how do you make it as a photographer?
i know so many people who own three bodies, 8 lenses, some flashes but only make money off taking their friend's graduation or wedding or something at fanime. i cant understand investing in expensive equipment but with little gains?
how can they turn that into a real career?
>Photography
>Career
>Mfw
Stock images are the way to go, you can make six figure easy peasy
>>2697259
>how do you make it as a photographer?
if you have to ask that, here of all places
you won't
not necessarily ever
but not in any capacity that would be deemed "worth it" or a general good idea
>>2697271
That's poppycock, business and industry knowledge can be taught.
>>2697259
It's called a hobby bro. People put money into what they like. Why would someone own two cars and a motorcycle? They're not professional drivers and will never make any money except for driving their friend to the airport
>>2697259
>how do you make it as a photographer?
Give up your artistic aspirations and pander. Look at the work of successful photographers in your area. Your first instinct is to say "Ew, fucking really? I'm WAY better than that guy!" but then take a second to realize that people who pay for photos are looking for the photos THEY want, not the photos you want to make. There are a lot more people out there who need senior photos, family portraits, newborn photos, and wedding photographers than there are people looking to spend $1000 on a high contrast bokeh photo of your shoes.
Start taking photos of brides and babies, crank that black level, and start pimping yourself as hard as you can, on facebook, and in person. Ta-Da. You've made it as a photographer.
Why would you want to make it? Just keep it as a hobby and have fun instead of having to shoot the 50th wedding of some hillbilly couple in the middle of nowhere
>>2697259
It took me all of about 2 weeks to find myself $1500 a day jobs, after I was confident I had the skill and equipment necessary to give good results.
The best part is, I only have a couple of clients, but they think I have a fully booked schedule, I tell them what days I'm free to do freelance work and they give me work only on the days I want.
>mfw I do less than 10 jobs a year cos I just can't be fucked.
I would like to chime in and say that you don't have to shoot babies and weddings to make it as a photographer. I will say there's the most demand in those fields but it isn't necessary to sell your souls and shoot garbage you hate like that. You also don't need expensive gear to sell your photos, expensive gear is often aimed at rich hobbyists that have high paying regular jobs. I take photos will a cheap old metal box and sell prints. I have a friend who has been successfully doing workshops and living entirely from landscape photography for 3 years. He shoots with a Fuji mirrorless and doesn't give a damn.
I will say it's a total lifestyle choice though. Change your priorities on what you want and need, and make the choice to do what you want for a living no matter how much money it can pull in. Learn to value time and personal mental health over money and possessions. It's not impossible at all, it's not even all that difficult. It's just different from what most people do. For example, my friend has also been living out of a van the last two years, comfortably and happy. He has much less overhead by not paying rent and he can be anywhere to get the best photos. Again, photography is not your normal day job, it's a lifestyle. I could go on about this all day.
>>2697500
>For example, my friend has also been living out of a van the last two years, comfortably and happy. He has much less overhead by not paying rent and he can be anywhere to get the best photos.
But does Mommy have his room ready for him when he wants to go home?
I've met loads of "free spirits", dig a little deeper and it's usually bullshit.
>>2697514
Nope, that's not the case at all. He's in his mid-thirties and already did all the American Dream living. He had a good paying job, had a house, camper, all the toys and whatnot. He made a smart choice and realized all that debt and expensive shit was keeping him at a job he no longer enjoyed. So he set out on a several year plan to get rid of all debt and live a life he really wanted. He thought he'd live on the road for just a year, but now he's not sure he'd ever want to stop. There's no need to assume everyone is living off mommy and daddy if they are a photographer.
>>2697496
Wanna explain what you do?
>>2697259
HEY GUYS, FRO KNOWS PHOTO DOT COM HERE AND TODAY ILL BE SHOWING YOU SHOW TO SHILL YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY TO YOUR HEARTS CONTENT. SO GET YOUR GEAR READY AND REMEMBER TO PUNCH BLACKS AND GET PAID
>>2697520
Good to hear.
You know the type I mean though. Not photograhers just self righteous arseholes who think you owe them a drink because they have a tear in their jeans.
>>2697528
Sure thing. This is my mobile business. I apply to shows and travel around with this booth selling my prints. I went part time at my job 3 years ago and now pull in more income between the two jobs than I did working full time. It took a lot of sacrifice at first and some long term commitments to a different view on life and finances. When I had good sales this year, I made the choice not to buy fancy gear or fun things, but instead purchased a new booth, more inventory and a van to carry it all. I have a plan in place to rip the band-aid of the day job as the next summer show season starts up. It's time to find out if I can survive 100% and I'm excited!
>>2697530
Oh yes I most certainly do know the type. Many people claim they live on the road but really just crash at people's places all the time.
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>>2697533
anon, that shoes-short-sock combo really?
>>2697533
More power to you anon, keep up the good work
>>2697533
awesome man, super jealous of what youre setting out to do. those prints look pretty great just from that alone.
i just graduated recently and got a good paying office job but its absolutey soul crushing. i want to do something similar with my life (traveling around selling prints) but i wouldn't even know where to begin. how do you even create such nice prints if you have supposedly shitty equipment?
in any case good luck to you. i was having a shitty day but your stories inspired me
>>2697580
If you have $100 you can afford an old d40, if you cant get good pictures with that you need to practice more bro
>>2697580
It most definitely takes time and a constant drive to always be moving in the right direction. For me, I had been taking photos while I had a full time job so I had some sort of portfolio but it's no where near what I have now. My equipment isn't necessarily shitty (though I beat it up pretty bad and it looks like shit), it's just old and quite inexpensive compared to a modern full frame digital body. Skill, motivation, and constantly getting yourself out there will create a far better portfolio than expensive gear. I'm going to go out on a limb I land say that with good technique you could even produce very sellable and even rather large prints with a modern-ish crop body. The customers don't give a damn what I shoot on. The rest is all running a business and has been a huge learning experience for me.
Do what you can while you have a job, learn and grow every day. Then build a plan for your life and put it into action. No one should do something they hate their whole life, that's not worth any amount of money. We just keep ourselves there because it's comfortable and "normal"
>>2697528
Yeah, I'm the person you were actually asking.
I do photos for commercial surveying and architectural companies. It's old money and super incestuous.
>>2697635
Did you just build up enough images to start selling them from a stall, or was there an intermediate step?
I have a few images I know would sell as prints but not enough to justify setting up a whole stall for them yet.
Bumping
What are ways to get noticed? As someone that wants to get started selling prints/working freelance. I'm asking this open-ended question on purpose.
>>2700893
have friends that work in areas you want to shoot, do free work as a one off, make friends with the people you meet.
>advising people to use social skills on 4chan
yeah, good luck, cunt.
>>2700902
well, shit, guess I better go back to working in IT.
>>2700893
network - even if your work is shit but you offer free work or advice people will keep passing you onto others
its hard to imagine anyone who does well BUT no one knows them
