Going Pro
Dec 5, 2011 12:46:23 #
Ive been an amateur photographer for many years now (read pre digital era). I would love to Go Pro, but having a hard time figuring out how to make a living in this business. In the olden days before digital, photography required a little more skill and experience to produce stunning photos (please dont flame me; this is just my opinion).
Regardless, I want to quit my day job at Intel and pursue my passion, but Im not quite sure how an average Joe like me can get started. I would appreciate feedback from the Pros out there. It doesnt have to be specific---I know there is not one tried and true formula. Perhaps just sharing how you got started, and what was the difference that helped you bridge the gap between amateur and pro.
If you are not a pro, but have an opinion, Id like to hear from you as well. Thanks in advance.
Regardless, I want to quit my day job at Intel and pursue my passion, but Im not quite sure how an average Joe like me can get started. I would appreciate feedback from the Pros out there. It doesnt have to be specific---I know there is not one tried and true formula. Perhaps just sharing how you got started, and what was the difference that helped you bridge the gap between amateur and pro.
If you are not a pro, but have an opinion, Id like to hear from you as well. Thanks in advance.
Dec 5, 2011 13:01:47 #
If you want some specific I can give you soe. I am a pro weddings, portraits, sell lsndscapes. Give me your email address as I don;'t want to post on ugly hedgehog
Dec 5, 2011 13:23:13 #
Dec 6, 2011 06:16:08 #
Mdorn,
I am an amateur in much the same position as you. I have done a few weddings, pictures for the company brochure and newsletter, just about anything, but would like to take it to the next level and quit the day job. There are a few franchises out there that I have talked to, however they are primarily volume photography (school, sports, little league, etc.). The advantage with the franchise is getting a jump start with marketing and training as well as product support. Having said that, I would be very interested in opinions from the forum as well.
I am an amateur in much the same position as you. I have done a few weddings, pictures for the company brochure and newsletter, just about anything, but would like to take it to the next level and quit the day job. There are a few franchises out there that I have talked to, however they are primarily volume photography (school, sports, little league, etc.). The advantage with the franchise is getting a jump start with marketing and training as well as product support. Having said that, I would be very interested in opinions from the forum as well.
Dec 6, 2011 07:33:20 #
I think you gave great advice. Also when you feel you want to go independant as a Pro Photographer read a few books, here are my suggestions:
1. The Fast Track Photographer Business Plan by Dane Sanders.
2.The Photographer's Market Guide to Building Your Photography Business by Vik Orenstein.
3. 2011 (or 2012) Photographer's Market Where & how to Sell Your Photographs.
1. The Fast Track Photographer Business Plan by Dane Sanders.
2.The Photographer's Market Guide to Building Your Photography Business by Vik Orenstein.
3. 2011 (or 2012) Photographer's Market Where & how to Sell Your Photographs.
jaysnave wrote:
Mdorn, br I am an amateur in much the same positio... (show quote)
Dec 6, 2011 09:55:12 #
Get a portfolio together, don't quit the day job until you have a few gigs under your belt, take a course in anger management, persevere and prepare to suffer.
Seriously, the portfolio is the big one and the experience needed should be gained before you go unemployed. Skill alone isn't enough. You will need contacts and references to get commercial work. You will have to hustle bridal shows to get wedding gigs and you will have to get an ad campaign together for studio or portrait work. Good Luck.
Seriously, the portfolio is the big one and the experience needed should be gained before you go unemployed. Skill alone isn't enough. You will need contacts and references to get commercial work. You will have to hustle bridal shows to get wedding gigs and you will have to get an ad campaign together for studio or portrait work. Good Luck.
Dec 6, 2011 10:33:47 #
Roger Hicks
Loc: Aquitaine
Most professional photography is bloody hard work; more than a little nerve-racking; and, except at the top of the tree, not very well paid.
A lot of it soon becomes boring and repetitive, even the stuff that sounds exciting. When I was an assistant at a hire studio in the 1970s, the studio was booked once a month for car shoots with topless or nude models. Guess what? Even that can become dull and routine, but it's more interesting than photographing e.g. baby food packets, pharmaceuticals or glassware. Or, for that matter, every single thing in the Motherwear catalogue (or was it Motherware?) because you're illustrating the Motherwear catalogue... Though that turned out well for my chum who got the job because his wife was expecting their first baby, and Motherwear/Motherware said, "Can you get rid of the stuff you photographed?"
There's also a lot of book-keeping, chasing business, and all the other dull stuff that's involved in any business. Including, don't forget, taxes.
Paradoxically, it's often easier to get a start in a big city, where there's lots of competition, because you can build up a lot of useful contacts.
I started in London as an assistant in the 1970s and have (or had) a LOT of friends who are still professionals, though a few have retired and some are dead (including two suicides). That's how I made my initial contacts.
