Business or Pleasure

When photography first grabbed me a few years ago, I thought how good it would be to earn a living doing what you love........so what's the reality ?

I've got a website up and able to market myself now.

Speaking to pros and doing some reseach I'm getting that it's real hard work making a decent living out of photography and that very little is actually taking pictures and most promoting yourself and doing paperwork ?

I really don't want to become yet another wedding photographer.....as so many aspiring pros end up becoming.

Is this a reality, or just someones negative view ?

I don't want to sacrifice my love of photography......can you acheive both ?

I used to do freelance sports coverage. Over time it went from fun to just work. I loved the shooting part, but like you said working under deadline soon made home life less fun. So this year I stopped taking assignments and now only work on projects. I shoot a whole lot less, but I have gained my time back with my family. Right now my other professional career is too lucrative to walk from. So I have had to become creative in getting my shooting in. There have been more then a few events where I was there as a spectator rather then a shooter, and I have really missed it. But in the whole, for now this is the right answer. So for me, it is semi pro freelancer for now. As time allows, I shoot more. When it doesn't, I scale back. In the meantime I keep working on my skills, and keep my CV\Resume and web portfolio up to date just in case.

One of these projects though is a month in Asia next summer capturing sports images there. So it's not all bad.

Good luck with it.

So what kind of photography do you want to do? You can make good money not doing weddings, but it's hard work. As you've found out, there's more to being a photographer than just picking up a camera.

Give more information and maybe some of us can help you.

Karen

I like most areas of photography, so willing to turn my hand to anything. I did'nt mean to be flippant about becoming another wedding photographer, just that when I started looking into it, I noticed that a lot of pros in my area use it as a main service on their sites and list other areas as additionals.

My dream job would be to be appointed jobs, e,g a client needs good shots of a given subject - go get.

I'd be happy to cover weddings, but just don't want it to end up being my only source of income.

I also appreciate that the market is busy, and there are a lot of people able to take good shots techincally.

The problem I see is that different areas of photogrpahy are fairly specialized - the equipment you need is different, the skills you need are different, the business knowledge you need is different. There's certainly a basic core set of skills that's applicable across all the fields and that's not to say that you can only do one at a time, but most people pick one area to specialize in and then maybe do some of the other stuff on the side, as it were.

It looks to me like you're leaning towards commercial and editorial photography - the kind where a client or an editor calls you up and says "I need 3 images of children playing on a swingset" or "I need you to provide me with a seleection of images of this widget for our annual report" or that kind of thing. There's certainly a valid market for that kind of photography - I'd assume just as much in Scotland as in the US.

The first best step for you would be to contact some local commercial photographers and ask about internships, jobs, apprenticeships, etc. You might also contact whatever professional photography organizations you have and see if they can help you with information.

I worked for a commercial photographer for years and it was fun, but I like a more personal level of photography, hence my interest in weddings and portraits.

Good luck.

Karen

Freelancing is probably 20% shooting and 80% "other business related stuff."

As someone that did not follow this path, I recommend now to anyone still in school or looking to go into the photo business to get a major in business and minor in photography as that is more like what the business is like.

And it does become a job. There are days that the last thing I want to do is fly out to another job, but I have to. But the benefits still outweigh the downside in my eyes. But I can say for sure that it wont be your "hobby" anymore. I rarely pick up a camera when I'm not shooting a job, hell, I hardly want to look at one. I do work at the business practically 24/7 and I spend time in places like this, always looking for the littlest tidbit of info or idea that might spark something and keep things fresh and on the right business track.

But when you get that great job you're excited about doing and you have the camera in your hand and you dont have to think about what invoice is 60 days overdue or what job you will be doing next week or next year...its wonderful. There isnt a better feeling out there for me.

The business side is the hard bit, as is making a reasonable profit after expenses and tax. I make reasonably good revenue for my area as a wedding photographer, but when stacked against expenses, then tax taken out, profit isn't great.

For example, I did a job clear back in October that I am still doing clean up on. Had to today ship out another set of tweaked prints. It didn't cost me much to do but the time in just running around to get the prints delivered chews up your day. I would absolutely budget a minimum 1-3 and more like 1-5 or 1-6 ration of time for shooting versus post issues and business related items.

Appreciate all the posts here. And its not put me off trying, as I'm not at all happy in my current line of work (IT admin for a large bank).

Working for myself, doing something I enjoy still appeals and marketing myself is not a problem in terms of will and desire, but that said when you match real life commitments like mortgage, car loans ect, the uncertainty of running your own business is not something I'll be rushing into.

I've got a site....got a decent camera and few lenses....so I'll work hard to get some work and see how I go. I'll only take the leap when I'm satisfied I can make it.

You think you don't like your job.... my "day" job is to take jobs from people like you and move them to my staff in India and China. Now that is a feel good job. Don't get me wrong, the people who work for me over there are awesome people. But the fact that I am the least welcome person in an IT shop because people know there are jobs that will be relocated... it's always fun.

So I understand where you are coming from. At the same time though, to really be a success at this, you have to have really good people skills. I know I have taken work from better shooters simply because I know how to work crises situations and keep my head. Being able to work with clients under just crazy deadlines is critical for success. It's what I do best... now if I could just get my shooting to match... life would be good.

Croasdail wrote in post #2391004
to really be a success at this, you have to have really good people skills. I know I have taken work from better shooters simply because I know how to work crises situations and keep my head. .

100% agree with that.....I'm getting married next Sept......and the photographers we narrowed down we met prior to booking. I of course was looking at the photos to make a judgement of how good the photos were.....but I was also judging them on how they came across, asked a few techincal questions ect.

One guy had good photos, but was not able to answer questions about cost, extra prints ect, without having to look at his notes........not impressed !

Guy we went with came across well, very professional, was not in a rush, happy to answer my technical questions (which I asked for my own benefit). And his work was very good also......hired !