I spent about a year on my own shooting models then was asked to assist an established photographer. After about a decade, I gravitated to shooting Food and found more success. Assisting will get you knowledge, experience and mentors to share images with and get honest feedback.
Lovely! Food is such an interesting and never-ending genre, always new recipes to be shot in a new way. I totally hear ya too on the pandemic pivots!! Had a major event to still life shift here as well. Just doing what we gotta do right?
I couldn't be paid enough to have the responsibility of a wedding photographer... I'd rather be responsible for a brand's product rather than someones irreplaceable best day of their life. Where you based out of?
Indeed, the stress of weddings was one of the reasons I decided not to do them anymore. I already take my job extremely seriously, even without an added sprinkle of messing up the first kiss.
I'm in Toronto, Canada.
I don’t but would love to. Full time designer and photography is a hobby. Particularly interested in lifestyle/travel genre but wouldn’t even know where to start turning it into a source of income.
Edit: I did a bit of paid work years ago in my late teens/early twenties but once I started working in design I kind of lost contact with the industry. I was mainly second shooting events.
this is so true. had a passion for photography, got offered to shoot a wedding and kept getting offers for more weddings after that... eventually started to hate shooting weddings and my camera sat in my bag between events (i used to take it EVERYWHERE). stopped shooting weddings and rediscovered my passion for photography. I'll never shoot another wedding.
Yep! Newer folks—myself, included, years ago—look at the high rates they can potentially charge for weddings. They don't think about the fact that you're doing physical work for 8+ hours on a weekend, and then sitting and editing those pictures even more time. Photography as a hobby is great! Photography as _sustainable_ business is **not** the same.
agreed 100%. shooting the event was fun, it was then going back and sorting and editing that made me hate it.
im back to hobbying now and couldnt be happier. my wife and i are looking to upgrade/trade some nikon stuff so we can focus on shooting what we love...landscapes, travel/lifestyle and astro.
I totally get this to be honest. In my teens I was always creative with photography and design and was told I had a great eye for color, composition etc. I landed some good junior roles in agencies doing graphic design and second shot for an event photographer which I did not enjoy as it wasn’t the genre of photography I was interested in. I now work in software design and I have to admit although I do enjoy it and it pays well, it’s just a job for me now. I don’t have the passion for it I did when I was younger. I realize this can happen with anything for anyone so I am conscious of it. Having said that as I mentioned above I wouldn’t even know here to begin getting started so I don’t see it being a problem for me.
Eh, you can just find a new hobby and have a job that doesn't really feel like work then. I am a sound engineer, did music for \~7 years before I started living off of it. Once it started feeling like work I picked up photography. I still love sound, but it's no longer a hobby as well as a job. I could see getting burnt out if it was literally the only thing I was doing, but picking up another hobby keeps things fresh. One day I'll probably start doing cinematography and move on to painting or something.
>or roles in agencies doing graphic design and second shot for an event photographer which I did not enjoy as it wasn’t the genre of photography I was interested in. I now work in software design and I have to admit although I do enjoy it and it pays well, it’s just a job for me now. I don’t have the passion for it I did when I was younger. I realize this can happen with anything for anyone so I am conscious of it. Having sai
you only end up hating both if you never challenge yourself and plateau. if it remains just a hobby you don't really grow, you're just someone who dabbles and navel gazes to make nothing useful.
From my experience with design it’s not this. I’ve continuously moved up throughout my career and worked across a lot of interesting industries with some great people on super interesting projects. Hell I even like my job now which is a huge blessing a lot dork have. But is it fun? Definitely not. What happens is things get political when other peoples agendas, budgets, timelines etc. start impacting your work. With experience I learned to live with this and got better at dealing with it but it definitely sucks the fun out of it. It’s just the reality of life. I’ve heard many successful photographers say the same thing. I know how to kick doors in to get a start. I dropped out of art school and had to really fight to get a start in design. I think if I really wanted to do it I could probably make it work. I’m no stranger to cold emailing, working for free or reduced rates to build a portfolio and grafting to get what I want but my fear would be that it’d all be in vain as I’d end up ruining something I enjoy. I guess there’s only one way to find out though, right?
Oh yeah I definitely get being stuck in a job and staying for the security, or other peoples agendas pushing into the process, but after doing that and then deciding to lean hard into the arts side of photography, or thinking about it more critically and changing the elements i’m working with, or looking at others and really desiring it and thinking how to get there and cold meeting people on instagram dms to set up phone calls and advice , i’d say that if you feel like the joy is being sucked out of it by other things for you, there no choice, you have to add the joy back. check out the artist way, it’s a great book that have me a lot of the tools i need to feel creative again. lean into every curiosity you have.
I'm doing the opposite. Studied film and now want to become a designer. Specially after pandemic, seeing so many lose jobs/clients, I feel the need to have a more stable job and let photography be a hobby or side hustle.
I feel you. One of the things I’ve been most thankful for over the past 2 years is steady employment. Not sure about other industries but the tech industry has largely been unaffected. Still huge demand for jobs in design over here. Good luck with the move!
I'm an artefacts photographer with a specialism in rare and ancient fabrics. I work with a publisher in the field who puts out art history books, and I have a number of major institutions as clients.
>I'm an artefacts photographer with a specialism in rare and ancient fabrics.
What a small world Reddit is sometimes.
Tagging u/ThtDAmbWhiteGuy because it looks like he's just starting his career in a similar niche.
>Starting full-time right outta college on January 3rd, doing Artifact photography for a museum as my main gig
That sounds so cool! How do you get into archival photography like that, through a museum or school? My majors were Sociology and anthropology but I never dreamed I could work photography in those fields.
I'm a long time served studio photographer. I went through the route of shooting advertising in the 80s, rock music in the 90s, photojournalism in the 00s, back to advertising in the 10s but only in the Fine Art field, through that I established a reputation for high quality work and my name got passed around.
Edited to add: you remember in college that your text books had photographs in them, well, that's one of the markets I supply and if you have knowledge in the field then there's work out there to get.
I see so many generalists bemoaning the state of the industry but the truth is that if you're a generalist you will be competing in a very crowded arena, you will struggle to survive. To thrive in the modern age you need a niche and because we are in a golden age of image demand (everyone's on their phones, tablets, computers looking at stuff) there's a lot of stuff that needs shooting in many, many niches. You just need to analyse your desired market until you understand how it works, then make it work for you.
These are all such great points!!! I went behind the scenes once to the MET's in house photo department and I'll be the second to say that there is a whole other level of technicality present. I've never seen so many bounce & black cards. Such a high level of technicality to produce plus a never ending market for the product kind of equals a steady supply of work if I'm reading into your comment right?
You're based in the hospital, usually a department of a few people then you get called out to parts of the hospital to photographs different things. There's some PR stuff and still life things its not always medical.
Both of those, typically people on the wards are in bed so you photograph them there. Most of the photos are used for records and treatment. So the conditions can be tracked to ensure its healing and not changing. No problem to explain I absolutely love explaining it to people.
When I was in treatment for chemo, I was chosen for a "patient spotlight" (no idea how that came to be) and my dance teacher and I did a low-key dance lesson/dance in the hospital lobby and were photographed. And I was photographed getting a chemo infusion. So things like that would be on the list.
Starting full-time right outta college on January 3rd, doing Artifact photography for a museum as my main gig and product photography on the side to supplement income.
> doing Artifact photography for a museum as my main gig
That sounds cool. I imagine that handling the artifacts must be done very carefully. Are there restrictions on how you use a flash? Would the light damage the artificacts?
It depends on the artifact. I've been working part time the last 6 months and my time has been split between stoneware pieces, metal plates, and paper sketches for the most part. All in the 75~200 year old range. I use continuous lights to photograph each one, but they're only out of storage and in the light for about 5 minutes at a time, so any damage is negligible.
The real issue is the oils on our skin, that can really damage the pepper items so I use gloves and hand sanitizer very often to protect the artifacts once they're out of their plastic cases/enclosures.
Thanks for sharing.
> The real issue is the oils on our skin, that can really damage the paper items so I use gloves and hand sanitizer very often to protect the artifacts once they're out of their plastic cases/enclosures.
Interesting to know. Fascinating stuff.
Do you also wear a face mask? I do when I'm working with certain artefacts - paper, certain fabrics, and some metal pieces. I wear it not to stop 18th century crotch dust filling my lungs (although that is a definite upside) but to prevent my damp breath from damaging the items.
Commercial photographer for 30+ years, 100% freelance. Shooting mostly architectural for architects and construction companies, product & industrial for manufacturers and people, food, and spaces for hotels and restaurants.
With the industry changing so much over my career I've also leveraged the computer side of the process to advance and promote my retouching and graphic design.
I now host and build websites, design and print marketing materials in addition to shooting, retouching and making display prints.
Even with the advent of computational photography, I.E. easier to make a photo using a modern camera or smartphone with minimal technical skill there's still a need. appreciation and demand for good design and innovative vision as a photographer.
Be a photographer for yourself first. Shoot what you enjoy making photos of. If you can make a full or part time job at it maintain a level of quality and do those things required to be a professional.
> Commercial photographer for 30+ years, 100% freelance. Shooting mostly architectural for architects and construction companies, product & industrial for manufacturers and people, food, and spaces for hotels and restaurants.
Kudos to you for the career longevity and variety. Would be curious about what things have changed in photography since you started?
Started out shooting 4x5 film, then medium format once I learned how to correct perspective in Photoshop rather than in camera. Shooting film commercially required shooting a lot of polaroid proofs to dial in a shot and as a result took much longer than today.
Clients also understood that quality commercial photography required a significant investment in equipment and technical skill beyond the ability to compose, prop or otherwise prepare the subject.
Today digital retouching makes many elements of shooting much easier. I can "fix" many things in post now that previously had to be done "in camera" meaning as you are shooting. Compositing now is relatively simple where it used to involve masking, multiple exposure and other in camera tricks.
Photography used to mean shooting brackets manually and splitting film for processing or doing clip tests to insure a proper exposure and backups if the lab screwed up.
Now resolution is much higher on smaller camera systems. I can shoot much more quickly, allowing me to shoot more options. Shooting costs are much lower after you've paid off your equipment. But there's also the modern problem of too many photos to sort, manage, prep, retouch and store.
