Photography Careers?

[teggypimp95]

Hey photo dudes,

Does any one know what kind of careers are out there for photography? I am in oil and gas right now and although i pays alright, its boring as hell. Recently iv bought an slr and been learning and teaching my self and it has been quite enjoyable. Taken some pretty decent pictures as well. I was curious if there was any stable careers? I know schooling is required first but is the work really that steady or reliable? How well would an average photographer get paid?

Thanks to any one with any info.

[AccentAE86]

It's not steady. It's not secure. You have to constantly be working and marketing to keep the cash flowing in. Average yearly earnings for photographers in the USA last year was $20,000.

Also, you have to ask yourself, can you be creative and deliver excellent photos when you are tired, sick, cranky, hungry, moody, and would rather be doing something else? Shooting stuff for fun is... well... fun. Shooting stuff because you HAVE to, even if you think the subject is boring as hell, is NOT fun.

You gotta REALLY REALLY REALLY like it if you seriously want to make it your primary income.

[Ekliptix]

Plus once people start telling you what to do, you're hobby isn't so fun anymore.

[Maddog55]

Great question and excellent answers guys. I'm curious about freelance photography as a part time gig. Is it worth it? After my "15 minutes" the Sun photography editor offered to "hire" me. I was actually thinking about it, just in order to do some "event" shots at hockey games, shows etc. Is there anything to that? or would I just be annoying the "full time" professionals?

[3g4u]

I find in photography the better you market yourself the better you will do. Thats why, in my opinion graphic arts and photography work hand in hand these days.

[AccentAE86]

It's also worthy to note that running a photography business is 80% business and 20% taking photos. You let that 80% business side lapse and you're gonna fail bigtime. There is SOOOOO much to do, consider, purchase, and set up to run a full fledged photo business.

The equipment and logistics are really expensive, and we're not talking just cameras here. Computers, printers, fax machines, studio furniture, studio displays (I just paid $1100 to frame 4 pictures), endless little office supplies, LEGIT software, monthly business insurance fees (many high-end venues won't let you shoot unless you have minimum 1 million liability), accountants, domain names, good web hosting, PRO website design, studio samples, shipping supplies, presentation boxes, letterhead, business cards, envelopes.... the list does NOT end I swear. It's depressing!!

Also, on top of that, you NEED a very RELIABLE car. So if your hackjob turbo 12:1 compression with a 150 shot nitrous is your only car... you're gonna need to buy another one. Project cars are generally bad ideas to use for business. All it takes is one shoot you are late for and you'll be labeled as unreliable.

And then after all this... now you are allowed to upgrade your camera gear. Of course, you need a somewhat decent kit to start out. It's all part of the startup costs. And if you are pro, you're gonna be backups for everything. Minimum two good bodies, premium lenses with reasonable overlaps to cover your ass if you drop a lens during a shoot, at least two flashes, etc.... so basically double everything. Don't do a paid shoot without a good backup system. And trust me, camera bodies and lenses DO FAIL and always at the worst possible times. I'm getting stressed just remembering some of those moments... :(

Not trying to scare you off of it, just trying to give you a realistic view. So many photo companies fail because they don't realize that photography is such a small part of the overall business.

[3g4u]

^ good post, pretty much covered it all. :thumbsup:

[Ben]

LOL, I'll sum it up for ya right here:

Photography is like Hockey.

A lot of people play hockey, some even quite well...but the very few out of the very many that make the big big bucks doing it, are few and far between, and dont make it in Calgary, even if they're not the best at it!

Market saturation, the affordability of equipment, and people wanting everything for nothing means quantity over quality.

Everyones a photographer, as lame as that sounds, thats how it is, people for the most part will settle for 8/10 the quality and 1/10th the price (hell, so many people sling their work for little or no cash these days) rather than paying a premium price for a 10/10 photograph.

It's all about networking, and finding that truly original idea, people will talk, and you'll get scouted, then you're in motion. Like I said however, this is a fraction of a percent.

[sputnik]

Originally posted by Ben
LOL, I'll sum it up for ya right here:

Photography is like Hockey.

A lot of people play hockey, some even quite well...but the very few out of the very many that make the big big bucks doing it, are few and far between, and dont make it in Calgary, even if they're not the best at it!

Market saturation, the affordability of equipment, and people wanting everything for nothing means quantity over quality.

Everyones a photographer, as lame as that sounds, thats how it is, people for the most part will settle for 8/10 the quality and 1/10th the price (hell, so many people sling their work for little or no cash these days) rather than paying a premium price for a 10/10 photograph.

It's all about networking, and finding that truly original idea, people will talk, and you'll get scouted, then you're in motion. Like I said however, this is a fraction of a percent.

QUOTED for the TRUTH!

Very true indeed.

To add to this conversation, my wife works as a professional freelance photographer and my sister works as a wedding photographer. They both do quite well at it because they both have professional level portfolios filled with magazine quality photographs. There are tons of people that want to be pros but few are able to put together a printed portfolio that looks good and is consistent.

There are people with cameras that will rapid fire 1000 images and pull out the 10 good ones and then think they are good. Sorry folks. You need to shoot well all of the time and know how your gear works. Also just because an image looks good to your buddies doesn't mean that it will look good to the trained eye. My wife is constantly pointing out things in her photographs that are wrong that I never notice.

If you are serious about what you are doing, put together a portfolio of 20-30 11x14 images and start showing it to professional photographers and photography students. See what they say. Showing your friends and families wont do much for your critique. You require a trained eye to give you a worthy opinion.

It also helps to have a niche. Having a bunch of random carshow images mixed with fashion, weddings and nature doesn't really help define you either. Stick with one area of the industry to start and then expand into other areas once you start getting work.