Re: Photography

[Deleted User]

hah, my mum has been trying to persuade me to start taking lots of photos of london to sell to media prior to the 2012 Olympics.

Photography seems to be facing the same problem that web-design faced in the last few years. In 1998, if you wanted to get a website - you'd pay through the nose for it. You'd need technical knowledge and expensive equipment. Now, anyone can buy a template and whack together something semi-pro looking for a quarter of the cost. Bespoke work can be done by people around the world cheaper than someone in the UK can do it for.

I've got a £300 computer, a Panasonic L10 with a few lenses, lightroom 2 and an off-camera flash and i can get some pretty good results out of that kit, with a total cost of under a grand. If you compare that to what you would have needed 5, 10 years ago, it's crazy. My dad still talks about selling a photo of an oil-rig to it's owners when he was a teenager for 50 quid (which was quite a bit then). Chances are now, if they wanted that photo they could buy a camera and take it themselves for the same money

So, the reason I don't think anyone can make much money as a 'hobbyist photographer' is that there are too many out there. Just look at the explosion of people buying dSLR cameras.

afterglow_2

....this is why i have gone back to good old fasioned film, large format sheet film, so that what i do is a 'traditional' craft, which takes lots of expertise, craftmanship and artistic ability,
think that is what is needed to separate the two types of photographers!

Takana

I'm not a professional photographer, I just take pictures for fun as a hobby. I aspire to become semi pro one day and make a second income out of it through wildlife photography. But in the meantime I'm looking at producing my own calendars and greetings cards. Yes there's thousands out there already but you just need to find and create something different then the usual cats, dogs and cars etc. If you are planning on going to college, why not see if any bands or singers want some promo shots done for cd artwork and websites etc? They could also be used for their fackbook or mysapce too. Same could got for wannabe models looking to get started.

I would definately check out this college course as it will give you a better understanding of the photography business and enhance your camera skills, and the teachers there could help point you in the right direction for freelance work

LittleCharlie

onlineallthetime wrote: »

What do people do about insurance etc... as a business? If you're running the 'photography' sideline thing, do you need insurance? I'm mainly thinking about working at events (weddings) and stuff... anyone know?

Yes. If you're going to shoot something like a wedding, you need enough insurance to cover the costs of having to restage the WHOLE wedding day. ALL the guests being there, ALL the catering etc, the venues.

You will also need backup kit (something extra of everything. Just my backup kit for weddings costs over £8k by itself).

digii_dave

to add my two penneth, there are thousands of Double Glazing companies around here and they all make money. I was once a photocopier Engineer and salesman and customer rarely buy a copier from an advert. When was the last time you saw a photocopier shop? We had to phone and market our products to get the interest and the sales. All these types of companies are making lots of money. Some are good some are bad. If you get out and sell and market your product you WILL make money. Put enough marbles in a funnel and some fall out the bottom. Selling is a numbers game.

If people did not listen to Jehovah Witnesses then why do they keep knocking on our doors? Because some people do listen. Why do salesmen knock on our doors? Cos every hundred doors slammed in the face means someone will eventually say yes please. If it did not work they would not do it!


I have a part time job AND a photography job. Before Christmas I was pulling a grand taking picks a week. I am busy even now. I designed my own website. I update my own website. I paid £330 for a Canon 350D and decent sigma lens on Ebay that had taken less than 400 photos. The bloke who sold it paid over a grand for the two. I have had it for 13 months and it has paid for itself many times. I have a portable cheap studio bought off Ebay I have no shop or ind unit but work from home and only farm out the printing to a pro lab, cos I want as near 100% control on my business as can be to save messing people around being reliant on others who often let you down.

I have no qualifications. I learn on the fly (over 30 years) and from the WWW. I don’t belong to any clubs, I have no fancy initials after my name (not that I can repeat anyway) and the only people who opinions I care about on my tograpahy are the people who pay. Two orders this week and they both want ALL the proofs. (170 in total) They are the true judges of your work not critics.

I print my own biz cards on my ink jet printer on 25 sheets of A4 card and I pay 99p for at the local cheap shop. I cut them out with a cutter bought in Staples. Saves me a mint and they look great cos i designed them. (self taught)

If you really are good at photography and post processing you WILL make money. I am. As for everyone is doing it who has a digital camera, I am not sure that’s overkill cos I still see people with digital cameras chop heads and legs off even tho they can see what they are aiming at. How many know about fill in flash and DOF and the difference between tungsten and daylight lighting?

I have just seen some photos my boss had taken at his wedding, taken by a Lecturer in photography at a UNIVERSITY and he used a 28mm wide angel for every shot so, the bride and groom have a really wide smile, plus a really wide head and bodies like those shown in a fairground mirror!

How many know how to bounce flash to get good results?

As for setting up a business doing this and costing, you don’t need a Ferrari to go down the shops in.

I have waffled enough. If you feel you can do it, go for it. We can all make money there is room a plenty. Is your glass half empty or half full?

I am not going to provide any web details as it looks like I am touting for biz, I am not so please do not ask. Just go for it and good luck

danjames20

*applauds* good for you mate :T:j:beer:

digii_dave

danjames20 wrote: »

*applauds* good for you mate :T:j:beer:

many thanks

I will never set the world alight as a photographer (unlike me to be negative) and some could argue my picks are crap as I could their's, but, as I say, its the people buying that matter to me and that they like them, nowt else.

Now I have said all this it will go quiet Doh!

Good Luck :beer:

CreditonJules

Have you thought about putting your photos onto:

http://www.picturenation.co.uk/

They only take the best photos (which are vetted by experts before being uploaded onto their website) and you could make a few pounds from your pics whilst keeping hold of the copyright!

Give it a go!

Financial_Novice_2

Perhaps I've only taken on board the downside of these arguments but I do find it worrying. My son is studying photography at present (1st year of a 3 year course) and he very keen and enthusiastic about it. He has done a few jobs taking promo shots of local bands and these have been well received, if not particularly well paid. Like any dad, I'm keen for him to achieve his goals and will help him anyway I can but should I be advising him to perhaps think about alternative careers if he can't make a living from photography?

chrisbur

CreditonJules wrote: »

Have you thought about putting your photos onto:

http://www.picturenation.co.uk/

They only take the best photos (which are vetted by experts before being uploaded onto their website) and you could make a few pounds from your pics whilst keeping hold of the copyright!

Give it a go!

A few points about picturenation.
You can only have five pictures on the site without paying their £10 a year fee. May not sound a lot but a good picture library will not charge anything. Are they making their money selling pictures or taking £10 from hopeful photographers.
They make a big deal of you keeping the copyright, but that is normal practise. No library would sell copyright without your permission and if anyone wanted it you would expect a hefty fee, and it would be your choice whether to sell or not.
They do not seem to have many pictures, as an example I searched for "tulip" and they had 173 pictures. Try that on Alamy and you get 26,145 pictures.
I cannot recall ever seeing their name mentioned in any credits in magazines, so I suspect they do not sell many pictures.

If you are interested in selling pictures have a look at the BAPLA site to see the good agencies
http://www.bapla.org.uk/

From personal experience I would recommend Alamy as a non-exclusive agency that is open to anyone who can provide pictures of a good standard.
http://www.alamy.com/contributors/default.asp
If you specialise then check BAPLA for an agency that deals in your speciality and try them first.
With all agencies you need to understand that unless you have some very very exceptional pictures you need to be supplying a lot of pictures before you will get much of a return.