Notetaking Tips 101: How to Take Great Notes when Speaking with an Experienced Photographer

One of my nerdiest pleasures is taking great notes. At my day job, working in a corporate office, I’m often relegated to be the person who takes notes during meetings. It’s maybe a little odd, but I do it well. I’ve been complimented by multiple team members in the past for the quality, too!

In a lot of ways, it really is an extension of things I enjoy and my personality type. I like writing. I like having things documented. I like listening to people talk. I’m not a big talker myself.

The thought process behind this article is to showcase a couple easy notetaking tips that I’ve learned over the years to take better notes. Specifically, I want to talk about taking notes in the context of meeting with a more seasoned photographer.

Often, photographers who are looking to get into photography as a career will seek out advice from established photographers around them. This is very common in the wedding photography industry but will really show it’s face regardless of the niche.

Having that ability to learn about professional photography in this way can be really key to shaping success.

It goes without saying – these meetings can be great and very informative, but they are only as valuable as the knowledge you can retain afterwards. Having great notetaking skills will help you do just this!

1). Don’t write down everything.

One of the beginner mistakes of notetaking is thinking that you need to write down every piece of information coming out of someone’s mouth. I used to do this back in college. I was practically the equivalent of a court reporter as I’d write down literally everything. Yes, this was before computers were common on university desks. And yes, my hand did hurt after a 2 hour lecture.

By writing down too much, you’ll end up not paying attention to what is being said. It’s important to take notes at these meetings – not write a book.

2). Capture the most important things.

Going hand-in-hand with my first point, you should focus on only making a note of the most important things being said.

One way to view this is to think of your conversation as being broken out into an outline.

What are the main topics you’re talking about together?

Jot down the key topic(s) and make notes only of the most significant points.

So for a real life example, the photographer might talk about how important it is to have a website to show off your work and allow people to connect with you online. That’s a no brainer – and can serve as the main “category” in your notes. The real meat is more specific content like what web host they are using, how you should size image files for web, and so on.

3). Use shorthand writing skills.

Creating a shorthand writing style is extremely beneficial for you to take better notes (and more of them).

Shorthand is, really, a system of abbreviated writing that is unique to each writer. You may pull on some common abbreviations (like “lol” meaning “laugh out loud”), but you can also create your own. These might be generic (to be used in a number of settings) or specific to the meeting at hand.

4). Write down your questions immediately.

The most important part of notes in my mind is jotting down the questions I have.

Have you ever been in a position where you are talking to someone, have a question come to mind, then totally blank out when it comes time to ask it? This is where noting your questions can come in handy.

When talking with a professional photographer, the topic of booking new clients may come up. The photographer might cover a lot of great information on their own, but you might have a more specific question like “What software do you use to book your clients?”

It’s from this question that you can actually extract a lot of useful information – such as a product recommendation coming right from someone who uses it.

Additionally, if you happen to run out of time and can’t specifically ask those questions during the meeting, you can always send a follow up email or search them online yourself to get some more insight.

5). Rewrite your notes when you get home.

The one thing that really helps my notetaking to be really great is the simple fact that I rewrite my notes to make them more legible. During a meeting, I take those quick notes that hit all the important things being discussed. I use my hieroglyphics to speed things up. But, I ultimately want notes that are legible and usable down the road.

So take your initial notes and retype them up. Remove all the chicken scratch and shorthand.

Take this time to expound on areas you think are more worth remembering now that you look back. Write down more questions as they arise. Format the post until it is looking really nice.

When all of this is done, your notes are extremely valuable. You’ve hopefully distilled all of the key points that you received when talking to this person. If you’re looking into having a career in photography, this can be a great step in the right direction!

For more great reads, check out How to Use Instagram Search to Get New Photography Gigs and our other content here on FFL.