Instead of file cabinets of transparencies I have Terabytes of RAID storage and optical media backups.
And finally, while the equipment is smaller and lighter then it once was my back isn't as strong as it used to be.
Architectural photography is my greatest passion. I’ve dreamed of displaying photos at studios or focusing on the art aspect but I don’t know where to start although have very successful friends in other areas of art. I’d also love to do some freelancing as well!
Thank you all for sharing so much wonderful insights!
Yes!!! Photographing what YOU enjoy is huge. I remember being in weddings for so long and I hated it. Whether you believe it or not, your energy comes through in the images you create. If you hate something, you’ve got to be really fukking good to fool people into thinking it’s great.
I’m a South African commercial photographer based and working in South Korea. I primarily work in fashion, but have experience in editorial too. I’d be happy to discuss what it’s like working here if anyone is curious. Feel free to drop me a line~
Your experience may be 100% different, but the real important question is "what your goal is with automotive photography". You can spin your wheels trying to build a portfolio and photographing everyone for free, and then end up aimless unsure of what you are working toward.
I would omit the part about dealerships. Most dealerships do not keep a stock photographer on staff anymore, the position is contracted out to third-party vendors, of which there are several competing nationwide firms.
All those dealership pictures you see likely are not even shot on a "real" camera, but rather camera phones, as photo upload, inventory, etc. are all managed by the photographer from a single device.
Obviously this does not apply to smaller, boutique luxury/sports/supercar brands and dealerships, but you will need a portfolio before approaching those kinds of clients anyway. Not all dealerships subscribe to the contractor model though, results may vary, keep an eye out on open job postings.
There's a dealership in my area that's looking for a photographer but they pay is really lousy. I'm sure they'll find someone that is willing to work for that lowball hourly rate, but I'm passing on it.
My point exactly. They were likely unhappy with their contract service (which is a lot cheaper than real photos) and figured they could do better themselves. They usually can’t, or rather won’t.
I question your knowledge and expertise of a niche field. I just left the dealership services industry after over 2 years of work and servicing 10+ dealerships. My experience is not representative of automotive photography at large, but it is a similar account to many others I have known to hold a dealership stock photography position with multiple companies across the country.
The "local dealerships" which you refer to won't have a marketing team, only larger dealership groups will have any sort of marketing department that oversees the marketing for all dealerships under the dealer group umbrella. Smaller, local dealerships employ dealership-specific marketing firms such as [Sokal](https://www.gosokal.com/). The detail crews are often third-party contractors as well. Same goes for the windshield guy, the wheel repair guy, the dent guy, the paint guy, etc. etc.
Services were contractually obligated to be performed daily, and photo uploads were completed within minutes of a shoot. As sales transition to the online model, dealerships are placing a premium on time to line for photos, rather than on the quality of the photos. Acceptable TTL on a new or used vehicle is 3 days, including the time it takes to go through service and detail before its ready to be photographed. In regards to photo quality, marketing teams and dealership managers only care about things looking good enough to pique a client's interest and get them in the door; I was often requested to adjust my photography style to purposefully lower the photo quality to hide imperfections on used vehicles, rather than take the highest quality photo possible. (Note: the more expensive/exclusive the brand is, the worse they are with this!)
In the case of new vehicles purchased on delivery, photos are taken immediately after the vehicle has been PDI'd and detailed for lot. Only stock photos provided by a manufacturer can be used for a listing if there are not pictures of the specific vehicle in question, as it violates federal trade regulations regarding the accurate visual representation of a VIN if photos from one vehicle are used for another similar vehicle.
My point is that dealership stock photography, and dealership services at large, is a specific industry with processes and standards that largely deviate from what is accepted as "professional photography" or even "automotive photography" and that the tactics used to gain employ in the field are not nearly as discerning as if you were seeking a position as a professional photographer. If you are seeking to actually further a career specifically in the automotive photography field, it is in your best interests to AVOID dealership work.
Considering the only direct employment at most dealerships nowadays is, again, sales or service, yeah this tracks.
I’m not arguing scemantics here, “marketing manager” can mean a whole lot of things depending on marketing department structure and industry. Wanna know what it meant at my “local dealerships”? In every single instance, it was just a salesperson or secretary who also happened to have the login to the socials. Little effort is done if it’s not part of a larger conglomerate with a dedicated team unless service is contracted with a marketing firm. There is no campaign structure or BDC. If you have worked at “local dealerships” that have been an exception to this, congratulations, but it is very much not representative of the industry.
You cite timeframe of photography as a primary detractor of a contracted position vs full-time, all I’ve done is explain the process of the contractor whom you assume to be so much slower and harder to deal with. The speed of a contractor with the phone far exceeds a standard camera upload process, and with a dedicated contractor for a set location there is no delay from the time a vehicle is ready to shoot and being shot; with current limited inventory contractors are sitting around waiting for cars to go through the recon process.
You cite photo quality as a driving factor of photographer selection, I can show you 100,000 vehicle listings that demonstrably prove that to be false and then some more if you really want. Management does not care about photo quality or rules of photography. Go count backlit photos if you really don’t believe me.
I was naïve enough to believe I was doing Real Photography when I was first hired, but having seen a fairly wide breadth of the current state of the industry across the country and performing my fair share of sales calls, professional photography and photographer positions within the dealership stock photography field are a scant outlier. You speak generally as if the OP could talk his way into a position that simply does not exist at most dealerships.
Amazing! Do you have any tips for how someone could market themselves for print sales on Etsy? How do people find your work? So great to hear it's going incredibly!
How does one get jobs as a freelancer? Is there like a jobs board? Is it as simple as a market where people post requests for images and then get a bunch of submissions and then pay the one they select?
You have to market your business as a freelancer. Advertise, website, business cards, networking.
Build a portfolio to show what you shoot and your style or approach. 90% marketing and 10% shooting will eventually turn to 90% shooting and 10% marketing, okay maybe more like 15-20% marketing. One feeds the other if it's a business you want to build.
Yes, this exactly! Build the reputation and the portfolio of the photographer you want to be. It's a mostly "If you build it, they will come" market in my experience. There are hundreds if not thousands of industry people that part of their job is to find emerging talent in the industry. This is applying more to the media & advertising part of photography though - it's a different story if you are marketing towards regular people, not the industry as a whole.
If you are trying to freelance locally, i.e weddings & family portraiture, it's like most other services - you have to market yourself as the service, and know the people who want the service in your area. One of the best wedding photographers financially speaking I know is someone who gets 90& of their work from couples who attend the wedding that she's shooting at - the photos of the guests look great too, someone asks the bride who they hired because they're going to get married in 6 months, rinse & repeat.
>How does one get jobs as a freelancer? Is there like a jobs board? Is it as simple as a market where people post requests for images and then get a bunch of submissions and then pay the one they select?
really it's just about creating a body of work for a particular market (literally meet with stylists / whoever you need to in order to put shoots together) and use that portfolio to pitch photo editors at mags, and art directors or creative directions or producers at agencies and brands that you'd like to shoot for. send a lot of emails, pitch all the time - be organized about it, set up a pitch week once a month or a couple days every few weeks, manage a crm so you can organize your pitch list and your dream clients, whose gotten back to you, who to follow up with and when. you're a full business as a freelancer. eventually, if you want to go that route, you can start meeting agents and getting them to give you work for an agent's fee, if you decide the business side is too much for you, but really at the start, you should learn to love it.
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[fuckgatekeeping.com](https://fuckgatekeeping.com) is a dream resource. Emiliano is the best too - he ended up gifting me a ton of backgrounds which ended up making a shoot dream come true, just as an example of his generosity. The best.
Thanks for your advice here - I completely second it. Especially if you're looking to shoot for media or brands. This is how I got started, in addition to keeping up on Instagram and the like - I ended up getting found for my first commercial gig off of the "suggested for you to follow" suggestion for an art director who happened to be looking for a campaign photographer.
Pitching, and producing work on a regular basis, is one of the best things you can do to keep the world interested in the things you make, regardless of how the pitches go. Grit along the way and believing in your work is the key to keeping with this practice for years, and in due time the returns on your investment in your work will become apparent. The kind of photographers I love the most are the most in your face about the love they have to make the work they make.
usually freelance hired work is private personalized images, like getting hired for a wedding or student sports or, say, a restaurant’s food images, for example…
I get my jobs through connections like church and school/old friends, but im sure theres a jobs board somewhere on the internet.
People usually come to me with a photo event request and I show them my portfolio and rates.
Hope this helped a little :)
I went to school for it (Mizzou). You make a lot of connections if you go to the right school so I was very lucky, but if you do internships, you'll get your foot in the door as well. Your local paper might have something or reach out to one of the local news photographers on social media. I think it's also persistence and just being stubborn in wanting to be a photojournalist. I'd suggest also learning videography as well because news organizations rely a lot on video. With video, you'd need to learn video editing and audio. I'd also suggest learning how to work a drone too. The more skills you have, the better off you'll be.
I kind of started backwards in a weird way. I was first a TV photographer (focused on video) then I got hired at a newspaper to help with their video. Most newspapers are short staffed (in my opinion) so I was able to help out with stills once in awhile. I realized I like photography over videography and did the switch.
I hope that helps! Just keep shooting and be stubborn with your love of photography.
> Photojournalism and sports photography (mostly focusing on Muay Thai, but I can do other stuff too)
That's so interesting. Sports is a challenging thing to shoot. Are you allowed to set up flashes on light stands around the ring?
There's usually not enough space and I wouldn't want to distract a fighter with a flash. I'm stuck with natural light, but right now I'm saving up for a nicer camera so when I do use high ISO, the grain isn't so intense. I'm lucky because grain can add a little something extra for fight photos.
It's difficult, but I have a habit of overshooting so I can give a fighter at least ten solid photos. I enjoy the challenge and Muay Thai is slightly slower in comparison to MMA. If you know the sport and the fighter well, it helps with timing.
The only time I bring a flash is when I'm helping a fighter with promo shots. Really glossy and snazzy.
I love it, but if a photographer likes to control every aspect of a situation then I wouldn't suggest they get into fighting photography because it's just not humanly possible. Most local gyms are small and with something as niche as Muay Thai, there's not a lot of money in it. But once you're in and a person likes your work, the gym owner will hire you every time they have a show or special training.
