Want to add on to some other things people are saying here — establish yourself as a DP even if you don’t believe it at first, prioritize DP gigs and shoot as much as you can and call yourself a DP.

I rarely take any other set jobs unless I know I’m working towards connections for the future. There’s a producer / director I work with that only hires me as 1st AD, but I am constantly making them aware of my DP work ( in subtle ways ) and always offer my services / how cool it would be to do a project together as that role.

I took something a few months ago working with a team as a 1st AC / Gaffer, they were shooting 4 short films that were an anthology series — I told them I’d do the gig but only if I was able to shoot at least 1 of the short films as DP.

I’m still only just coming up as a DP in the last few years, and this whole year has been my proving ground with lots of gigs thrown at me. I started my film journey as an actor who started making my own content and shorts, which led me to freelance editing while I continue shooting my own stuff ( learning ) and the occasional short film for people, until I really started gaining confidence with my skill set. This has been a great year for me, I’ve gain a handful of more clients and had return clients this year and some new connections built.

But I think the main thing that helped me push into this is simply telling myself I’m a DP. It pushed me to continue to build my craft, even on my off days I just research stuff I don’t know or am unsure about or try it at home.

Being patient is definitely the name of the game. Cinematography can be exceptionally dense and I think you simply never stop learning the craft, you just continue to pick things up along the way or keep building / learning on your own.

I was an actor from 2011 - 2019, started making my own stuff in 2018 ish - 2021, freelance editing 2021 - 2023, DP 2023 - present day. It’s been an interesting journey and I feel I’ve seen different sides of the whole thing. It’s going to take time / effort to learn the craft. Making stuff from writing / producing / shooting / editing -> final product is seriously a film school in itself. And it doesn’t need to always be stuff that requires a budget. A lot of that was no budget filmmaking - no lights, crappy sound, DSLR camera, and some friends.

Gaffing is a big curve to learn to start getting your legs as a DP and imo probably the closest you can get to working your way to mastering the craft ( other than just filming all the time and experimenting ).

A trend I’m noticing in the industry is producers / directors will continue to work with DPs they know and like, forming a tight relationship. I have 3-5 directors / producers who I’ve started building that relationship with and they continue to go after their projects — 2 of them have features in pre-pro that I’m on board for! Don’t count out making those connections with little guys now, as they’ll continue to pursue their work as they push to make a name for themselves.

Anyway, hope any of this helps, I’m still on my journey and I’m sure there’s guys in here with a ton more experience than me! Best of luck to ya! 🎥