Do any of you guys actually make money from photography?
>>2796333
I started offering my services without marketing or advertising a couple of years ago. Just word of mouth through friends and family. I do about one paid job a month at this point, and usually charge around $500 for a few hours of shooting, plus edited files.
>>2796333
I turn over about £30k a year from weddings.
No, my photos are licensed under Creative Commons.
>>2796333
Impossible without having to file long-ass tax reports and then have 60% of my income go to the state because need mo money fo dem programs.
Sometimes people offer me money but I always refuse.
If I accept money it will feel like work and I don't want that.
Nope as I'm still in the process of building a portfolio. but I've won a couple prizes through my photos, mostly meh lenses and cameras but sometimes good stuff.
recently won this combo which im absolutely loving. fits in my jacket pocket and pic quality is very good for what would've been ~$400?
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Nah, art shouldn't be a commercial endeavor.
I'm sure there are some whores who disagree, but who really cares? They kiss on the mouth and are proud of it.
>>2796394
>make art
>actually make money off of it
>what a fucking sellout
Where is the problem with being able to live off of what you love?
Ehh, kinda. Been given free things for shooting but nobody ever put some actual green paper in my hands. I probably could make decent money if I owned a car and actually advertised myself. I never really consider "should I actually try to make a living off this?" but I might reconsider this fall
Photos and video on the side when i have time. I did pretty well last year with 17 weddings just on weekends. I dont get the chance to get super creative with other photography but it helps pay the bills.
>>2796408
To some people it is a problem considering you aren't getting paid to make art, you are getting paid to shoot the same old model glamour shots/school photos/wedding photos. So unless you can sell a potato pic for a million I would be willing to bet you wouldn't be doing what you love, so much as doing a job with the tool that you love.
>>2796333
Yes. I get paid to take photos of teens and preteens. Then when I am shooting just for fun and creativity I take photos of ... uh, teens and preteens.
>>2796333
Yea I'm shooting for Microsoft on Wednesday, 25/h.
>>2796333
Kind of, but really not. Occasionally shooting photos is part of my job. I'm a reporter at a newspaper in a city of around 40,000 people. We have three full-time staff photographers and an intern, but sometimes no photographer is available, so I shoot photos to go with my own stories. I like photography, but getting good photos while also getting a good story is tough.
At my previous job, I did all of my own photography. And a couple of times, somebody wanted to buy the photos from the newspaper, and the paper split the money with me (I was on company time, doing company business, but using my own equipment).
>>2796433
If you never consider it, how can you reconsider it?
>>2796362
pretty good. hmm...
>>2796439
Is it hard to shoot weddings? Like do you actually need skill? Seems to me that most people dont know shit about photography anyway. So can you get away with using autosettings and basic post production? A little oversaturation on this shot of the bride next to flowers, make this other one of the couple holding hands black and white... bam, $500 please.
>>2796333
Yeah, I usually pocket $800-$1200 a week after expenses.
>shoot one project a week
>usually requires 6-10 hour days, 3 days a week shooting and another 6 hour retouching day or two
>basically work a 4-5 day week, but only 6 hours a day on average and spend at least 1 day getting paid to work from home
>charge by the hour, not the project or image count which means I have some easy, but not so wealthy weeks and I have some really full on weeks where I pocket a stack of savings
As a 25 year old single dude living in the middle of an arts-centric partymode city, this lifestyle is fucking perfect. I do worry about being able to support a family and shit in the future though since photography has been my only job since I left high school. Having no backup plan in this industry is pretty frightening.
>>2797032
Get a simple degree. Be it a car mechanic or basic software/web developer, you can do that in a correspondent course taking one or two days from your week but will ensure your future.
For me it is the opposite, I work in industry, taking a material sciences course and spend my free time on photography, sometimes in conjunction of my work or the uni campus life.
>>2796692
hardest part is interacting with the people
>>2796502
Terry?
>>2796394
>art shouldn't be a commercial endeavor
loooooool
>>2797122
I agree with you but I think he means you should also have a non-artistic back up plan
>>2796378
impossible if you're in the US
try Canada
24 percent of my wages go to the state
when I think about it, though, you guys probably exorbitant fees for dat health insurance
what's funny is that some states probably have you guys paying more taxes than we do for less service. That's not big government, it's shit government. America da corrupt
>>2797176
It's boring but at least sensible
>>2796570
Bad phrasing. More like, I never give it more than a passing thought but I may pursue it in the future if certain things are in place
>>2797157
Nah, that's not what I mean.
>>2797176
UK here, be thankful that your taxes are actually go towards useful shit. Ours could be going towards health care and similar shit, but instead it's going straight into the gold lined pockets of tory scum while everything collapses.
>>2796394
>Nah, art shouldn't be a commercial endeavor.
this is what people who will never be good enough at creating anything always say
>>2797032
what kind of projects do you shoot?
>>2796394
>implying photography is art.
A trained monkey with enough attempts will eventually take a good artistic photo.
>>2797945
>tfw our health service is cut constantly by Tories
>tfw the "failing" sections are then given to subsidised private companies
>tfw they purposefully manufacture a private healthcare by selling off the current service to their mates
Yes, I take photos at weddings and do product/car photography for magazines and advertising stuff.
No. I don't really want to either; I "ruined" music already by going to school for it and trying to make it a job. I make money from it now but I'm not inspired to do any personal stuff anymore really. Just mix gigs and record bands, but it's been like a month since I played guitar. Teenage me would be sad to be honest.
Only way I'd do it if I could just shoot what I want, and I don't think that'll happen.
>>2796333
Yes. I work in a photo studio in Buffalo, NY and work 40 hours a week, plus weekends when I'm shooting.
The company is floundering financially and the owners are Trump supporters.
My "eye" has been lingering to IT.
>>2797091
what has that anything to do with Terry?
I don't think its possible to live well on just photography, at least in my country.
And I don't want to travel just yet.
I've considered getting into real estate photography but;
I despise agents/realtors.
I haven't found anyone willing to pay me well enough.
Also, I don't want to end up shooting videos or playing with drones which is a big part of higher end real estate photography nowadays.
Yes. I'm a freelance photographer in Portland, Oregon and photography is what a love to do as well as my only source of income.
>>2796394
>art shouldn't be a commercial endeavor
I don't charge for the pictures, I charge for my time/expenses. I give exactly zero fucks what people do with the photos.
Yes but not much. I really need to start marketing aggressively and drum up some business
>>2796390
Where do you go to win prizes?
