# What Does It Take to Be a Professional Photographer? | Career Crush

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/harvard-business-review-7777387/what-does-it-take-to-be-a-professional-photographer-career-crush
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/harvard-business-review-7777387/what-does-it-take-to-be-a-professional-photographer-career-crush.md
Podcast: [Harvard Business Review](https://stenobird.com/podcast/harvard-business-review-7777387)
Published: 2026-07-17T12:30:00+00:00
Episode link: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/VG2184799596.mp3
Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/VG2184799596.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/harvard-business-review-7777387/episodes/what-does-it-take-to-be-a-professional-photographer-career-crush
Duration seconds: 1045

## Resource

What Does It Take to Be a Professional Photographer? | Career Crush 24 Jun 2021 --- 𝙎𝙪𝙗𝙨𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝘼𝙨𝙘𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙤𝙙𝙖𝙮! ✨ https://www.youtube.com/c/HBRAscend ✨ What does it take to become a professional photographer? Raven B. Varona shares her journey from taking concert photos as a side gig to quitting her job and pursuing photography full time. She chats with Ascend editor Kelsey Alpaio about gaining traction in the industry, how she charges for her work, and how she cultivated an audience of 158k Instagram followers. 00:00 I Want to be a Photographer 00:49 Meet Raven B. Varona 01:44 How did you get started as a professional photographer? 02:44 How do I get permission to bring my camera to a venue? 03:29 It's all about relationships. 04:29 You've got to create an experience on social media. 05:23 What's the day to day like for a photographer? 06:42 Misconceptions About Being a Photographer 07:15 Let's talk money. 09:39 Do I ever have to work for free? 10:56 What's it like to photograph Beyoncé and Jay-Z? 11:23 What skills do I need to get started? We’d love to hear from you! Tell us about your content preferences in our 10-minute survey: https://hbp.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2ldQ5v6xeoxKHrM?source=social_youtube Learn more about Raven’s work at https://ravenbvarona.com/ Produced by Andy Robinson, Kelsey Alpaio, and Eliza Laycock Video by Andy Robinson, Kelsey Alpaio, and Eliza Laycock Editing by Andy Robinson Assistant editing by Eliza Laycock Animation and Design by Riko Cribbs and Karen Player Follow us: https://hbr.org/ascend https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/hbr... https://www.facebook.com/hbrascend/ https://twitter.com/HBRAscend https://www.instagram.com/hbrascend/ #portraitphotography #careeradvice #photographer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/a…

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