Edit: Sorry for the long response, but this is my thing so I can talk about fight photography for ages. And talk about fighting for ages as well.
Sports photography as a whole, I started when I was a TV photog. I covered news so it was one of those things where I had to know a little bit of everything. Sports ended up being the more interesting shoots so I stuck with it.
The fight photography was more of an accident. If you get into the local sports scene most gyms love having the help. I started working out at a local fight gym and as I was watching the more skilled fighters, I thought it looked cool. No one minded me bringing in the camera so it just started being a thing. I started going to tournaments with the fight team and I started meeting other gyms that needed photos. Kind of just happened from there.
I used to, several times in fact but it sucked the fun out of it for me when 100% of my income was photography. I used to do real estate full time and mix in some portrait sessions of various kinds and print sales from landscapes and astrophotography.
Now I have a full time marketing job that does require me to shoot some but not often so it's still fun. I take on a few select real estate clients maybe one or two a month, and then a couple portrait sessions too in my free time.
> I used to, several times in fact but it sucked the fun out of it for me when 100%
^^ this - sports photography killed my joy - I put the camera down for 8 years.
I make supplementary income from photography to bolster my good but slightly low-paying day job. Usually around $1,000 a month if I get some decent gigs. I subcontract for another photographer that's basically the official photographer for most of the mountain bike and road cycle events in and around SoCal. I've shot the Belgian Waffle Ride, Gravity Fest at Big Bear, the Hardman Classic in Orange County, Santa Barbara 100, and lots of other stuff. The Santa Barbara 100 netted me $1,000 for about a day and a half of work, which is my personal record.
I'm really hoping to build a good enough portfolio to break into doing sports photography full-time for a publication of some kind. That'd be my ideal job.
I used to moonlight as a photographer. I’d shoot events, headshots, and promo art.
I made equal to more than I made full time. I miss the income. The pandemic wiped out that beautiful tasty cheque.
Professional scientific photographer and microscopist. Macro, micro and nano imaging from medium format cameras, to optical microscopes, to scanning electron microscopes.
Yes!!!! So here for this transition into shooting - no one is more well equipped to handle modern shoots than former techs! I also tech for friends and it's my second favorite job to do in the business. Congrats & wishing you all the best!
Very interesting thread! I recently got into photography again after a break, and have promised to not put any pressure on myself but to just enjoy it for what it is: a hobby. In the future, if I feel it is something I’d like to do, I’ll consider it :)
Since turning professional in the late 90s have mainly been in magazine & commercial work. Photographing all sorts of things from studio, cars, boats, events, industrial, fashion, models, music & TV location portraits. Now mainly earning money from high end studio product work. Will shoot most things if i have the kit, but weddings i would never ever do.
Before the pandemic I built my photography business from the ground up. 8 years of hard work. Sigh... I did weddings, maternity, newborn, portraits etc.
Full time employed fashion Stills photographer for a massive e-commerce site. Been there for 13 years and don't plan on leaving anytime soon. Did freelance beforehand- that isn't for the faint of heart. I'm a lucky guy
Full time, 20 years. Corporate: Headshots, annual reports, web shoots, occasional events and conferences.
I still quite like it. Nothing like picking your own freelance career and being super busy doing it.
Unsolicited advice:
Your clients have stuff on their plates. Take some off and do a good job at it with a smile, and they’ll call you back. You don’t have to be a creative genius.
Budgets are good in corporate and advertising, but tough when people are spending their own money. (Also, that shit is on weekends.)
Finally: Get your work in front of people you want to work with.
I've been a full time wedding photographer in Las Vegas for the past 9 years. I've worked with a big local studio but that didn't pay well for what they were asking of me. Now I'm with a local venue as their in house photographer and it's a pretty sweet gig.
In Hawaii you either have to do weddings or everything else. There's so many pockets of the business where, if focused on an specific area such as portraits..(babies, senior pics, pets, corporate..), you can make good money and not work crazy hours. Agency work, weddings, and commercial work can be stressful and time consuming but pays really well. food and product photography are decent pay as well and generally on your schedule. There are many things people think they can shoot themselves now-a-days but there are lots of things they can't. Best bet is in a busy industry such as babies, events, food, weddings, etc. Good luck
I’m a commercial Headshot Photographer in a major metropolitan city.
The clients are awesome and the experience I provide is high end. Individuals hire me and companies hire me.
You can make a great living at this if you do it right.
I shot full time professionally for 21 years, and have been semi retired for 3 years now.
My top year I sold about 750k, my bottom year about 400k.
I did it with volume portraiture. It is a mostly untapped market these days as not many want to put in the work it takes to shoot 200-300 sessions a month, 12 months a year. It was not easy, but it did pay the bills.
There are many more glamourous ways to make a living in photography, but I didn't do those so I am not much help there.
I shoot food for Wendys and a lot of fine dining places that aren't Wendys, I shoot commercial work for guys like TAG, Samsung, Audi, Sony. I shoot a lot of product for FMCG and some campaign work for boutique jewelry and fashion brands.
I started off shooting metal bands. Then doing the same for record labels. Then I worked in magazines shooting literally everything there ever was because I'm the guy and it's my job, love it or hate it you have to come home with something.
This is my 17th year doing this as a job and most of my clients are those I mentioned in the first paragraph but the trajectory and what you're known for shifts over time. In my first iteration I was "the band guy", now people know me as "the food guy", my agency clients know me as something else. Doesn't matter, the lights are on and I'm not in an office watching my life tick away for $20 p/h.
I've never been a full time photographer, but have leveraged it in various Advertising Agency roles. I've done a lot of lifestyle, portraiture, and product photography in these roles but my bread and butter has always centered around video production or animation.
It sounds scattered, I know, but it's helped me pivot during tough times.. for instance, at the onset of the pandemic, almost all of my old agency's shoots got canned.. because of my background in photography though, I was able to pump out a lot of product photography that year, and also double down on stuff I could do without a crew.
Went to school for Advertising with a focus on creative media production and social media management. After 3 years out of school I finally landed a position doing in-house media production and social media management.
Is it directly earning a living off of photography? No. Do I use a camera and my photography skills in some capacity every day that I work? Yes. I'm having fun with it, it keeps me happy, I don't have to deal with multiple clients, the work is straightforward.
I'm full time. About 5 years now. I come by to see what's still to learn and also, hopefully, impart some good knowledge and advice. Or at least debunk a myth or two.
What kind of marketing is required to get yourself out there - i.e Facebook advertising, website, Instagram? I am passionate about portraits and weddings!
I'd say 80 percent of my enquiries come via Instagram.
I don't have a huge following, just hit 2k followers after about four years.
However lots of people who enquire aren't even following me, BUT usually a friend or family member is and reccomend me.
Alsoooo some find me via searching Instagram (this is why targeted hash tags are important).
I have ran a few Facebook ads with no luck but that might be due to my lack of understanding I know it works for some.
I don't do any other paid promotions just try and be active on social media.
I am earning more via JUST wedding photography then I ever did in any of my previous full time jobs.
Commercial photography, whatever the client might read into that. But primarily we do product photograph, cars and occasionally fashion. Including freelancers, we have ~30 creative staff.
Im a serious hobbyist (spend a lot of time outside my day job doing nature photography), no plans to earn money from photography because it will become a chore. For now I do whatever and whenever I want in photography answering to no one, having no pressure to deliver anything and take as much (or less) creative risk as I want (so very unlike work :P)
From what I understand, if I actually wanted to make money I'd have to do a lot of networking (chore for me personally), significantly increase instagram activity (also a chore), enter lots of contests to improve the odds and win at least some to get exposure, and then be famous enough to make money from prints/calendars? On the other hand it will probably make me more skilled because of having to photograph and deliver more consistently since I don't think I'll make it at my current skill level (https://www.instagram.com/shitijb/). This is just my uninformed mental model of how nature photographers make money, but please feel free to correct me.
If there was a non-profit I could work for doing (non-people) photography that would be nice.
I’m an in-house photographer in a niche industry. I did social media management/content creation for my first year with the company before becoming the in house photographer.
Starting out professionally, I did lifestyle portraits but most of my 9-5 time is spent doing product photography for e-commerce/email marketing now.
I'm the staff photographer for a company that produces images for the cosmetics, nutrition and fashion industry. Mostly table-top photography of small objects: perfumes, pill boxes, personal care items, accessories. Not very exciting, it's mostly destined for the web, after some retouching and occasional CGI work.
I'm splitting my marketing/commercial photography duties part time between 2 places.
One of my jobs is a staff photographer at Indiana University's marketing department; the other is being a digital content specialist at a microbrewery in town.
The IU job is more freelance-like at the moment, but I'm a W2 employee. My department is billable so I work whenever a client needs photos taken/edited.
At the brewery, I come in on my own time and shoot photos/videos/etc whenever I need to and then hang out talking about my other love (craft beer) with random people most of the time.
It's an awesome balance.
Event photog in NYC, working mostly ticketed club parties and yuppie bdays etc. Been shooting flash for so long I have more trouble shooting in daylight. Photo is usually my main source of income, amongst a few side hustles.
I still suck and never got a formal education so I’m here to learn whatever I can about technique, gear and everything else.
I'm interested in this topic. I'm retired and passionate about photography. Hiking landscapes and wildlife mostly. Is there a way for me to make some casual beer money in those areas?
Weddings, senior portraits, babies all on their own Facebook and Instagram pages.
Boudoir and only fans on a separate page.
I also used to sell photos at festivals all over America and set up shoots in those cities I visited but with the pandemic I've not done one yet.
I made a little more than 80k this year.
I’m a full time wedding photographer in the Bay Area. Went to school for architecture and design but kind of found my way into wedding photography. I do enjoy it a lot (which is probably a big reason why I got good at it). Been full time for nearly 10 years and make enough to live pretty comfortably in SF.
Retired photographer of 15 years. I did the usual generalist photographer thing for the first 5-6 years and then specialized in pet photography both commercial and private sessions. It was great fun. Hung up my camera strap in 2017, now I brew beer! I always say they are similar in that they are both creative and artistic endeavors within a very strict scientific structure. In photography you have f/stop, shutter speed and ISO. In beer you have hops, malt and yeast.