In the last 20+ years I have done almost no 'pure' professional photography (supplying only pictures, no words) because it's just too much like hard work. Now I sell word/picture packages (magazine articles, books), or just words (such as regular columns in Amateur Photographer and Land Rover World) because it's easier and I enjoy doing it more.
Ask yourself very, very carefully (a) what you enjoy and (b) whether you reckon you'd go on enjoying it if you HAD to do it full time. Have you ever shot a wedding? Or a commercial portrait? Or architecture? Or food? It's all surprisingly difficult.
The kit is terrifyingly expensive. Thirty or forty years ago you could get away with surprisingly basic gear: a friend once shot a 48-sheet poster with a Minolta TLR. Now, you're looking at high-megapixel Hasselblads, Leica S2s, etc. All right, you don't have the expenses of film, Polaroids, processing, bikes, etc., but the up-front cost of the cameras and lenses is hair-raising and unless you're in a big city it's hard to hire 'em.
Allow for the fact that it can be pretty frightening to have no regular pay-cheque (as I haven't had for 30 years), so your outgoings had better be pretty low, i.e. nothing much in the way of debt. And, on top of it all, in many fields (especially weddings) you'll have amateurs undercutting you because they're after pin money, not earning a living.
Yes, you can do it. But do you REALLY want to? And if you do, remember that there's often more room at the top of the market than at the bottom -- but you'll need to be GOOD.
Cheers,
R.
A lot of it soon becomes boring and repetitive, even the stuff that sounds exciting. When I was an assistant at a hire studio in the 1970s, the studio was booked once a month for car shoots with topless or nude models. Guess what? Even that can become dull and routine, but it's more interesting than photographing e.g. baby food packets, pharmaceuticals or glassware. Or, for that matter, every single thing in the Motherwear catalogue (or was it Motherware?) because you're illustrating the Motherwear catalogue... Though that turned out well for my chum who got the job because his wife was expecting their first baby, and Motherwear/Motherware said, "Can you get rid of the stuff you photographed?"
There's also a lot of book-keeping, chasing business, and all the other dull stuff that's involved in any business. Including, don't forget, taxes.
Paradoxically, it's often easier to get a start in a big city, where there's lots of competition, because you can build up a lot of useful contacts.
I started in London as an assistant in the 1970s and have (or had) a LOT of friends who are still professionals, though a few have retired and some are dead (including two suicides). That's how I made my initial contacts.
In the last 20+ years I have done almost no 'pure' professional photography (supplying only pictures, no words) because it's just too much like hard work. Now I sell word/picture packages (magazine articles, books), or just words (such as regular columns in Amateur Photographer and Land Rover World) because it's easier and I enjoy doing it more.
Ask yourself very, very carefully (a) what you enjoy and (b) whether you reckon you'd go on enjoying it if you HAD to do it full time. Have you ever shot a wedding? Or a commercial portrait? Or architecture? Or food? It's all surprisingly difficult.
The kit is terrifyingly expensive. Thirty or forty years ago you could get away with surprisingly basic gear: a friend once shot a 48-sheet poster with a Minolta TLR. Now, you're looking at high-megapixel Hasselblads, Leica S2s, etc. All right, you don't have the expenses of film, Polaroids, processing, bikes, etc., but the up-front cost of the cameras and lenses is hair-raising and unless you're in a big city it's hard to hire 'em.
Allow for the fact that it can be pretty frightening to have no regular pay-cheque (as I haven't had for 30 years), so your outgoings had better be pretty low, i.e. nothing much in the way of debt. And, on top of it all, in many fields (especially weddings) you'll have amateurs undercutting you because they're after pin money, not earning a living.
Yes, you can do it. But do you REALLY want to? And if you do, remember that there's often more room at the top of the market than at the bottom -- but you'll need to be GOOD.
Cheers,
R.
Dec 6, 2011 11:14:49 #
Keep your day job. Seriously, I was a photographer for 40 years and never saw professional photography so depressed. I had income in the multiple six figures for years and the bottom dropped out in about 2005 when I sold my business never to return. I have seen very successful photographers go bankrupt the last few years. Many other photographers are hanging on by a string. Many studios are closed as photographers have gone to working out of their homes. You are very unlikely to be the exception. It is sad to talk to my friends who are in dire straights. And this is a nation wide situation. New photographers to the profession are dropping by the wayside faster than ever. The only successes I see are those photographers and PS experts who are running educational programs.
jwraw
jwraw
Dec 6, 2011 11:40:41 #
tambriab
Loc: Daytona Beach
I have a college degree in Photography and have been doing this for 20 years. Don't quit your day job until you can replace the income consistently with photography income.
