By Hannah Timko
Special to In Motion
Lucy Ward a full-time photography student at Daytona State College fell in love with the art in high school and now that she is in college she’s discovered her heart is in the competitive world of fashion photography.
“I love taking photos of people and going to beautiful places that make my work look like I’ve been to paradise,” Ward says. “Doing portraits are fun, but my heart is in fashion and I hope to end up in New York one day.”
That might seem like a daydream, but she would not be the first DSC student to hit it big in fashion photography. Bryan Kasm — who graduated from the Southeast Museum of Photographic Studies and the University of Central Florida photo program at DSC — is just one success story. A former employee of Milk Media in New York City, he now makes a living as a fashion photographer for HSN Merchandising and Retail out of the Tampa Bay Area. One of his recent assignments was photographing country music legend Keith Urban.
After taking a photography class in high school, she began sharing her work online. Soon people started asking her to do portraits for them. She now does high school senior photos, couples and family photos. Juggling work and school can get overwhelming, especially near the end of the semester.
Ward says, “It definitely beats being a cashier at a fast food place.”
Being a successful student entrepreneur takes determination, hard work, perseverance and some creativity especially in the world of media. Students need to find their strength, whether it is audio, graphic design or video, which is the focus of DSC multimedia instructor Hector Valle.
“Figure out where you fit in on a multimedia team,” said Valle. “Find your niche because media is a huge market today.”
A student looking to have a career in media should first be an intern in their desired field. Valle started interning as a production assistant doing freelance projects and with this experience was able to create a documentary about his father. Media students like Ward, who can get this kind of experience early-on, should become very successful, as former students and DSC faculty have proven.
There are a wide range of resources available for student entrepreneurs on their college campuses. Daytona State offers classes covering anything from seminars on selling skills to workshops on how to start a business. Students can go to the Small Business Development Center to learn marketing skills or get help if they are looking to start a business or improve budgeting skills. The SDSC also has several social media pages such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, which can make it easier for students to keep up with what is going on. Students can get free one-on-one help from certified business experts as well.
Students looking to start their own business and reach goals of being a successful entrepreneur should utilize all these resources, skills and internships. Anyone can set their mind to something, but it is actually going and working hard that brings them to the finish line.
To build her portfolio, Ward has put her skills to work in the campus photo studio with models to create high fashion photo spreads. And she continues to shoot portraits, whether its couples at sunset on the beach or senior portraits.
Websites are crucial, too, and Ward’s can be found at www.lucywardphoto.com.
According to Cheryl Lemke, CEO and co-founder of the research company The Metiri Group, there are five basic entrepreneurial skills students need:
- Self-direction: those who have skills necessary to set their own learning goals, institute plans to accomplish those goals, analyze and solve problems, own and manage their own learning and improvement while working within a growth mindset.
- Evidence Based Thinking: supporting or refuting ideas, using concrete evidence based on reliable data and findings.
- Persistence: the ability to continue with a task and maintain attention despite setbacks, resistance, or distractions.
- Calculated Risk Taking: the ability to carefully consider all the factors related to the decision being made, calculate the chances of a position outcome and the consequences of a negative one.
- Tolerance of Ambiguity: similar to calculated risk taking, it is being able to look at several options for solving a problem.