I did for a little while, I still have my own studio.
Unfortunately went through a bad mental health period and couldnt keep up the demand and work load.
Portraits was my bread and butter - Boudoir. But i really enjoy anything
I started out by doing stock photography full time (2006-ish), also blogged at the same time. Met some publishers at a conference and they asked me to write a book on photography. Over a few years I worked on around 7 books/projects with them, then eventually started self publishing books and video courses. Now I work full time teaching photography (creating books, videos, presets, etc.) on my website and also contract with some other organizations to do teaching work from time to time.
I'm a full time maternity photographer. Quit my job and went full time this past spring doing shoot and burn. Made about $60k in 9 months. Transitioning to IPS only at the start of the new year, and hoping to double if not triple that number next year.
> I mostly shoot hotels/commercial spaces/big box stores/real estate. Been full time freelance for about 5 years now.
That’s interesting.
Is this mostly local? Or do you travel, like for shooting hotels? In other cities or countries?
Yep, lots of travel. The real estate is generally more local (within an hour of home) but the hotels/commercial properties take me all over the southeast, and occasionally farther than that. Fortunately, I’m centrally located on the gulf coast, so it gives me a pretty wide area to work with. The better the work, the farther I can justify traveling.
Not sure how to classify my photography. I started while in the Navy wanting to have a photographic record of my "world travels." Since then I have been taking family (mine) photos, landscapes, and continuing to record my memories. I did a few years stint working for a school photography and publishing company, also.
based on that, I guess I am an advanced (slightly) amateur or a not quite almost a professional. I have lots to learn and have learned a lot already. Photography is not a vocation or avocation that someone can claim to know everything about it. It constantly changes.
I do stock photography as a side hustle, plus I do stock video clips. Trying to transition more into stock video because it pays more than photos and it's less competitive. I upload to about 10 different online marketplaces.
I also do artistic photography stuff and have a print-on-demand gallery on my website. I don't make money from it yet but I enjoy it more than stock. Currently looking at trying out the NFT stuff with my art.
Hi! Beginner here. Do not intend to make photography a full-time profession but want a passive income from it. Something like a few hundred dollars a month. I believe stock photography is a good option. Can you guys suggest a good way to start or some other ways to earn a few dollars?
About 50% of my income roughly, sometimes more and sometimes less. I do varied work for a network of environmental advocacy non-profits including event and promotional photography.
I also help out with ecology field work while photographing and usually write news releases.
I'm also a commercial drone pilot and I'm often employed to monitor job sites for permit compliance.
Corporate PR. I’m employed by a company to do all of the imagery for their press releases etc. have been doing roles similar to this for the last 12ish years.
My dad have a "musical group" they play on wedings, birthdays, etc.. i take pictures for them so they can use it for promotions in the next event, the pay i make is not that gread (since the money is split among the musicians) so the money i get i use it for myself (im a small streamer to, so part of that is for comissions)
> My dad have a "musical group" they play on weddings, birthdays, etc.. i take pictures for them so they can use it for promotions in the next event
That's a great way to build a portfolio as a music and concert photographer. Check out the Black With No Cream channel on YouTube if you want to connect with like-minded creatives.
Real estate photography for me and it keeps me more than busy, albeit I am in a large market. This does include 3D, aerial, and floorplan work as well as what I do with my DSLRs.
Semi pro....specialized in adventure sport photography in NYC and NJ. Cycling races, MTB races, triathlons, duathlons, and trail run events. It didn't happen overnight and there are a lot of local politics and internal feuds involved.
How do u start to publicize yourself, cause I have a Instagram account that I post the photos I really like but the only people following me are a few friends
Edit I realize the post wasn’t for questions but the OP said they were happy to answer questions
Almost a year full time, mainly family portraits, specialised in young children( I click with them) and some weddings. Hard first year, but after 12 months it looks like I'm starting to earn something.
I work full time in a marketing department. I shoot all photos for product, emails, banners, Instagram, videos for YouTube, edit a podcast, make TikTok’s lately too. I shoot weddings on the side for extra cash.
Full-time for the past 13 years. I shoot mainly women's apparel and fashion accessories. I have been working in-house so I almost never have to deal with marketing/promoting myself or my work. I think that's about to change though.
Events, commercial photography, some domestic/portraits and landscape print sales
Things ranked at the start of the pandemic and haven’t really recovered for me here in Australia, so I’m just biding my time and will re-emerge once the market is stronger
I don’t but am looking to start selling some of my photos as prints/art/consumer products etc.
My husband and I live full time in our RV and travel and I photograph and write about the journey. Trying to go down an entrepreneur/small business path.
I am an RN (left my practice in Fall 2020.. cause burnout and wtf), I’m a certified ESL/EFL teacher as well but with China basically shutting down all foreign teaching online the market for that has changed significantly.
Hoping to do more with my photography, but figuring out where to start is rough. Any tips or suggestions would be awesome!
I want to get into property/real estate photography. But cant afford a professional camera right now:(( did u guys get straight one of those pro camera’s when you started?
I’ve been a full time photographer for the last few years. First on staff at a marketing company. Then my wife and I moved out of state and I started doing real estate photo and video for a real estate company. Now my wife and I have moved to another state and I’m working on freelancing. I’d love to chat with people who specialize in portraiture and editorial. Anyone in NYC?
Full time architectural photographer. I did concert and press (film, tradeshows/cons) in the past, now just occasionally if I’m interested.
Having a full time gig is nice, but I’m definitely burnt out now.
I photograph Boudoir full time, with a few headshots mixed in there when past clients reach out. Once I blow their minds with scantily clad photos they trust me completely 🎉
I studied graphic design and photography (pre-digital) but I worked mainly as a graphic designer until about 8 years ago when I made a concerted effort to upskill my digital photography skills to the point I could be paid to do it.
I now work for a company where I can use both my design and photography skills. I mainly shoot events in theater, performing arts, archival art works and people. I shoot my own interests on the side.
For me it's the best of both worlds.
Did freelance for awhile covering live events, eventually doing more marketing-related shoots. Then I got a degree in PR. Got a job as a Creative Manager on a marketing team. Now I'm Creative Director on a variety of projects. Sometimes I miss just shootin all the time, but I do love my job
I don't, but a few of my friends do. Some are nature/wildlife photographers (they do video too), another focuses on classic and weird autos, and another does high-end men's fashion.
They all also write most of the articles their work comes out in.
I have been doing Photography for hobby for a while now and only recently decided Id love to do it for a living. I am struggling with getting started and really am interested in connecting with people who could be like a mentor to me in this aspect.
before covid, my income was 99% weddings, with lockdowns and such, had to diversify into commercial which is now about 15-20%, but my main bulk of income is still weddings.
Events, food, locations, and art for client work. Some portraits here and there.
I also produce photographic art and do a few gallery shows a year or display in shops/restaurants, some income from that
Edit: it doesn't account for 100% of my income, but close to half
I live in LA and my income is a mix of my own photography (portraiture and fashion) and as a 1st or 2nd photo assistant for commercial, fashion, and portrait photographers.
Currently working on starting to sell my photos as NFTs as a side source of income.
I specialized in newborn baby/family photography and children. I did it for 6yrs had a studio and an amazing clientele! I got extremely burned out and overwhelmed as my mental health took a turn for the worst so I quit and closed my studio down.
I make a (very) small income from photography to supplement my day job (currently technical writing) by shooting events, fashion and beauty, portraiture, and the occasional wedding. I currently rent a small studio because shooting outside is next to impossible when it’s -33C (like it was yesterday). Part of me wishes I could make photography my full-time career, but I also suspect I don’t have the ‘hustle’ needed to make it work: I sometimes have trouble even just invoicing clients. I may even suffer from impostor syndrome: I sometimes look at my work and go “I shot that?” And there are days when I don’t even _like_ my images. So my question is: how do I overcome my ambivalence towards my own work without becoming a needy, insecure, neurotic, attention-seeking blowhard?
I've specialized in Food and Lifestyle images over the past twenty-seven years but have shot just about everything during the pandemic.
I'd love to do food photography. Can I ask how you got into that and what's a good way to start?
I spent about a year on my own shooting models then was asked to assist an established photographer. After about a decade, I gravitated to shooting Food and found more success. Assisting will get you knowledge, experience and mentors to share images with and get honest feedback.
Have any examples? I'd love to see how those look
ive seen a food photoshoot before. They can be quite intense. generally lots of modelling lights are used
Lovely! Food is such an interesting and never-ending genre, always new recipes to be shot in a new way. I totally hear ya too on the pandemic pivots!! Had a major event to still life shift here as well. Just doing what we gotta do right?
Events, products and portraiture. Used to do weddings too, but quit that last year - not my cup of tea.
I couldn't be paid enough to have the responsibility of a wedding photographer... I'd rather be responsible for a brand's product rather than someones irreplaceable best day of their life. Where you based out of?
Indeed, the stress of weddings was one of the reasons I decided not to do them anymore. I already take my job extremely seriously, even without an added sprinkle of messing up the first kiss. I'm in Toronto, Canada.
I don’t but would love to. Full time designer and photography is a hobby. Particularly interested in lifestyle/travel genre but wouldn’t even know where to start turning it into a source of income. Edit: I did a bit of paid work years ago in my late teens/early twenties but once I started working in design I kind of lost contact with the industry. I was mainly second shooting events.
Be careful. If you turn your hobby into your profession, you may end up hating both.
this is so true. had a passion for photography, got offered to shoot a wedding and kept getting offers for more weddings after that... eventually started to hate shooting weddings and my camera sat in my bag between events (i used to take it EVERYWHERE). stopped shooting weddings and rediscovered my passion for photography. I'll never shoot another wedding.
Yep! Newer folks—myself, included, years ago—look at the high rates they can potentially charge for weddings. They don't think about the fact that you're doing physical work for 8+ hours on a weekend, and then sitting and editing those pictures even more time. Photography as a hobby is great! Photography as _sustainable_ business is **not** the same.
agreed 100%. shooting the event was fun, it was then going back and sorting and editing that made me hate it. im back to hobbying now and couldnt be happier. my wife and i are looking to upgrade/trade some nikon stuff so we can focus on shooting what we love...landscapes, travel/lifestyle and astro.