Having said that, you should know that it is extremely competitive in the photography business. While digital is wonderful it has changed the photography world. Many studios have closed. Most of the pros are supplementing their income with seminars, how to dvd's, etc. The cost of digital equipment has come way down and this causes the field to be flooded with people looking to break into the field. I cannot tell you how many times I have been undercut on a wedding. When someone is advertising to do a 4 hour wedding for $200 with dvd's how do you compete?
Having said that, you should know that it is extremely competitive in the photography business. While digital is wonderful it has changed the photography world. Many studios have closed. Most of the pros are supplementing their income with seminars, how to dvd's, etc. The cost of digital equipment has come way down and this causes the field to be flooded with people looking to break into the field. I cannot tell you how many times I have been undercut on a wedding. When someone is advertising to do a 4 hour wedding for $200 with dvd's how do you compete?
Dec 6, 2011 17:25:11 #
Sorry to sound discouraging, but I feel I should chime in. I have a Master's degree in photography and Graphic Design and 42 years experience. I have spent my photo career in the advertising arena product, architecture, food, industrial, etc.. Even 3o years ago, I saw very qualified, degreed photographers bite the dust, but compared to today, that was a time of opportunity in the field. Ten to twenty five years ago was probably the prime time for commercial photographers. Even those who have survived in the profession, the great majority have had to drastically cut their rates. I believe the same is true for almost all areas of photography.
I've talked to camera retailer friends who have informed me they rarely see professionals buying the expensive equipment, as before. Now, it seems to be the well-to-do doctors, attorneys and other professionals who can afford to feed their serious photographic interests.
It is really tough for photographers to make a decent living any more.
I've talked to camera retailer friends who have informed me they rarely see professionals buying the expensive equipment, as before. Now, it seems to be the well-to-do doctors, attorneys and other professionals who can afford to feed their serious photographic interests.
It is really tough for photographers to make a decent living any more.
Dec 6, 2011 17:44:19 #
Better you should be a piano player in a brothel. Better pay and shorter hours.
Dec 6, 2011 19:44:30 #
All the advice is correct. I've been researching this area for a while. The whole industry is extremely depressed and getting worse. The small digitals are killing pro photographers.
I went to a photo marketing seminar and every single pro there had seen his income significantly drop. Most are having to take other jobs.
I have a friend who was a Pulitzer Prize nominated photographer. He was nominated twice and he has had to take a non-related photography job.
Like the others have said, don't quit your day job and maybe learn to play a piano.
I went to a photo marketing seminar and every single pro there had seen his income significantly drop. Most are having to take other jobs.
I have a friend who was a Pulitzer Prize nominated photographer. He was nominated twice and he has had to take a non-related photography job.
Like the others have said, don't quit your day job and maybe learn to play a piano.
Dec 6, 2011 19:58:40 #
just my 2 cents worth, If you love to shoot what you want, where you want, consider setting up at shows and selling your work, if it pays for your gear you come out ahead. Pro shooting is less that rewarding in most cases, photgraphing wigits and gozintas can be exciting in the short run, shooting food, products or what ever is boring and the pay is less than exciting.
Interested in stock photography, All you need is 40,000 to 50.000 pro grade images.
Hours? hmm 168 hoursd a week, to get on your feet plan on working 100 of them, paperwork, generating leads, making contacts, developing relationships, Portfolio? got one? WEBSITE, software, quality printer, supplies, taxes, gear. lighting, rent fopr studio etc etc adnasuem.
Weddings can be lucritive ventures, or maybe not.
Might consider a LOT of research, pound on doors talk to pros. Most off all HAVE FUN
Interested in stock photography, All you need is 40,000 to 50.000 pro grade images.
Hours? hmm 168 hoursd a week, to get on your feet plan on working 100 of them, paperwork, generating leads, making contacts, developing relationships, Portfolio? got one? WEBSITE, software, quality printer, supplies, taxes, gear. lighting, rent fopr studio etc etc adnasuem.
Weddings can be lucritive ventures, or maybe not.
Might consider a LOT of research, pound on doors talk to pros. Most off all HAVE FUN
Dec 6, 2011 20:12:53 #
Roger Hicks wrote:
Most professional photography is bloody hard work;... (show quote)
My wife was into weding cakes and my brouther in law into weding pics. You will have to deal with the mouther of the bride and you will need to give up most of your weekends. My wife finaly gave it up after doing it for around 40 years. If it is you wont to live for go for it but you will have to give up a lot.
Dec 7, 2011 00:16:58 #
mdorn wrote:
Ive been an amateur photographer for many years n... (show quote)
I recommend a $39.99 video course: Starting a Photography Biz by Jimmy Beltz at:
http://www.phototips.biz/p/test-7.html
It comes with a business plan which every start up photog business needs. Good luck :thumbup:
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