We all want the secret to success at some time in our lives. What success is and means is open to discussion, but I think we can agree that it would be a nice thing to achieve occasionally. In photography I guess that success could be seen as an exhibition, a book, selling a print, gaining a client or just making images that please you aesthetically and/or technically. It could be telling someone else’s story effectively or raising awareness of a situation. All of these could be seen as successes dependent on the photographer’s expectations.

A desire for success leads to a need for a formula. A formula for success. There are many people offering such a formula for a few or many silver coins within the photographic environment. Workshops, plug-ins and short courses promise much, but how much they deliver is open for debate. The problem is that there is no one-size-fits-all secret sauce to photographic success. This is something I tell all of my students. Not to destroy their dreams, but to place those dreams into a realistic context. Success in photography is difficult, but it is possible.

If you are just beginning with photography you may not want to hear that there is no ‘quick fix’, but I’m afraid that is a reality you are going to have to accept. However, I suggest that you don’t just accept it, but embrace it. Embrace the slow nature of learning, experimenting and failing. I see many requests on social media for help and advice from photographers at different stages of their journey with the medium, but too often they reveal more than just a lack of experience, they show a lack of understanding of the core principles of photography. The truth can be hard to hear and accept and when I have responded positively to these requests I have been met with aggression, defensiveness and accusation. That’s a shame as I have now stopped offering advice. This in turn leads to the same people claiming that people with experience are gatekeepers who arrogantly don’t want to help. In short this is a no win cycle.

So, what is the advice I give? Well, its so simple that it is often seen as not being advice at all by those looking for the secret sauce. The advice I give is short in nature, but high in common sense. It’s advice that is most often met with the exclamation “Is that it?” Yes, it is and here it is.

Photograph only things you are interested in, that you are passionate about. Be the expert on your subject, not your camera. Make images every day. Listen and look. Don’t use post-production in the beginning and be subtle and nuanced if you ever do (I still don’t by the way after twenty five years of working professionally). Be courageous and face your fears. Learn about the history of the medium from books and films, not social media. Use social media as a library of what was and what is happening, not a manual. Ignore likes. Be prepared to walk a lot and to fail more. Don’t look to be liked, look to be respected. Have fun! And most importanly get ready for the long haul, successful photography is not a five-minute fix. That’s my sauce, it’s just not very special!

Dr.Grant Scott
After fifteen years art directing photography books and magazines such as Elle and Tatler, Scott began to work as a photographer for a number of advertising and editorial clients in 2000. Alongside his photographic career Scott has art directed numerous advertising campaigns, worked as a creative director at Sotheby’s, art directed foto8 magazine, founded his own photographic gallery, edited Professional Photographer magazine and launched his own title for photographers and filmmakers Hungry Eye. He founded the United Nations of Photography in 2012, and is now a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, and a BBC Radio contributor. Scott is the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Routledge 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Routledge 2019), What Does Photography Mean To You? (Bluecoat Press 2020) and Inside Vogue House: One building, seven magazines, sixty years of stories, (Orphans Publishing 2024). His photography has been published in At Home With The Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006) and Crash Happy: A Night at The Bangers (Cafe Royal Books 2012). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was premiered in 2018.

© Grant Scott 2026