Book Review: Fast Track Photographer: Business Plan by Dane Sanders
Are you the kind of person who loves to take photos and is thinking about taking the next step to become a professional photograopher but you are not sure yet? Have you already made the decision and need a kick into the right direction? Or do you already have a photography business and need to restart it? If you have responded affirmatively at least once, the new book by Dane Sanders with a foreword by David duChemin is definitely for you.
It is time to make our dreams come true.
Dane Sanders is a photographer, teacher, entrepreneur and author of the Fast Track Photographer book based in South-California and  virtually present through his books, live photo shows, … worldwide. He has been featured in such publications as Rangefinder and Professional Photographer and regularly speaks at conferences and trade shows Photo Plus Expo, WPPI, Imaging USA etc.
And what is the Fast Track Photographer: Business Plan about?
Right in the beginning of the book the author paints the picture of the new photo-world and explains the way it has changed. Dane claims that the old business model does not work anymore and that it is not the time to repair it but we should make a new business model which he helps us to develop so we can take advantage of all the great “stuff” the flat-world era brings to us.
Fast Track Photographer: Business Plan is not a book with lots of tables which need to be filled. Who knows what exactly comes to each table in the beginning of his business career anyway? If we do not even know how to brand ourselves how could we fill out a marketing table, right?! Dane understands this fact and help us to come up with the right ideas and concepts. The book is quite abstract yet perfectly fitted to every individual photographer. If it sounds impossible, trust me, it is not. Dane is concrete where he can be and abstract where he has to be – without knowing every single one of his readers personally but due to his creative and efficient exercises he helps us to make the abstract part very concrete for every single one of us. I like this approach very much, because we can get to know ourselves very well, plan and start a truly unique business.
Dane states: business and creativity are not enemies and there is so many photographers loosing the game they could be winning. I have no argument here. We are lucky to live in a world where it is easy to become a photographer with no need for permission from the gatekeepers to do so of which the author is completely aware of and make the main goal of this book to help us to run a thriving business serving our needs in this environment. The BST (Business Stress Test) – included with this book helps us to objectively analyse the health and viability of our business.
The book is written in Dane`s friendly style. He actually analyses his own photography business, shares his secrets and helps us to understand what and why he is doing to grow his business. The reader will also find many personal thoughts and real-life stories by the great photographers such as  Vincent Laforet, Scott Bourne, Laura Novak, Jeff De Rox, Gary S. Chapman and many more to illustrate Dane`s words. I truly appreciate Dane Sanders has decided to make the book even more valuable by including their points of view. The book is very easy to read and the more I was reading the better idea of my business I was getting. But importantly I was motivated and ready to get up and to start to execute my dreams.
Although Dane is a wedding photographer working mostly in the USA, the book is easily applicable here in the Czech Republic and anywhere else in the world where the basic principles of capitalism apply. Moreover a clever reader has no problem to find local substitutes regarding outsourcing, accounting, …
One could say: Dane, you are not talking about the fact that you need to have great quality photographs to be a successful photographer. But in my opinion this fact is a given in this book. So do you want to run a thriving and successful business, make a decent living and still have time for your friends and family? Then the Fast Track Photographer: Business Plan (already on sale from December 14th) is exactly for you.
I truly appreciate the opportunity Dane and Caroline from Amphoto Books gave me, it was a pleasure to read and review the book and to help Dane spread his wisdom he offers. Buy his book and live your dreams.
P.S. Do you need to read the Fast Track Photographer book before reading the Business Plan? No, but you will benefit if you do.
- http://www.frenchgreyphotography.com Brian
