picture: Harry Cunningham on Unsplash
New Entrepreneur (NE):
Name & surname: Ausma Cirulniece
Country: Latvia
Age: 27
Sector of activity: Media production, photography
Did you already start your business? Yes
Name of business/website: Ausma photos, www.ausmaphotos.com
Host Entrepreneur (HE):
Name & surname: Luka Ažman
Country: Slovenia
Sector of activity: Photo and video production
Experience in running a business (in years): 5
Name of business/website: http://www.istockphoto.com/AzmanL
What is your business? Stock photographer, videographer and Youtuber
Period of exchange: 15/02/2023 – 14/08/2023
Duration of exchange: 6 months
The HE is a full-time stock photographer, videographer and youtuber. In a few years he gained a lot of knowledge and experience in photography and videography. His work on iStock has more than 200.000 sold licenses, and the amount increases day by day. He has also built a successful YouTube channel of 6.330 followers where he is sharing his learnings about stock photography.
Ausma’s success story:
It has been a dream of mine to become a full-time photographer for the past few years, yet there was always something holding me back. Mainly, because of the lack of the knowledge on how to begin and how to run the business. I was thrilled to change that.
HE has a stock content creation and production business. He is running the team of 8 and actively takes part in photoshoots as a photographer and/or a videographer, and the master of post production. It was a truly interesting experience for me to see how this business model functions.
I spent time with different team members, getting to know the importance of their role and what tools they use to fulfill them. For example, I saw how all the team uses notion and slack to coordinate photoshoots, and to decide which wants to organize in the first place. I was happy to help them to create a website, and meantime make my own website.
On daily activities, I felt the most helpful during various stock photo shoots that we did.
I had the chance to use different photo cameras, and to be both, photographer and videographer, for different photography briefs (for example, a baby shower, bachelorette party, business interviews in a cafe, portraits outdoors, small child learning).
Later, I had the chance to see how the photographers and videographers do the postproduction of the content they created using different programs (DaVinci Resolve, Photoshop Beta, Lightroom). I learned from them, helped them with my skills, and was glad to suggest some ways how I use some of these programs (e.g. Lightroom and its new AI feature of making the face look beautiful in seconds).
I learned that running a business, especially in the media production field, is much more sustainable and also enjoyable if it is done in a team. Yet, when starting out, it is crucial to keep the mind open and to put a lot of time and effort in by oneself.
I learned that in stock photography, it takes a lot of time to do everything by oneself – choosing the brief to photograph, then finding the models, the locations, shooting itself and then editing the content, keyworking and, finally, uploading it to the stock website.
I gained more confidence regarding my business of wedding photography, yet it has changed my plan from the perspective of finding more people to collaborate with, to maintain the business going (at to kick it off in the first place).
Concluding Remarks
Ausma Cirulniece (NE):
“I learned that it is crucial to work closely with other entrepreneurs that are already established in the field of interest to gain hands-on experience and knowledge on how the business works, and is it for you (or not).
I also learned the newest programs and tools which are being used in media production, how to organize photoshoots and how to make it easier for the person that you are shooting to feel comfortable. All of these skills will definitely help me in my own wedding photography business in the future, as well as it is great to know local photographers and videographers in case of potential collaboration in the future.
I would absolutely encourage other would-be/new entrepreneurs to take part in this program, in case they are willing to expand their knowledge and contacts on an international level!”