Part-time Photography Business

[DonnaW]

Hi,,
I've got a Canon 10D and am interested in starting my own part-time digital photography business. I saw what looks like a pretty good course at http://dpa.thevlc.com/. Before I go and spend $249 plus S&H and invest a couple of weeks taking the course, I was wondering if anyone else has taken it. If so, I'd appreciate your comments.

LOL Donna ts416@hotmail.com

[TeraGram93013]

Donna:

I looked at your profile and I don't have a clue as to where you live.

However, if you live in California, you might check your local city college.

Courses at California City Colleges are incredibly cheap.

[Vegas Poboy]

Never heard of that course you're referring to. But I do agree with TeraGram93013 and would look into a local college. I've been taking classes for over a year for film & digital and it's alot more interesting going to class and interacting with Pro's and studnets. You can learn a great deal and even get side jobs as you go and prove your work. Photography is a big industry and there is a great deal to learn more than just learning from some tapes or just one source.
Good luck

[ssim]

I bet if we did a poll we would find a huge contingent on here that would love to be able to make some $$$ from their photography.

Many many moons ago I ran a part time business doing photography. I did mostly weddings and a fair bit of commercial work (my favorite). It certainly allowed me to enjoy one of my passions and make a little on the side. My wife used to come and help me on the shoots and help me with posing and compostion and we had a ball. I miss those days tremendously.

I was pretty lucky in that my next door neighbor was an accountant and he helped me manage the books so that I could maximize my tax benefits from running this from home.

Before venturing out and making the investment in setup of the business I think that you really need to ask yourself a few very pertinent questions:

Am I good enough. Lots of people try only to be shot down in disappointment after there first few jobs.

Do I have the equipment that will produce the results that are needed. Too often people buy a great body but then put cheap glass on it and the results speak for themselves. I hate to bring up the "L" thing here but you need to consider this kind of glass if you want to get the kind of results that your customers would expect.

Am I ready to committ the time to this. I'm not sure what kind of photography that you do but if you are doing weddings, etc. that you have to be prepared to lose your weekends

I personally disliked doing weddings but they certainly provided a good cash flow. My personal favorite was doing commercial. I did alot of work with a local motorhome manufacturer and they gave me a motorhome and their credit card and said "come back in a week with as much as you can". That was alot of fun.

I very very little in 35mm. I used mostly 120 format cameras which I still have to this day and they still give great results.

I would suggest that you try a local college or similar if you are intending to do this. I have taken several courses over the years and the networking there is as important as the course itself.

If your work is good enough the business part of it will fall into place pretty easily. Just get yourself a decent accountant. I'm not sure where you live but in Canada there are certain tax advantages to running a business from your home.


Good Luck

[Leighow]

AMAZON.COM has a number of books on the subject.

Interesting the morning paper has a small feature on a nature photographer in or region who shoots as a full time job. Her real pressures seemed to be;
(1) growing her distribution network,
(2) building her web presence (this seems to be working),
(3) planning on December sales (seems to be like the jewellery trade) and
(4) coping with the cash flow challenges that follow on (3).

So remember that the majority of small business fail. So your real problem will be to develop a realistic and costed business plan with clear definitions of mission, promotional activities, investments, prices, etc.

[w10d]

So remember that the majority of small business fail. So your real problem will be to develop a realistic and costed business plan with clear definitions of mission, promotional activities, investments, prices, etc.

This is what most people going from amateur to pro fail to understand: You will be running a business first and taking photographs second.

The page linked to in the original question seems promising in this respect, as unlike many photography courses it does appear to cover the business side of things. But at what level, and for which areas of photography? They vary enourmously.

The opening comments sound like so much hot air: 'Digital photography job opportunities are forecasted to remain steady for the next seven years.' - Based on what exactly? Many areas of pro photography have gone through the biggest changes in decades recently, and it's still changing....

[Bill Lamp]

w10d,

You nailed the reason I'm making photography a second "job". With a full time one, I can support myself AND take the photographs I want to take the way I want to without being dependent on having to take jobs I really don't want to do.

Bill