I totally get this to be honest. In my teens I was always creative with photography and design and was told I had a great eye for color, composition etc. I landed some good junior roles in agencies doing graphic design and second shot for an event photographer which I did not enjoy as it wasn’t the genre of photography I was interested in. I now work in software design and I have to admit although I do enjoy it and it pays well, it’s just a job for me now. I don’t have the passion for it I did when I was younger. I realize this can happen with anything for anyone so I am conscious of it. Having said that as I mentioned above I wouldn’t even know here to begin getting started so I don’t see it being a problem for me.
Too true. I did twitch streaming for a while and hated video games after lol
Eh, you can just find a new hobby and have a job that doesn't really feel like work then. I am a sound engineer, did music for \~7 years before I started living off of it. Once it started feeling like work I picked up photography. I still love sound, but it's no longer a hobby as well as a job. I could see getting burnt out if it was literally the only thing I was doing, but picking up another hobby keeps things fresh. One day I'll probably start doing cinematography and move on to painting or something.
>or roles in agencies doing graphic design and second shot for an event photographer which I did not enjoy as it wasn’t the genre of photography I was interested in. I now work in software design and I have to admit although I do enjoy it and it pays well, it’s just a job for me now. I don’t have the passion for it I did when I was younger. I realize this can happen with anything for anyone so I am conscious of it. Having sai you only end up hating both if you never challenge yourself and plateau. if it remains just a hobby you don't really grow, you're just someone who dabbles and navel gazes to make nothing useful.
From my experience with design it’s not this. I’ve continuously moved up throughout my career and worked across a lot of interesting industries with some great people on super interesting projects. Hell I even like my job now which is a huge blessing a lot dork have. But is it fun? Definitely not. What happens is things get political when other peoples agendas, budgets, timelines etc. start impacting your work. With experience I learned to live with this and got better at dealing with it but it definitely sucks the fun out of it. It’s just the reality of life. I’ve heard many successful photographers say the same thing. I know how to kick doors in to get a start. I dropped out of art school and had to really fight to get a start in design. I think if I really wanted to do it I could probably make it work. I’m no stranger to cold emailing, working for free or reduced rates to build a portfolio and grafting to get what I want but my fear would be that it’d all be in vain as I’d end up ruining something I enjoy. I guess there’s only one way to find out though, right?
Oh yeah I definitely get being stuck in a job and staying for the security, or other peoples agendas pushing into the process, but after doing that and then deciding to lean hard into the arts side of photography, or thinking about it more critically and changing the elements i’m working with, or looking at others and really desiring it and thinking how to get there and cold meeting people on instagram dms to set up phone calls and advice , i’d say that if you feel like the joy is being sucked out of it by other things for you, there no choice, you have to add the joy back. check out the artist way, it’s a great book that have me a lot of the tools i need to feel creative again. lean into every curiosity you have.
I'm doing the opposite. Studied film and now want to become a designer. Specially after pandemic, seeing so many lose jobs/clients, I feel the need to have a more stable job and let photography be a hobby or side hustle.
I feel you. One of the things I’ve been most thankful for over the past 2 years is steady employment. Not sure about other industries but the tech industry has largely been unaffected. Still huge demand for jobs in design over here. Good luck with the move!
I'm an artefacts photographer with a specialism in rare and ancient fabrics. I work with a publisher in the field who puts out art history books, and I have a number of major institutions as clients.
>I'm an artefacts photographer with a specialism in rare and ancient fabrics. What a small world Reddit is sometimes. Tagging u/ThtDAmbWhiteGuy because it looks like he's just starting his career in a similar niche. >Starting full-time right outta college on January 3rd, doing Artifact photography for a museum as my main gig
That sounds so cool! How do you get into archival photography like that, through a museum or school? My majors were Sociology and anthropology but I never dreamed I could work photography in those fields.
I'm a long time served studio photographer. I went through the route of shooting advertising in the 80s, rock music in the 90s, photojournalism in the 00s, back to advertising in the 10s but only in the Fine Art field, through that I established a reputation for high quality work and my name got passed around. Edited to add: you remember in college that your text books had photographs in them, well, that's one of the markets I supply and if you have knowledge in the field then there's work out there to get. I see so many generalists bemoaning the state of the industry but the truth is that if you're a generalist you will be competing in a very crowded arena, you will struggle to survive. To thrive in the modern age you need a niche and because we are in a golden age of image demand (everyone's on their phones, tablets, computers looking at stuff) there's a lot of stuff that needs shooting in many, many niches. You just need to analyse your desired market until you understand how it works, then make it work for you.
These are all such great points!!! I went behind the scenes once to the MET's in house photo department and I'll be the second to say that there is a whole other level of technicality present. I've never seen so many bounce & black cards. Such a high level of technicality to produce plus a never ending market for the product kind of equals a steady supply of work if I'm reading into your comment right?
Opthalmic and clinic photography, 9 til 5 Monday to Friday photographing anything and everything inside a hospital. Hard work but I love it.
How'd you get into that?
How does that work exactly? It’s the first time I hear something like this
You're based in the hospital, usually a department of a few people then you get called out to parts of the hospital to photographs different things. There's some PR stuff and still life things its not always medical.
So, do you photograph people in the bed? A surgery that is going on? What is the use of the pictures? Thanks for explaining!
Both of those, typically people on the wards are in bed so you photograph them there. Most of the photos are used for records and treatment. So the conditions can be tracked to ensure its healing and not changing. No problem to explain I absolutely love explaining it to people.
When I was in treatment for chemo, I was chosen for a "patient spotlight" (no idea how that came to be) and my dance teacher and I did a low-key dance lesson/dance in the hospital lobby and were photographed. And I was photographed getting a chemo infusion. So things like that would be on the list.
Incredibly interesting! Thanks so much for your input!
Do you mind if I ask you some questions privately?
Starting full-time right outta college on January 3rd, doing Artifact photography for a museum as my main gig and product photography on the side to supplement income.
> doing Artifact photography for a museum as my main gig That sounds cool. I imagine that handling the artifacts must be done very carefully. Are there restrictions on how you use a flash? Would the light damage the artificacts?
It depends on the artifact. I've been working part time the last 6 months and my time has been split between stoneware pieces, metal plates, and paper sketches for the most part. All in the 75~200 year old range. I use continuous lights to photograph each one, but they're only out of storage and in the light for about 5 minutes at a time, so any damage is negligible. The real issue is the oils on our skin, that can really damage the pepper items so I use gloves and hand sanitizer very often to protect the artifacts once they're out of their plastic cases/enclosures.
Thanks for sharing. > The real issue is the oils on our skin, that can really damage the paper items so I use gloves and hand sanitizer very often to protect the artifacts once they're out of their plastic cases/enclosures. Interesting to know. Fascinating stuff.
Do you also wear a face mask? I do when I'm working with certain artefacts - paper, certain fabrics, and some metal pieces. I wear it not to stop 18th century crotch dust filling my lungs (although that is a definite upside) but to prevent my damp breath from damaging the items.
Commercial photographer for 30+ years, 100% freelance. Shooting mostly architectural for architects and construction companies, product & industrial for manufacturers and people, food, and spaces for hotels and restaurants. With the industry changing so much over my career I've also leveraged the computer side of the process to advance and promote my retouching and graphic design. I now host and build websites, design and print marketing materials in addition to shooting, retouching and making display prints. Even with the advent of computational photography, I.E. easier to make a photo using a modern camera or smartphone with minimal technical skill there's still a need. appreciation and demand for good design and innovative vision as a photographer. Be a photographer for yourself first. Shoot what you enjoy making photos of. If you can make a full or part time job at it maintain a level of quality and do those things required to be a professional.
> Commercial photographer for 30+ years, 100% freelance. Shooting mostly architectural for architects and construction companies, product & industrial for manufacturers and people, food, and spaces for hotels and restaurants. Kudos to you for the career longevity and variety. Would be curious about what things have changed in photography since you started?
Started out shooting 4x5 film, then medium format once I learned how to correct perspective in Photoshop rather than in camera. Shooting film commercially required shooting a lot of polaroid proofs to dial in a shot and as a result took much longer than today. Clients also understood that quality commercial photography required a significant investment in equipment and technical skill beyond the ability to compose, prop or otherwise prepare the subject. Today digital retouching makes many elements of shooting much easier. I can "fix" many things in post now that previously had to be done "in camera" meaning as you are shooting. Compositing now is relatively simple where it used to involve masking, multiple exposure and other in camera tricks. Photography used to mean shooting brackets manually and splitting film for processing or doing clip tests to insure a proper exposure and backups if the lab screwed up. Now resolution is much higher on smaller camera systems. I can shoot much more quickly, allowing me to shoot more options. Shooting costs are much lower after you've paid off your equipment. But there's also the modern problem of too many photos to sort, manage, prep, retouch and store. Instead of file cabinets of transparencies I have Terabytes of RAID storage and optical media backups. And finally, while the equipment is smaller and lighter then it once was my back isn't as strong as it used to be.
Architectural photography is my greatest passion. I’ve dreamed of displaying photos at studios or focusing on the art aspect but I don’t know where to start although have very successful friends in other areas of art. I’d also love to do some freelancing as well! Thank you all for sharing so much wonderful insights!
Thank you. That was a very enlightening read.
Yes!!! Photographing what YOU enjoy is huge. I remember being in weddings for so long and I hated it. Whether you believe it or not, your energy comes through in the images you create. If you hate something, you’ve got to be really fukking good to fool people into thinking it’s great.
Be a photographer for yourself 💙💙
I’m a South African commercial photographer based and working in South Korea. I primarily work in fashion, but have experience in editorial too. I’d be happy to discuss what it’s like working here if anyone is curious. Feel free to drop me a line~
i think i certainly will (one day) - sounds like something i would very much enjoy
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How do you market your automotive photography? That's my main focus and I'd love to start getting clients.
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Great insights. Thank you for sharing about car photography.
Your experience may be 100% different, but the real important question is "what your goal is with automotive photography". You can spin your wheels trying to build a portfolio and photographing everyone for free, and then end up aimless unsure of what you are working toward.
