Under 18 Photographer, how to get your company going?

please help me out! im 16, advertise services on craigslist and have my own website

Jonathan,

What types of photography do you do?

As far as your business is concerned, do you sell images, such as fine art prints or usage licenses for stock images, or do you sell photographic services, such as wedding photography, portraiture, etc? The answers to these questions will help us help you.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #16339138
Jonathan,

What types of photography do you do?

As far as your business is concerned, do you sell images, such as fine art prints or usage licenses for stock images, or do you sell photographic services, such as wedding photography, portraiture, etc? The answers to these questions will help us help you.

so far I'm offering to shoot any kind of service although my strengths lay in sports/action and I'm working into studio and portrait work soon btw I did a kids lacrosse shoot last weekend, I use photoshelter for my website and sell my photos through there

Networking, networking, networking.

I started my own(non-photography) company at 16 and 80-90% percent of my sales came from word out mouth initiation.

http://zarias.tumblr.c​om …ommercial-jobs-is-there-a

https://www.google.com …esearch=zarias.​tumblr.com


http://digital-photography-school.com …-is-critical-to-going-pro

maverick75 wrote in post #16339225
Networking, networking, networking.

I started my own(non-photography) company at 16 and 80-90% percent of my sales came from word out mouth initiation.

http://zarias.tumblr.c​om …ommercial-jobs-is-there-a

https://www.google.com …esearch=zarias.​tumblr.com


http://digital-photography-school.com …-is-critical-to-going-pro

oh awesome, how exactly do you get your name out there on the internet other than friends?

The main issue to consider is that in most countries/states you can not form a legally binding contract when you are under age. Instead you have to get a parent or guardian to sign for you. You should check your local laws to see what the applicable age is. This is important because working without a contract is never a good idea.

Another issue is that some countries have strict laws on how long school age youngsters can work (so that it does not interfere with their education). You may want to look into that in your local area too.

jonathanheierle wrote in post #16339243
oh awesome, how exactly do you get your name out there on the internet other than friends?

At your age, social networking. Facebook, twitter, instagram whatever you can to get peoples attention. Right now you dont really have a business, you have a hobby that might pay. When you turn 18 you can sign contracts and begin the business phase.

jonathanheierle wrote in post #16339243
oh awesome, how exactly do you get your name out there on the internet other than friends?

Getting one's name on the internet is incredibly easy. Having this exposure result in sales is another matter altogether.

As far as getting your name "out there", I would suggest starting a flickr account under your real name. Using "Jonathan Heierle" instead of "jonathanheierle" would be a good idea - that way search results will not become muddled and confused. Flickr is free, and allows you to showcase your work to a broad online audience. Make local contacts on Flickr, and join local/regional Flickr groups, then contribute to those groups' image pools frequently and consistently. That way, people in your area will get to know who you are.

Another good idea for service-oriented photography businesses is to start a Facebook account, also in your full name (presuming, of course, that this is the name you want to do business under). Become "facebook friends" with people in your area who you think will one day want to hire someone for photographic services. Become facebook friends with anyone in the local sports scene - especially with the parents of those youngsters who participate in team sports. Be active on facebook, and direct the majority of your activity (comments, likes, etc) toward those who seem to have the most potential as future clients.

Join a local photography club, and get to know the professionals there - both the full time pros and the part-time types who shoot weddings. Offer to shoot as a second shooter at weddings or other events they are hired to shoot. perhaps you could even ask them, flat-out, if they would be willing to mentor you.

When you do have a Flickr account, a facebook account, and/or a personal website, be sure to include them in your signature line on all of the online forums you participate in. For example, if someone here on POTN wanted to see your work, they cannot do so because there is no link in your signature. Hundreds of people visit my website every week, and I think that a lot of that activity is due to my participation on online forums such as this one.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #16339499
Getting one's name on the internet is incredibly easy. Having this exposure result in sales is another matter altogether.

As far as getting your name "out there", I would suggest starting a flickr account under your real name. Using "Jonathan Heierle" instead of "jonathanheierle" would be a good idea - that way search results will not become muddled and confused. Flickr is free, and allows you to showcase your work to a broad online audience. Make local contacts on Flickr, and join local/regional Flickr groups, then contribute to those groups' image pools frequently and consistently. That way, people in your area will get to know who you are.

Another good idea for service-oriented photography businesses is to start a Facebook account, also in your full name (presuming, of course, that this is the name you want to do business under). Become "facebook friends" with people in your area who you think will one day want to hire someone for photographic services. Become facebook friends with anyone in the local sports scene - especially with the parents of those youngsters who participate in team sports. Be active on facebook, and direct the majority of your activity (comments, likes, etc) toward those who seem to have the most potential as future clients.

