not I make money, I don't care about that, but it does mean a lot to me to get the stories published. – Claire Thomas In addition to everything above, you'll get access to instructions on forming or joining a MasterMind Group with other premium members. These groups are super motivating, make you accountable, and build friendships with other pro photographers with motives similar to yours – to build a more successful photography business. What is your big takeaway? Following this interview, I’d love to know if you're taking anything from what Claire shared. Is there something you heard that excited or motivated you to the point where you thought, yeah, I'm going to do that! If so, leave your thoughts in the comments below; let me know your takeaways and what you plan to implement in your business based on what you heard in today's episode. As a freelancer, it's quite tricky to make ends meet. You've got to be doing a lot of stories to make ends meet. There's more money with NGOs, UN agencies—this supplements the income. – Claire Thomas If you have any questions I missed, a specific question you’d like to ask Claire or want to say thank you for coming on the show, feel free to add them in the comments area below.