Do you make a living from photography?

(not counting wedding photographers)

Do you earn enough money to actually pay bills, mortgage, car payments, whatever? If so, ho do you do it?

Yes and I have been feeding the family with this since 1986. The last 23 years have been doing advertising/commercial work. 10 years as a staff photographer and 13 years totally on my own. Healthcare is the major client base though I do work for a couple of universities and a few other clients including ad agencies and a couple of fortune 500 corporations.

For me its been about building a strong client base built on trust and repeat business.

Why would you not include wedding photographers?

I make enough to support myself with and without my wedding photography. Weddings are the majority of my income, but I make enough in my commercial/editorial shooting to support my family.

But we are much happier with the wedding income, too.

It's a weird question because there are people who make a living photography in all fields.
I know pet photographers who make around 50-70K photographing puppies and cats. I know food photographers who make 6-figures. I know fashion and commercial photographers who are really successful. I know school photographers who make 50K and only work 5-6 months a year.
picture

No, I don't.... but I'm not an active working photographer either

Dmitri_D wrote in post #16476535
If so, ho do you do it?

Take pictures... sell them. Pretty much the same formula for any photographer.

This just pisses me off because even photographers think this way.

aliengin wrote in post #16477539
This just pisses me off because even photographers think this way.

What way?

memoriesoftomorrow wrote in post #16477525
Take pictures... sell them. Pretty much the same formula for any photographer.

This way? ^^ If so, I know what you mean. It's much easier to sell your photos when you're a portrait photographer or work commercially than it is if you're a landscape and/or fine art photographer. I DO know some successful fine art photographers, my personal mentor is one, but it's a VERY difficult field to break in to and make good money at. Possible? Yes, but it takes A TON of marketing on your part to even make your first sale. I personally emailed almost 300 interior design firms...I heard back from three and none of them were the large firms but small businesses. It's not that I don't have skill, it's that it's nearly impossible to even get your foot in the door.

Fitness Freak wrote in post #16477569
What way?

This way? ^^ If so, I know what you mean. It's much easier to sell your photos when you're a portrait photographer or work commercially than it is if you're a landscape and/or fine art photographer. I DO know some successful fine art photographers, my personal mentor is one, but it's a VERY difficult field to break in to and make good money at. Possible? Yes, but it takes A TON of marketing on your part to even make your first sale. I personally emailed almost 300 interior design firms...I heard back from three and none of them were the large firms but small businesses. It's not that I don't have skill, it's that it's nearly impossible to even get your foot in the door.

Thats because you are trying to market to a dead market. Magazines wont pay anyone because the market is saturated with talented people who give it away for FREE so they can brag to the photography community...Hey im published.

I work in the wedding and portrait market because i love what im doing, I enjoy the challenges of on location lighting, I love being in studio lighting, and I can still make good money doing it. I absolutely love working with people and finding poses and looks that work best for them.

To be honest with you, I love sports photography. Thats because ive been an athlete all my life. I dont have some of the problems other sports shooters have because the sports i like to photograph, ive done. So i know when the good stuff is gonna happen and I know where to point the camera and push the shutter......I still do it. But I cant make any consistent money at it for reasons i have explained already.

Sorry to disagree with you but pete is 1000% right. Take pictures and sell them. Thats what professional photographers do.

As far as not including wedding photographers in the mix. Its absolutely stupid. Wedding photography is a very difficult field to master and requires top notch photography skills and more importantly.. Great people skills.

Regarding the exclusion of wedding photographers... my guess is that it's because the amount they are able to make on a wedding which may be much easier to make a living on than photographers who specialize in other genres.

umphotography wrote in post #16477609
Thats because you are trying to market to a dead market. Magazines wont pay anyone because the market is saturated with talented people who give it away for FREE so they can brag to the photography community...Hey im published.

I work in the wedding and portrait market because i love what im doing, I enjoy the challenges of on location lighting, I love being in studio lighting, and I can still make good money doing it. I absolutely love working with people and finding poses and looks that work best for them.

To be honest with you, I love sports photography. Thats because ive been an athlete all my life. I dont have some of the problems other sports shooters have because the sports i like to photograph, ive done. So i know when the good stuff is gonna happen and I know where to point the camera and push the shutter......I still do it. But I cant make any consistent money at it for reasons i have explained already.

Sorry to disagree with you but pete is 1000% right. Take pictures and sell them. Thats what professional photographers do.

As far as not including wedding photographers in the mix. Its absolutely stupid. Wedding photography is a very difficult field to master and requires top notch photography skills and more importantly.. Great people skills.

I'm not sure what you're referring to as a "dead market", if you mean fine art in general or interior decorators. but I know for a fact that both are very much alive and well. I have enough friends in the fine art field that sell to interior decorators that are proof of that. However, I also know that it's an extremely hard field to make money in. Sure, I could "take pictures and sell" them if I wanted to take wedding, baby, and or family portraits, but I have absolutely NO desire to do that or any other type of photography that isn't landscape or what I'm already doing. Lucky for me I don't have to make a living with my photography. FYI, I DO sell my work and not for cheap, and I've also "been published", not that it matters. If my only objective was to make money with my photography then I would pursue a different photography genre for sure, but as I said, I'm fortunate in that I don't have to make a living off of my love of photography so I'll just continue to take pictures of what I want to take pictures of. Otherwise, I wouldn't love photography anymore.

I'm sorry but it really is as simple as I put it... we take pictures... we sell them... that is the photography industry in a nutshell. There are no if, buts or maybes to it. We sell the physical pictures, prints, licenses all exist as part of the sale of the images themselves.

We sell what we shoot. If you aren't able to sell anything you shoot you go broke as a business.

How do we make money... we sell stuff.

memoriesoftomorrow wrote in post #16477733
I'm sorry but it really is as simple as I put it... we take pictures... we sell them... that is the photography industry in a nutshell. There are no if, buts or maybes to it. We sell the physical pictures, prints, licenses all exist as part of the sale of the images themselves.

We sell what we shoot. If you aren't able to sell anything you shoot you go broke as a business.

How do we make money... we sell stuff.

Well, when you put it that way and look at it in it's most basic form, you are absolutely correct. I guess the moral is, if you want to make a living at photography, photograph what there's a huge market for and you know sells. If you're genre doesn't sell or is difficult to be successful in, then don't expect to make a living at it or pick a genre that you can.

drvnbysound wrote in post #16477656
Regarding the exclusion of wedding photographers... my guess is that it's because the amount they are able to make on a wedding which may be much easier to make a living on than photographers who specialize in other genres.

You should see how much commercial photographers can make on one shoot.