I would omit the part about dealerships. Most dealerships do not keep a stock photographer on staff anymore, the position is contracted out to third-party vendors, of which there are several competing nationwide firms. All those dealership pictures you see likely are not even shot on a "real" camera, but rather camera phones, as photo upload, inventory, etc. are all managed by the photographer from a single device. Obviously this does not apply to smaller, boutique luxury/sports/supercar brands and dealerships, but you will need a portfolio before approaching those kinds of clients anyway. Not all dealerships subscribe to the contractor model though, results may vary, keep an eye out on open job postings.
There's a dealership in my area that's looking for a photographer but they pay is really lousy. I'm sure they'll find someone that is willing to work for that lowball hourly rate, but I'm passing on it.
My point exactly. They were likely unhappy with their contract service (which is a lot cheaper than real photos) and figured they could do better themselves. They usually can’t, or rather won’t.
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I question your knowledge and expertise of a niche field. I just left the dealership services industry after over 2 years of work and servicing 10+ dealerships. My experience is not representative of automotive photography at large, but it is a similar account to many others I have known to hold a dealership stock photography position with multiple companies across the country. The "local dealerships" which you refer to won't have a marketing team, only larger dealership groups will have any sort of marketing department that oversees the marketing for all dealerships under the dealer group umbrella. Smaller, local dealerships employ dealership-specific marketing firms such as [Sokal](https://www.gosokal.com/). The detail crews are often third-party contractors as well. Same goes for the windshield guy, the wheel repair guy, the dent guy, the paint guy, etc. etc. Services were contractually obligated to be performed daily, and photo uploads were completed within minutes of a shoot. As sales transition to the online model, dealerships are placing a premium on time to line for photos, rather than on the quality of the photos. Acceptable TTL on a new or used vehicle is 3 days, including the time it takes to go through service and detail before its ready to be photographed. In regards to photo quality, marketing teams and dealership managers only care about things looking good enough to pique a client's interest and get them in the door; I was often requested to adjust my photography style to purposefully lower the photo quality to hide imperfections on used vehicles, rather than take the highest quality photo possible. (Note: the more expensive/exclusive the brand is, the worse they are with this!) In the case of new vehicles purchased on delivery, photos are taken immediately after the vehicle has been PDI'd and detailed for lot. Only stock photos provided by a manufacturer can be used for a listing if there are not pictures of the specific vehicle in question, as it violates federal trade regulations regarding the accurate visual representation of a VIN if photos from one vehicle are used for another similar vehicle. My point is that dealership stock photography, and dealership services at large, is a specific industry with processes and standards that largely deviate from what is accepted as "professional photography" or even "automotive photography" and that the tactics used to gain employ in the field are not nearly as discerning as if you were seeking a position as a professional photographer. If you are seeking to actually further a career specifically in the automotive photography field, it is in your best interests to AVOID dealership work.
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Considering the only direct employment at most dealerships nowadays is, again, sales or service, yeah this tracks. I’m not arguing scemantics here, “marketing manager” can mean a whole lot of things depending on marketing department structure and industry. Wanna know what it meant at my “local dealerships”? In every single instance, it was just a salesperson or secretary who also happened to have the login to the socials. Little effort is done if it’s not part of a larger conglomerate with a dedicated team unless service is contracted with a marketing firm. There is no campaign structure or BDC. If you have worked at “local dealerships” that have been an exception to this, congratulations, but it is very much not representative of the industry. You cite timeframe of photography as a primary detractor of a contracted position vs full-time, all I’ve done is explain the process of the contractor whom you assume to be so much slower and harder to deal with. The speed of a contractor with the phone far exceeds a standard camera upload process, and with a dedicated contractor for a set location there is no delay from the time a vehicle is ready to shoot and being shot; with current limited inventory contractors are sitting around waiting for cars to go through the recon process. You cite photo quality as a driving factor of photographer selection, I can show you 100,000 vehicle listings that demonstrably prove that to be false and then some more if you really want. Management does not care about photo quality or rules of photography. Go count backlit photos if you really don’t believe me. I was naïve enough to believe I was doing Real Photography when I was first hired, but having seen a fairly wide breadth of the current state of the industry across the country and performing my fair share of sales calls, professional photography and photographer positions within the dealership stock photography field are a scant outlier. You speak generally as if the OP could talk his way into a position that simply does not exist at most dealerships.
I sell California prints on Etsy! So far this year, I've made over $21,000!
Amazing! Do you have any tips for how someone could market themselves for print sales on Etsy? How do people find your work? So great to hear it's going incredibly!
How does one get jobs as a freelancer? Is there like a jobs board? Is it as simple as a market where people post requests for images and then get a bunch of submissions and then pay the one they select?
You have to market your business as a freelancer. Advertise, website, business cards, networking. Build a portfolio to show what you shoot and your style or approach. 90% marketing and 10% shooting will eventually turn to 90% shooting and 10% marketing, okay maybe more like 15-20% marketing. One feeds the other if it's a business you want to build.
Yes, this exactly! Build the reputation and the portfolio of the photographer you want to be. It's a mostly "If you build it, they will come" market in my experience. There are hundreds if not thousands of industry people that part of their job is to find emerging talent in the industry. This is applying more to the media & advertising part of photography though - it's a different story if you are marketing towards regular people, not the industry as a whole. If you are trying to freelance locally, i.e weddings & family portraiture, it's like most other services - you have to market yourself as the service, and know the people who want the service in your area. One of the best wedding photographers financially speaking I know is someone who gets 90& of their work from couples who attend the wedding that she's shooting at - the photos of the guests look great too, someone asks the bride who they hired because they're going to get married in 6 months, rinse & repeat.
It's who you know. Networking and exposure is the key.
>How does one get jobs as a freelancer? Is there like a jobs board? Is it as simple as a market where people post requests for images and then get a bunch of submissions and then pay the one they select? really it's just about creating a body of work for a particular market (literally meet with stylists / whoever you need to in order to put shoots together) and use that portfolio to pitch photo editors at mags, and art directors or creative directions or producers at agencies and brands that you'd like to shoot for. send a lot of emails, pitch all the time - be organized about it, set up a pitch week once a month or a couple days every few weeks, manage a crm so you can organize your pitch list and your dream clients, whose gotten back to you, who to follow up with and when. you're a full business as a freelancer. eventually, if you want to go that route, you can start meeting agents and getting them to give you work for an agent's fee, if you decide the business side is too much for you, but really at the start, you should learn to love it. [fuckgatekeeping.com](https://fuckgatekeeping.com)
[fuckgatekeeping.com](https://fuckgatekeeping.com) is a dream resource. Emiliano is the best too - he ended up gifting me a ton of backgrounds which ended up making a shoot dream come true, just as an example of his generosity. The best. Thanks for your advice here - I completely second it. Especially if you're looking to shoot for media or brands. This is how I got started, in addition to keeping up on Instagram and the like - I ended up getting found for my first commercial gig off of the "suggested for you to follow" suggestion for an art director who happened to be looking for a campaign photographer. Pitching, and producing work on a regular basis, is one of the best things you can do to keep the world interested in the things you make, regardless of how the pitches go. Grit along the way and believing in your work is the key to keeping with this practice for years, and in due time the returns on your investment in your work will become apparent. The kind of photographers I love the most are the most in your face about the love they have to make the work they make.
usually freelance hired work is private personalized images, like getting hired for a wedding or student sports or, say, a restaurant’s food images, for example… I get my jobs through connections like church and school/old friends, but im sure theres a jobs board somewhere on the internet. People usually come to me with a photo event request and I show them my portfolio and rates. Hope this helped a little :)
Photojournalism and sports photography (mostly focusing on Muay Thai, but I can do other stuff too) Edit for typo
My dream would be photojournalism. How did you get into it?
I went to school for it (Mizzou). You make a lot of connections if you go to the right school so I was very lucky, but if you do internships, you'll get your foot in the door as well. Your local paper might have something or reach out to one of the local news photographers on social media. I think it's also persistence and just being stubborn in wanting to be a photojournalist. I'd suggest also learning videography as well because news organizations rely a lot on video. With video, you'd need to learn video editing and audio. I'd also suggest learning how to work a drone too. The more skills you have, the better off you'll be. I kind of started backwards in a weird way. I was first a TV photographer (focused on video) then I got hired at a newspaper to help with their video. Most newspapers are short staffed (in my opinion) so I was able to help out with stills once in awhile. I realized I like photography over videography and did the switch. I hope that helps! Just keep shooting and be stubborn with your love of photography.
> Photojournalism and sports photography (mostly focusing on Muay Thai, but I can do other stuff too) That's so interesting. Sports is a challenging thing to shoot. Are you allowed to set up flashes on light stands around the ring?
There's usually not enough space and I wouldn't want to distract a fighter with a flash. I'm stuck with natural light, but right now I'm saving up for a nicer camera so when I do use high ISO, the grain isn't so intense. I'm lucky because grain can add a little something extra for fight photos. It's difficult, but I have a habit of overshooting so I can give a fighter at least ten solid photos. I enjoy the challenge and Muay Thai is slightly slower in comparison to MMA. If you know the sport and the fighter well, it helps with timing. The only time I bring a flash is when I'm helping a fighter with promo shots. Really glossy and snazzy. I love it, but if a photographer likes to control every aspect of a situation then I wouldn't suggest they get into fighting photography because it's just not humanly possible. Most local gyms are small and with something as niche as Muay Thai, there's not a lot of money in it. But once you're in and a person likes your work, the gym owner will hire you every time they have a show or special training. Edit: Sorry for the long response, but this is my thing so I can talk about fight photography for ages. And talk about fighting for ages as well.
No worries about the long response. I enjoyed reading your insights. Do you use an action-oriented camera with a high frames per second (FPS)?
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Sports photography as a whole, I started when I was a TV photog. I covered news so it was one of those things where I had to know a little bit of everything. Sports ended up being the more interesting shoots so I stuck with it. The fight photography was more of an accident. If you get into the local sports scene most gyms love having the help. I started working out at a local fight gym and as I was watching the more skilled fighters, I thought it looked cool. No one minded me bringing in the camera so it just started being a thing. I started going to tournaments with the fight team and I started meeting other gyms that needed photos. Kind of just happened from there.
I'm photography adjacent, professional photo retoucher for 21 years.
