“Be what you want to be, not what you can be”. 

 Yan Preston moved to England at 29 and was already an amateur photographer. Alongside taking all kinds of work, she did market research on photographs and websites to understand how to best get clients. She called herself a photographer, not a student photographer and charged like one (£400 for shooting, £200 for editing). Sometimes, Preston took free jobs but encourages photographers to take paid work. At the end of her freelance year period, she’d earnt £24,000 which she didn’t consider enough and her time as a freelancer was too stressful. Her project, Mother River, a collaboration of images showcasing the Yangtze River began as a Kickstarter campaign which earnt £21,000. Preston stated that people do want to help and reaching out to people is effective in gaining work, money and help. Going to portfolio reviews and signing up for competitions is a useful way in getting noticed.