THE SUCCESSFUL PROFESSIONAL
PHOTOGRAPHER
HOW TO STAND OUT, GET HIRED, AND MAKE REAL MONEY
AS A PORTRAIT OR WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER
ROBERTO VALENZUELA
The Successful Professional Photographer
HOW TO STAND OUT, GET HIRED, AND MAKE REAL MONEY AS A PORTRAIT OR WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER
Roberto Valenzuela
www.robertovalenzuela.com
Editors: Christina Borchers Leung and Ted Waitt
Project manager: Lisa Brazieal
Marketing coordinator: Mercedes Murray
Layout and type: WolfsonDesign
Front cover design: Aren Straiger
Cover production: Aren Straiger
Cover photographs: Roberto Valenzuela
Proofreader: Linda Laflamme
Indexer: James Minkin
ISBN: 978-1-68198-610-4
1st Edition (1st printing, October 2020)
2020 Roberto Valenzuela
All images Roberto Valenzuela except Jerry Ghionis
text Rob Greer, used with permission
Rocky Nook Inc.
1010 B Street, Suite 350
San Rafael, CA 94901
USA
www.rockynook.com
Distributed in the UK and Europe by Publishers Group UK
Distributed in the U.S. and all other territories by Ingram Publisher Services
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020932506
All rights reserved. No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the publisher.
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Printed in China
To my wife, Kim.
Kim, you have been a beautiful blessing in my life. Out of all the amazing experiences we have shared in our lives together, we can now add being parents of two boys! During the COVID-19 pandemic stay-at-home orders, we spent more time together than ever before in our marriage. Our family grew closer, and I enjoyed every minute of all of us being home together. I have seen you work from 8:00 am to almost midnight, and I couldnt be prouder of you! You are an incredible person in every aspect of your life. I love you so much!
To my son, Lucas.
You are my world! I had never experienced such an enormous depth of love until you exposed me to it. You are now two-and-a-half years old. Your brain has developed so much that we can have conversations with each other in both English and Spanish. Witnessing your personality develop is incredibly fun! I love your passion for classical music, the solar system, and fire hydrants. Every time we go for a walk, it warms my heart to see you say hi and wave to every fire hydrant you see. Its the cutest thing Ive ever seen! I love you little Lucas! You made me a dad, and now, I cant wait to see you become a big brother to your little brother!
To my new son still in the womb!
Your mom and I are ecstatic to meet you!!! We enjoy seeing you grow and move around the womb during our monthly ultrasound visits to the doctor. We even try to guess your personality based on your movements. We ask your big brother Lucas, Where is your little brother? and its so fun when he walks up to your mom and caresses her belly with you inside. Lucas loves you, and we love you! We dont have a name for you yet, but we are working on that. Its not so easy to find a good boy name, and we want you to love your name. I think you might be camera shy, because every time the ultrasound technician tries to take a good photo of you, you turn around, flip, cover up, or do something else to make it very hard to get a good angle of you. We have a good laugh watching the struggle. We cant wait to meet you in just a few short months!
To Mutti.
Mutti, thank you for teaching me by example. You have made me into a working machine without my values ever being compromised. You taught me to be empathetic and loving. You taught me to be a great husband and father and gave me all the tools I needed to make sure I was successful. In my opinion, you are a miracle mom. No one I know has ever done and sacrificed so much to put food on the table and a roof over our heads when we had nothing to our name. You are incredibly strong! I want to make you proud in everything I do because you did so much for me to be here. I love you Mutti!
Acknowledgments
Writing a book is a huge team effort! In my experience, there is no better team than the great people at Rocky Nook. Scott Cowlin and Ted Waitt, you both are a very important part of my life. We have worked together to create some great books over almost a decade now. Yikes! I love our traditions of going out to eat during conventions and all the experiences we have together. It has been such a blast working with both of you! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of the trust you put in me and the hard work you put into every book you publish.
A heartfelt thank you to my family for their love and support. My mom, my big brother Antonio, my sister Blanca, my little sister Susana, and my awesome brother-in-law Daniel Yu. I would also like to thank my brother-in-law Kent for always being a great listener and advisor in personal and business matters. To my awesome nephew Ethan: I cant believe you are in college at NAU now! Im so proud of you, Ethan. To my little nephew Caleb, its been so fun watching you grow and develop those amazing athletic skills. You have such a big heart, Caleb! I love that about you! And to my amazing niece Ellie. Wow, you are now in college at Baylor University!? What happened to time? Ellie, you have always been a very impressive person. Your determination and discipline are inspiring to me! Im so excited to see how you like your Movie Director program this summer at USC. I hope you have the best time at Baylor University!
To my mother-in-law Christina: Wow, six books now, Christina! You know Ive said this before, but I truly feel so grateful to you for the incomprehensible amount of work and dedication you put into every word of these books so that they read beautifully. You truly are the unsung hero of these books. I also want to thank my father-in-law Peter for always being there for me. Peter actually provided me with my very first copy of Photoshop as a gift, and it ignited my passion for photography. I am lucky to have you as my in-laws! To Amy, Sarah, and her husband Neal, who were among the very first subjects I photographed. They patiently allowed me to do many practice photo shoots with them to help me improve my skills as a new photographer. Thanks to my cute little niece Alexandra, I love you so much! You are so fun and full of life! To my new brother-in-law Ryan (aka uncle coche). You have been an incredible brother-in-law and friend! I cant tell you how happy I am to be able to call such a great guy my brother! Thank you, Ryan, for being so amazing with our family. It was an honor to play the classical guitar song Canon in D for your wedding. Most importantly, congratulations to you and Amy for your new daughter Riley! To Wendy Wong, you are such an important part of my life. Not only do you read every book I write cover to cover, but you support me in all of my crazy adventures, from photography to cooking. I love your visits to L.A. so we can experience more culinary treasures and talk about