Are you a ramen noodle or filet mignon pro?

Just wondering how many pro make a decent living being a photog.

more than post on this board.

I'm a semi-pro with a semi-pro camera.

For what I do, it's a nice part-time income.

narlus wrote in post #5615386
more than post on this board.

Exactly. Anyone who has gotten so successful that you no longer have time to post raise your hand.

I have never gotten paid for photography yet, there should be a $0 option.

But if me, my brother, & one of by best friends combined, we'd probably be able to earn at least $1.50 (ramens on me).

hmmmm....moorEng photography

Fillet mignon. Photography pays all my expenses including my mortgage - as it should - it's a full time job.

I have made enough to invest more into my company, purchasing a trailer for a mobile events printing lab and a few extra employees (Photographers and a secretary/receptionist​). I still have yet to find a permanent building I want to use a HQ, we are still working out of my basement.

I have be part of a few startups, and never once profited a gross margin out of it. I want to make at least enough to keep my head above water and still have a thriving business.

From a well known Visa commercial "Your business is your life", and to be 100% honest, I don't know what I would do without it.

I've made enough to reinvest my earnings in equipment to improve the quality of my output, while staying comfortably in the red.

form wrote in post #5621497
I've made enough to reinvest my earnings in equipment to improve the quality of my output, while staying comfortably in the red.

Where would any of us be without a little red? Oh wait, no where!

The nice part of this industry is that it seems to come in spurts. Unlike my corporate job that seemed to have an endless supply of work that never ends, working in this industry has its peaks and valleys. There are times that things are crazy busy and I disappear off the planet for a couple weeks.

Then there are times I've got room to breath and check out the flowers along the way, and maybe even shoot some of my personal projects. Next week, or the week after, I'll be flat out again for a couple weeks. Probably won't be posting much if at all.

But all in all, its been feeding me Filet Mignon once I finally got established and put a marketing machine in place. Definitely a good career move for me (was in network software engineering for 15 years), no more staff meetings, monthly reports, or a small 10x10 cubicle

Ramen here. I'm in a depressed area and depressed areas don't have money to support a fillet mignon photographer. Unfortunately, wealthy areas don't look to depressed areas for fillet mignon photographers. Between photography and my other business I stay afloat, but I certainly am not getting ahead.

cdifoto wrote in post #5621790
Unfortunately, wealthy areas don't look to depressed areas for fillet mignon photographers.

Would you drive an hour each way if you could quadruple your fees? There must be Filet Mignon close by you can carve some slices off of. Worth checking the menus of surrounding areas.

That's about what I've been (working on) doing. There's not much within an hour, but 2 and a half hours away is Philadelphia and three hours in the opposite direction is Pittsburgh.

I'm doing a wedding in Mexico at the end of June & the bride is originally from my area but lives in Pittsburgh now. That means she has friends both here and in Pitt so I'm hoping her wedding turns things into something good. I'd have no problems relocating if that was necessary, but I can't justify it now since the work isn't coming from anywhere specific just yet. Moving is not only expensive but it's a pain in the bum. I'm also in a fairly convenient location as far as being able to hit several metro areas with a little travel, but my actual area is bad & it's getting the attention of those metro areas that's tough.

Not my full time job, but I've made enough to cover my camera equipment expenditures (excluding my body, which I had to buy to start).