A Carear in Photography

lalalalinda

So is there any 'professional' photographers on boards and whats it like? Apparently it's a very lonely carear (anyone see The Bridges of Madison County) but it's something, at least, that you have to love to do. I would imagine it's not as exciting as I have it pictured in my mind...

How did you get into photography and how are you making a living out of it?

I'm assuming there are profressional photographers here...:p

magicbastarder

i don't know of anyone making a full time living, who post to boards.

rymus

I can name a few, but I'll let them throw their 0.02c in themselves. Taking the meaning of 'pro' literally; As in getting money for services provided, then a good portion of us are at least semi-pro. I do the odd paid job, I sell prints, that kind of thing. I wouldn't say it's a lonely career, more stressful. Depends on what kind of photographer you are I suppose.

I can imagine that some photography careers are very exciting. Being a product or landscape photographer might not be the most massively exciting job, but I'd imagine being a war photographer gets the juices flowing.

lalalalinda

When I say professional, I mean semi-professional. I'm not expecting any world renowned photographers to be here on boards. Even if you aren't getting paid yet, have you had pictures published anywhere? etc.

Fajitas!

I guess I can call myself a semi-professional. I'm studying Fine Art in college, but work at photography pretty much every second I can. Mostly doing gigs, promo shots & love doing fashion. Been doing some journalistic photos of late too.

Gigs & fashion, I love. Defo not lonely, and I have a really good time doing them. Have ended up in some hilarious situations with gigs. Have had some great moments with fashion too.

Not a big fan of the photojournalist side, nor product photography...and weddings wouldn't be my first port of call either, but I would do all of them again.

I wouldn't say I'm making a living out of it yet, but will be trying to do so after I get my degree.

lalalalinda

That's cool. I suppose the easiest way to get into it is to have some sort of qualification...like studying it in college. Do you apply for jobs with newspapers/magazines and stuff and they send you out to gigs/fashion events? Just wondering how it works!

ThOnda

Product photography pays the bills, and on very regular basis.
It shouldn't be for @rgos, but for some brand. That could be very demanding, but very perspective. Not to mention portraits - gold mine!

Calina

I'm about 1% pro. In fact, it's probably less than that. Photography, even when I get paid for it, tends to still be a financial black hole because I'm a gadget freak.

However...

Last week I stood on a beach in Portugal. Beautiful white sand. 33 degrees. Glorious sunshine. Sounds idyllic. Is idyllic provided you don't think about the effect of the heat on your equipment, try to ensure that you apply the sunscreen long before you need to touch the camera. One of my friends offered to be my assistant the next time I did a week long photography trip to a sunny beach somewhere foreign. I told her her remit would be to ensure I didn't get sunburned. It wasn't quite what she was expecting, to be honest.

The truth is, there are fantastic moments when you get a kick out of what you were doing. One of the water photographers (I shot from the beach) clearly enjoyed the swimming when he was shooting from the beach. One whole day the thing really gelled together, I stood on the beach snapping away, taking some of the best photographs I have, singing away to the PA in the background (Oasis and the RHCP if I remember rightly).

Two weeks prior to that...I stood on a freezing cold beach in Dublin, running between the rain showers wondering why I do this.

And yes, I've had a few photographs published. And sold a few prints.

___________________

I don't think I'd be emotionally strong enough to do press photography/war photography. When I was on holidays, World Press Photography (or something of that ilk) had an exhibition of news photography. A lot of the top news photographs for last year came from the Lebanon. They were fairly harrowing.

Fajitas!

lalalalinda wrote:

That's cool. I suppose the easiest way to get into it is to have some sort of qualification...like studying it in college. Do you apply for jobs with newspapers/magazines and stuff and they send you out to gigs/fashion events? Just wondering how it works!

The other way around at the moment, a lot of the work for the papers has been through companies that need a photo for a press release, event, award etc for the paper, I shoot for them, send them the shots & invoice them.

A friend of mine used to have a music promotions company, which helped with the bands (And a lot of my mates growing up were in bands) I started shooting them, and then other bands started asking me.

And in college, a lot of my friends are doing fashion design, which gives me plenty of freedom to paly with the shots. I also happen to be lucky having quite a few good looking friends who'll model for me. I did the right job for the right person in college, who's sister has a fashion label, and that's what got me started in that.

Fenster

I'm technically a pro, but I don't know how good that is in the grand scale of things. I've done some work freelance, I pimp myself regularly in and around Las Vegas, and until very recently I worked for a company as a photographer, which was honestly a horrible experience.

My experience is that if you work for someone as a photographer, which isn't all that hard to do if you're able to take a half-decent photo of someone, you're going to get exploited up one side and down the other:

You won't make anywhere near the amount of money you could from freelance work, but on the other side of the coin it's an hourly wage as opposed to big payments on an irregular basis until you become established.

All of your work will revert to your employer, so you won't even have portfolio use of your photos - i.e., you'll never have anything to show for your time. Again, on the other side of the coin, you'll be able to get into places and meet people that you'd never would otherwise. I was stationed in a Ferrari dealership and had a fantastic opportunity to shoot the cars and meet any number of very influential people in my time there. As Calina said, it has it's kicks and shooting the Ferraris (see here) was a huge kick.

Training: If you work for a company you will in many cases be trained pretty comprehensively in how to photograph in whatever style or subject that they want. You won't get that on your own.

If you go freelance, be it working, trying to sell your prints, or going through stock, you can set your own prices, your own hours. On the flip side, you really have to push yourself to try and get customers, at least until you've been established. Some places are easier than others: Las Vegas is super-saturated in photographers, and really hard to secure freelance work in, whereas Missouri, where we're moving to, has a noticeable dearth. It's the same in Ireland.

Also, if you go freelance, you have to enforce your copyright yourself, which can be tiresome and very expensive. In a company you just go to their legal department.

elven

ThOnda wrote:

Product photography pays the bills, and on very regular basis.
It shouldn't be for @rgos, but for some brand. That could be very demanding, but very perspective.

How do you think you could go about getting a product photography type gig in Dublin? It's something I'd far prefer to weddings or any other people-related stuff...

lalalalinda

@Fenster: That's really interesting. By freelance, you just mean on your own right? Nobody is employing you. I'd say that'd be difficult to get work but I suppose it has its advantages like you said. Your portfolio is amazing. I love the children photos the best!

Spyral

Remember when you rely on it to pay the bills it is no longer a hobby..

Borderfox

I will be giving it a go at the end of the month and I have to say I am really looking forward to doing it. I have quite a lot of work booked for September and I am trying to fit a holiday in aswell. I will be freelance but also working for different people at weekends and I am working on booking weddings too. I have a fair amount of stuff published and most of my paying work has been event based. Very true Spyral, but you can still enjoy it. I wouldnt consider it a lonely profession as I have met far more people than in my current profession. Its nice when you can get it Calina

unreggd

This is the reason I'm pro Photography-degree

Many say you dont need one, and that you leanr better by just doing it, but theres so much marketing and business in the course thats vital

DIT here I comes!!!!

DotOrg

me and my wife are semi-pros,doing weddings,music, portraits, corporate stuff and anything else that is a paying job.

generally it is quite a lonely job, you get to meet lots of people but generally only briefly.

the jobs that pay well are generally the most boring and the jobs that you love rarely pay anything until you reach the higest levels

mervifwdc

It quickly can switch from a hobby to a chore depending on the type of work you are getting. I do sports for local papers at weekends, and I love it. Not sure I would love it if I had to do it 6 days per week.

As to the money, I'll not say how many years it will take to pay for the gear required to take sports photos :-)

Merv.