Five top tips for new graduates from photographer Danyelle Rolla

With a background in military photography, Danyelle Rolla completed her MA Photography in 2017.  Since then Danyelle has worked successfully as a freelance photographer and is a BJP Portrait of Britain winner. Here she shares her top five tips for recent graduates: 

1. Know your worth

It’s up to you to judge which opportunities are worth your time and which are not. Trust what feels right for you and the direction you want to go in. 

2. Invest in yourself

This will look different for everyone, but it could involve entering competitions that charge a fee, developing your skills in a particular area or paid for social media advertising. 

3. Surround yourself with honest people who have your best interests at heart

A tip for life as well as work! Surround yourself with people who want to see you succeed but would tell it to you straight if you or your work needed it!

4. Don’t underestimate LinkedIn

Keep your page updated, connect with people, contact people you’d like to work with- it pays off!

5. All you need is 20 seconds of insane courage

Decisions don’t need to tae a lot of courage. As Matt Damon’s character says in We Bought a Zoo, sometimes all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage. No matter what happens in life, you don’t need to be a permanently brave, resilient or courageous person – just for a few seconds now and then to steer you in the right direction. 

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