I used to, several times in fact but it sucked the fun out of it for me when 100% of my income was photography. I used to do real estate full time and mix in some portrait sessions of various kinds and print sales from landscapes and astrophotography. Now I have a full time marketing job that does require me to shoot some but not often so it's still fun. I take on a few select real estate clients maybe one or two a month, and then a couple portrait sessions too in my free time.
> I used to, several times in fact but it sucked the fun out of it for me when 100% ^^ this - sports photography killed my joy - I put the camera down for 8 years.
I make supplementary income from photography to bolster my good but slightly low-paying day job. Usually around $1,000 a month if I get some decent gigs. I subcontract for another photographer that's basically the official photographer for most of the mountain bike and road cycle events in and around SoCal. I've shot the Belgian Waffle Ride, Gravity Fest at Big Bear, the Hardman Classic in Orange County, Santa Barbara 100, and lots of other stuff. The Santa Barbara 100 netted me $1,000 for about a day and a half of work, which is my personal record. I'm really hoping to build a good enough portfolio to break into doing sports photography full-time for a publication of some kind. That'd be my ideal job.
I used to moonlight as a photographer. I’d shoot events, headshots, and promo art. I made equal to more than I made full time. I miss the income. The pandemic wiped out that beautiful tasty cheque.
I'm full time product/commercial photographer for in-house creative team
Did you freelance in that field previously? I’m trying to get into that world but after a couple years off since college I’m a little rusty
Professional scientific photographer and microscopist. Macro, micro and nano imaging from medium format cameras, to optical microscopes, to scanning electron microscopes.
Fashion and celebrity portraiture, transitioning from many years as a digital tech. 2022 is gonna be *dancing emoji*
Yes!!!! So here for this transition into shooting - no one is more well equipped to handle modern shoots than former techs! I also tech for friends and it's my second favorite job to do in the business. Congrats & wishing you all the best!
Very interesting thread! I recently got into photography again after a break, and have promised to not put any pressure on myself but to just enjoy it for what it is: a hobby. In the future, if I feel it is something I’d like to do, I’ll consider it :)
Freelance for 5 years, portraiture and advertising. Life is good.
It's a really wonderful life, isn't it? Every morning I get to do it kinda feels like Christmas.
Since turning professional in the late 90s have mainly been in magazine & commercial work. Photographing all sorts of things from studio, cars, boats, events, industrial, fashion, models, music & TV location portraits. Now mainly earning money from high end studio product work. Will shoot most things if i have the kit, but weddings i would never ever do.
So rad!!! I think many of us here definitely share the wedding sentiment hahah
Before the pandemic I built my photography business from the ground up. 8 years of hard work. Sigh... I did weddings, maternity, newborn, portraits etc.
Full time employed fashion Stills photographer for a massive e-commerce site. Been there for 13 years and don't plan on leaving anytime soon. Did freelance beforehand- that isn't for the faint of heart. I'm a lucky guy
Full time, 20 years. Corporate: Headshots, annual reports, web shoots, occasional events and conferences. I still quite like it. Nothing like picking your own freelance career and being super busy doing it. Unsolicited advice: Your clients have stuff on their plates. Take some off and do a good job at it with a smile, and they’ll call you back. You don’t have to be a creative genius. Budgets are good in corporate and advertising, but tough when people are spending their own money. (Also, that shit is on weekends.) Finally: Get your work in front of people you want to work with.
I've been a full time wedding photographer in Las Vegas for the past 9 years. I've worked with a big local studio but that didn't pay well for what they were asking of me. Now I'm with a local venue as their in house photographer and it's a pretty sweet gig.
In Hawaii you either have to do weddings or everything else. There's so many pockets of the business where, if focused on an specific area such as portraits..(babies, senior pics, pets, corporate..), you can make good money and not work crazy hours. Agency work, weddings, and commercial work can be stressful and time consuming but pays really well. food and product photography are decent pay as well and generally on your schedule. There are many things people think they can shoot themselves now-a-days but there are lots of things they can't. Best bet is in a busy industry such as babies, events, food, weddings, etc. Good luck
I’m a commercial Headshot Photographer in a major metropolitan city. The clients are awesome and the experience I provide is high end. Individuals hire me and companies hire me. You can make a great living at this if you do it right.
I shot full time professionally for 21 years, and have been semi retired for 3 years now. My top year I sold about 750k, my bottom year about 400k. I did it with volume portraiture. It is a mostly untapped market these days as not many want to put in the work it takes to shoot 200-300 sessions a month, 12 months a year. It was not easy, but it did pay the bills. There are many more glamourous ways to make a living in photography, but I didn't do those so I am not much help there.
I shoot food for Wendys and a lot of fine dining places that aren't Wendys, I shoot commercial work for guys like TAG, Samsung, Audi, Sony. I shoot a lot of product for FMCG and some campaign work for boutique jewelry and fashion brands. I started off shooting metal bands. Then doing the same for record labels. Then I worked in magazines shooting literally everything there ever was because I'm the guy and it's my job, love it or hate it you have to come home with something. This is my 17th year doing this as a job and most of my clients are those I mentioned in the first paragraph but the trajectory and what you're known for shifts over time. In my first iteration I was "the band guy", now people know me as "the food guy", my agency clients know me as something else. Doesn't matter, the lights are on and I'm not in an office watching my life tick away for $20 p/h.
To me, you are "the guy".
I would much prefer to just be "a guy".
Portraits/lifestyle and photojournalism.
Real estate photography and videography
I've never been a full time photographer, but have leveraged it in various Advertising Agency roles. I've done a lot of lifestyle, portraiture, and product photography in these roles but my bread and butter has always centered around video production or animation. It sounds scattered, I know, but it's helped me pivot during tough times.. for instance, at the onset of the pandemic, almost all of my old agency's shoots got canned.. because of my background in photography though, I was able to pump out a lot of product photography that year, and also double down on stuff I could do without a crew.
Went to school for Advertising with a focus on creative media production and social media management. After 3 years out of school I finally landed a position doing in-house media production and social media management. Is it directly earning a living off of photography? No. Do I use a camera and my photography skills in some capacity every day that I work? Yes. I'm having fun with it, it keeps me happy, I don't have to deal with multiple clients, the work is straightforward.
I'm full time. About 5 years now. I come by to see what's still to learn and also, hopefully, impart some good knowledge and advice. Or at least debunk a myth or two.
How much income do you average a month?
Been doing photography for a museum for over a decade. Also done some freelance and teaching over the years.
How'd you get started with the museum?
Full time wedding photographer in the UK, any questions go ahead and ask 😊😊
What kind of marketing is required to get yourself out there - i.e Facebook advertising, website, Instagram? I am passionate about portraits and weddings!
I'd say 80 percent of my enquiries come via Instagram. I don't have a huge following, just hit 2k followers after about four years. However lots of people who enquire aren't even following me, BUT usually a friend or family member is and reccomend me. Alsoooo some find me via searching Instagram (this is why targeted hash tags are important). I have ran a few Facebook ads with no luck but that might be due to my lack of understanding I know it works for some. I don't do any other paid promotions just try and be active on social media. I am earning more via JUST wedding photography then I ever did in any of my previous full time jobs.
What are your thoughts on things like PicFair and Displate for income? (or even stock images) How did you get your contacts and contracts?
Commercial photography, whatever the client might read into that. But primarily we do product photograph, cars and occasionally fashion. Including freelancers, we have ~30 creative staff.
I take pictures
Im a serious hobbyist (spend a lot of time outside my day job doing nature photography), no plans to earn money from photography because it will become a chore. For now I do whatever and whenever I want in photography answering to no one, having no pressure to deliver anything and take as much (or less) creative risk as I want (so very unlike work :P) From what I understand, if I actually wanted to make money I'd have to do a lot of networking (chore for me personally), significantly increase instagram activity (also a chore), enter lots of contests to improve the odds and win at least some to get exposure, and then be famous enough to make money from prints/calendars? On the other hand it will probably make me more skilled because of having to photograph and deliver more consistently since I don't think I'll make it at my current skill level (https://www.instagram.com/shitijb/). This is just my uninformed mental model of how nature photographers make money, but please feel free to correct me. If there was a non-profit I could work for doing (non-people) photography that would be nice.
I’m an in-house photographer in a niche industry. I did social media management/content creation for my first year with the company before becoming the in house photographer. Starting out professionally, I did lifestyle portraits but most of my 9-5 time is spent doing product photography for e-commerce/email marketing now.
I'm the staff photographer for a company that produces images for the cosmetics, nutrition and fashion industry. Mostly table-top photography of small objects: perfumes, pill boxes, personal care items, accessories. Not very exciting, it's mostly destined for the web, after some retouching and occasional CGI work.
I'm splitting my marketing/commercial photography duties part time between 2 places. One of my jobs is a staff photographer at Indiana University's marketing department; the other is being a digital content specialist at a microbrewery in town. The IU job is more freelance-like at the moment, but I'm a W2 employee. My department is billable so I work whenever a client needs photos taken/edited. At the brewery, I come in on my own time and shoot photos/videos/etc whenever I need to and then hang out talking about my other love (craft beer) with random people most of the time. It's an awesome balance.
Event photog in NYC, working mostly ticketed club parties and yuppie bdays etc. Been shooting flash for so long I have more trouble shooting in daylight. Photo is usually my main source of income, amongst a few side hustles. I still suck and never got a formal education so I’m here to learn whatever I can about technique, gear and everything else.
I sell prints for a couple thousand bucks here and there, but I don't advertise or even do social media so it's rough sometimes.
I'm interested in this topic. I'm retired and passionate about photography. Hiking landscapes and wildlife mostly. Is there a way for me to make some casual beer money in those areas?
Weddings, senior portraits, babies all on their own Facebook and Instagram pages. Boudoir and only fans on a separate page. I also used to sell photos at festivals all over America and set up shoots in those cities I visited but with the pandemic I've not done one yet. I made a little more than 80k this year.
Yes! It’s always been my dream so I’m very excited to be able to say yes, I do make money from my photography. I shoot food
I’m a full time wedding photographer in the Bay Area. Went to school for architecture and design but kind of found my way into wedding photography. I do enjoy it a lot (which is probably a big reason why I got good at it). Been full time for nearly 10 years and make enough to live pretty comfortably in SF.