Join a local photography club, and get to know the professionals there - both the full time pros and the part-time types who shoot weddings. Offer to shoot as a second shooter at weddings or other events they are hired to shoot. perhaps you could even ask them, flat-out, if they would be willing to mentor you.

When you do have a Flickr account, a facebook account, and/or a personal website, be sure to include them in your signature line on all of the online forums you participate in. For example, if someone here on POTN wanted to see your work, they cannot do so because there is no link in your signature. Hundreds of people visit my website every week, and I think that a lot of that activity is due to my participation on online forums such as this one.

thanks for this info, i really appreciate it, i have a flickr account, i occasionally share my photos in the forums with BB codes from their, i try to keep my flickr account on the Downlow right now because i havent figured out how to prevent people from saving the images, it just defeats the whole purpose of selling my photos when people can just save them from flickr, ill look for photo clubs in my area, as far as groups go im in AP photo at my school

jonathanheierle wrote in post #16339808
thanks for this info, i really appreciate it, i have a flickr account, i occasionally share my photos in the forums with BB codes from their, i try to keep my flickr account on the Downlow right now because i havent figured out how to prevent people from saving the images, it just defeats the whole purpose of selling my photos when people can just save them from flickr, ill look for photo clubs in my area, as far as groups go im in AP photo at my school

Watermark anything you think might be stolen. As for stealing. Dont get POTN self important disease too early and get paranoid that the entire world is dying to steal your images. So much the work that is posted here that contains overbearing watermarks are things that are unlikely to be stolen in the first place. I'm not saying theft doesnt occur, but you need to make sure people are seeing your quality work before you worry about theft.

jonathanheierle wrote in post #16339808
thanks for this info, i really appreciate it, i have a flickr account, i occasionally share my photos in the forums with BB codes from their, i try to keep my flickr account on the Downlow right now because i havent figured out how to prevent people from saving the images, it just defeats the whole purpose of selling my photos when people can just save them from flickr, ill look for photo clubs in my area, as far as groups go im in AP photo at my school

If you're selling images that you've already taken, don't put them on Flickr (except maybe in very low resolution and watermarked).

If you're selling photographic services, don't post your for-profit images on Flickr until you've been paid for them.

Flickr is the first place people look to steal images. You cant prevent them stealing your images no matter what site has them. Make sure you put your watermark in a place where it cant be cropped out.

I'm doing the same thing and I'm also 16! So happy I'm not the only one.

jonathanheierle wrote in post #16339192
so far I'm offering to shoot any kind of service although my strengths lay in sports/action and I'm working into studio and portrait work soon btw I did a kids lacrosse shoot last weekend, I use photoshelter for my website and sell my photos through there

As you're starting out concentrate in one area and become proficient at that. Don't try to be all things to all people. If your passion is sport then take that path. You mention your working into portrait work soon as if it's just a matter of turning up and shooting portraits. Portraits are a vanity thing. People will be heavily critical of their image unless you make them look highly glamorous. Is that a situation you want to place yourself in ?
I would start out by getting your name out there. That will mean giving your images away in the hope that at some point, someone will start to recommend you for work. Don't put a value on yourself when you're so new to photography. Getting a bad review today by someone who anticipated you could do more than you actually can, will linger on the internet forever. If someone googles your name in 5 years do you want them to read a sh**ty review someone typed about you when you were 16 and inexperienced ? ? ?
I used to have a website, I gave it up, as whenever someone wanted one of my images I gave it to them for free. I have had stuff printed in books, on TV program websites etc, I still don't consider my images good enough for me to start a business on. I shoot for FUN. When you have thousands of images sitting on your hard drive waiting to PP in a genre that doesn't really interest you, the fun will go out of making money from photography. I don't advertise my images anywhere. In fact I haven't shot for the last year as I became a dad and my family takes priority at present. I'm still getting 15,000 - 20,000 hits a year on my flickr account and it's only linked on to POTN. Some people get thousands of hits a day. Are you getting that exposure at the moment ? ? ?
I'm not saying it cant be done. When I first had a DSLR, friends and family oohed and aahed over my shots because they were generally better that other peoples blurry P&S images. That didn't mean I could cut it as a pro and start to sell my pics.
Sorry if I sound negative, I don't mean to be, it's just if it was easy to make a living, I and thousands of others wouldn't be doing our day jobs right now.