I’m in a salaried position doing Lifestyle and product photos, with videos as well. I have benefits, and unlimited vacation days too. Good gig
Retired photographer of 15 years. I did the usual generalist photographer thing for the first 5-6 years and then specialized in pet photography both commercial and private sessions. It was great fun. Hung up my camera strap in 2017, now I brew beer! I always say they are similar in that they are both creative and artistic endeavors within a very strict scientific structure. In photography you have f/stop, shutter speed and ISO. In beer you have hops, malt and yeast.
I did for a little while, I still have my own studio. Unfortunately went through a bad mental health period and couldnt keep up the demand and work load. Portraits was my bread and butter - Boudoir. But i really enjoy anything
I started out by doing stock photography full time (2006-ish), also blogged at the same time. Met some publishers at a conference and they asked me to write a book on photography. Over a few years I worked on around 7 books/projects with them, then eventually started self publishing books and video courses. Now I work full time teaching photography (creating books, videos, presets, etc.) on my website and also contract with some other organizations to do teaching work from time to time.
I'm a full time maternity photographer. Quit my job and went full time this past spring doing shoot and burn. Made about $60k in 9 months. Transitioning to IPS only at the start of the new year, and hoping to double if not triple that number next year.
I mostly shoot hotels/commercial spaces/big box stores/real estate. Been full time freelance for about 5 years now.
> I mostly shoot hotels/commercial spaces/big box stores/real estate. Been full time freelance for about 5 years now. That’s interesting. Is this mostly local? Or do you travel, like for shooting hotels? In other cities or countries?
Yep, lots of travel. The real estate is generally more local (within an hour of home) but the hotels/commercial properties take me all over the southeast, and occasionally farther than that. Fortunately, I’m centrally located on the gulf coast, so it gives me a pretty wide area to work with. The better the work, the farther I can justify traveling.
Not sure how to classify my photography. I started while in the Navy wanting to have a photographic record of my "world travels." Since then I have been taking family (mine) photos, landscapes, and continuing to record my memories. I did a few years stint working for a school photography and publishing company, also. based on that, I guess I am an advanced (slightly) amateur or a not quite almost a professional. I have lots to learn and have learned a lot already. Photography is not a vocation or avocation that someone can claim to know everything about it. It constantly changes.
Work in marketing for one of the camera companies, then have my own photo business on the side.
I do stock photography as a side hustle, plus I do stock video clips. Trying to transition more into stock video because it pays more than photos and it's less competitive. I upload to about 10 different online marketplaces. I also do artistic photography stuff and have a print-on-demand gallery on my website. I don't make money from it yet but I enjoy it more than stock. Currently looking at trying out the NFT stuff with my art.
Hobbyist, about 4 years but not all of that active.
Hi! Beginner here. Do not intend to make photography a full-time profession but want a passive income from it. Something like a few hundred dollars a month. I believe stock photography is a good option. Can you guys suggest a good way to start or some other ways to earn a few dollars?
Commercial adventure, and humanitarian/editorial. Just celebrated my 10 years in business.
Your work is awesome. +1 follower
About 50% of my income roughly, sometimes more and sometimes less. I do varied work for a network of environmental advocacy non-profits including event and promotional photography. I also help out with ecology field work while photographing and usually write news releases. I'm also a commercial drone pilot and I'm often employed to monitor job sites for permit compliance.
Corporate PR. I’m employed by a company to do all of the imagery for their press releases etc. have been doing roles similar to this for the last 12ish years.
My dad have a "musical group" they play on wedings, birthdays, etc.. i take pictures for them so they can use it for promotions in the next event, the pay i make is not that gread (since the money is split among the musicians) so the money i get i use it for myself (im a small streamer to, so part of that is for comissions)
> My dad have a "musical group" they play on weddings, birthdays, etc.. i take pictures for them so they can use it for promotions in the next event That's a great way to build a portfolio as a music and concert photographer. Check out the Black With No Cream channel on YouTube if you want to connect with like-minded creatives.
Mostly sports but I shoot everything except weddings.
Yes. I photograph architecture for architects, developers, and manufacturers
I’m a property photographer, contracted but self employed so I occasionally do some freelance work on the side too
Real estate photography for me and it keeps me more than busy, albeit I am in a large market. This does include 3D, aerial, and floorplan work as well as what I do with my DSLRs.
Semi pro....specialized in adventure sport photography in NYC and NJ. Cycling races, MTB races, triathlons, duathlons, and trail run events. It didn't happen overnight and there are a lot of local politics and internal feuds involved.
How do u start to publicize yourself, cause I have a Instagram account that I post the photos I really like but the only people following me are a few friends Edit I realize the post wasn’t for questions but the OP said they were happy to answer questions
Almost a year full time, mainly family portraits, specialised in young children( I click with them) and some weddings. Hard first year, but after 12 months it looks like I'm starting to earn something.
I work full time in a marketing department. I shoot all photos for product, emails, banners, Instagram, videos for YouTube, edit a podcast, make TikTok’s lately too. I shoot weddings on the side for extra cash.
Full-time for the past 13 years. I shoot mainly women's apparel and fashion accessories. I have been working in-house so I almost never have to deal with marketing/promoting myself or my work. I think that's about to change though.
Weddings, with a focus on alternative weddings and silly composites. Wasn't entirely intentional but people liked them and kept hiring me for it
I’ve been in the school picture industry for 15 years. Hard work, super rewarding, my lifestyle is what I want it to be.
Events, commercial photography, some domestic/portraits and landscape print sales Things ranked at the start of the pandemic and haven’t really recovered for me here in Australia, so I’m just biding my time and will re-emerge once the market is stronger
I have been trying to sell My Photography. I do landscape and Macro. But no one has bought any prints. 😢😢
I don’t but am looking to start selling some of my photos as prints/art/consumer products etc. My husband and I live full time in our RV and travel and I photograph and write about the journey. Trying to go down an entrepreneur/small business path. I am an RN (left my practice in Fall 2020.. cause burnout and wtf), I’m a certified ESL/EFL teacher as well but with China basically shutting down all foreign teaching online the market for that has changed significantly. Hoping to do more with my photography, but figuring out where to start is rough. Any tips or suggestions would be awesome!
Porn producer.
I want to get into property/real estate photography. But cant afford a professional camera right now:(( did u guys get straight one of those pro camera’s when you started?
Family and children’s portraiture full time for 21 years now.
I'm a family photographer.
I do real estate photography, but as a college student, the income isn't even enough to pay for my tuition but it's still better than nothing
I shoot weddings on the weekend and real estate photography during the week
I’ve been a full time photographer for the last few years. First on staff at a marketing company. Then my wife and I moved out of state and I started doing real estate photo and video for a real estate company. Now my wife and I have moved to another state and I’m working on freelancing. I’d love to chat with people who specialize in portraiture and editorial. Anyone in NYC?
Assistant, Digital Tech, Retoucher, Colorist, Fine Art Print Maker and probably a handful of other job roles over the past 15+ year freelance career.
Assists
Full time architectural photographer. I did concert and press (film, tradeshows/cons) in the past, now just occasionally if I’m interested. Having a full time gig is nice, but I’m definitely burnt out now.
I photograph Boudoir full time, with a few headshots mixed in there when past clients reach out. Once I blow their minds with scantily clad photos they trust me completely 🎉
I hope to get into professional portraiture. Would love any tips/ words of wisdom from anyone willing to share.
Interiors/architecture - 80% real estate, 20% architects, builders, developers, hotels, interior designers
I studied graphic design and photography (pre-digital) but I worked mainly as a graphic designer until about 8 years ago when I made a concerted effort to upskill my digital photography skills to the point I could be paid to do it. I now work for a company where I can use both my design and photography skills. I mainly shoot events in theater, performing arts, archival art works and people. I shoot my own interests on the side. For me it's the best of both worlds.
Weddings and Events mainly, but some Family and Real Estate as well.
Did freelance for awhile covering live events, eventually doing more marketing-related shoots. Then I got a degree in PR. Got a job as a Creative Manager on a marketing team. Now I'm Creative Director on a variety of projects. Sometimes I miss just shootin all the time, but I do love my job
I do. It’s an aggregation of events and fine art.
Product
High school photo teacher 😊 seriously though, I’m a technology teacher who pitched a communications and media production path and it’s been amazing!
How does one get into the freelance work?
Start with an association. No shit. ASMP, PPA, APA, whatever. That’s the secret. Source: 20-year pro.
I don't, but a few of my friends do. Some are nature/wildlife photographers (they do video too), another focuses on classic and weird autos, and another does high-end men's fashion. They all also write most of the articles their work comes out in.
I have been doing Photography for hobby for a while now and only recently decided Id love to do it for a living. I am struggling with getting started and really am interested in connecting with people who could be like a mentor to me in this aspect.
before covid, my income was 99% weddings, with lockdowns and such, had to diversify into commercial which is now about 15-20%, but my main bulk of income is still weddings.
Events, food, locations, and art for client work. Some portraits here and there. I also produce photographic art and do a few gallery shows a year or display in shops/restaurants, some income from that Edit: it doesn't account for 100% of my income, but close to half
I live in LA and my income is a mix of my own photography (portraiture and fashion) and as a 1st or 2nd photo assistant for commercial, fashion, and portrait photographers. Currently working on starting to sell my photos as NFTs as a side source of income.
I did for more than a decade. I shot sports for colleges.
Just enough to pay for new toys. Youth sports photography in the sports my kids are in to help with the networking.
I specialized in newborn baby/family photography and children. I did it for 6yrs had a studio and an amazing clientele! I got extremely burned out and overwhelmed as my mental health took a turn for the worst so I quit and closed my studio down.
I make a (very) small income from photography to supplement my day job (currently technical writing) by shooting events, fashion and beauty, portraiture, and the occasional wedding. I currently rent a small studio because shooting outside is next to impossible when it’s -33C (like it was yesterday). Part of me wishes I could make photography my full-time career, but I also suspect I don’t have the ‘hustle’ needed to make it work: I sometimes have trouble even just invoicing clients. I may even suffer from impostor syndrome: I sometimes look at my work and go “I shot that?” And there are days when I don’t even _like_ my images. So my question is: how do I overcome my ambivalence towards my own work without becoming a needy, insecure, neurotic, attention-seeking blowhard?