Working in photography area

ThOnda

After some time watching the threads and some research, I would like to open a thread (with agreement of our moderators) about working within photographic industry.

There are so many possibilities from design and development of HW and SW, trading it, being photographer in some from so many disciplines, processing, lab technicians, assistants, production, editors, lawyers...

And also from my personal interest, would you like to share your experience and knowledge what are the ways how to get professionaly involved in photography, to have it as your main employment? Could you mention your way how did it work for you, what experience for your field was essential, what education background lead to your job position?

enzyme

For me personally. I took shall we say an un-orthadox approach. I worked for years in Architecture. I was also preparing a portfolio of landscape photos. I was not working professionally as a photographer at the time. I wanted to start selling them as fine art prints. The guy in work who does 3d's is one of my best friends. His boss needed some images, which he could use for a 3d montage. My friend Mark said about my landscapes and suggested using me. His boss decided to take the chance. He was really happy with them. He than wanted proper architectural shots for marketing of some building. Again he took the chance and as they say the rest is history and am now working four numerous clients once I started building up a name for myself. I also do my landscapes. The fact that I had the day job really gave me a huge advantage as it gave me financial security to buy really top cameras at a time the photography wasn't enough to pay the bills. So bottom line is some times it takes a nice bit of luck and a lot of determination.

unreggd

Ive a weird story of how I got into it :P

One day I realised I had no recent photos of me [when I was about 15, for the past 5 years or so] and I wa like "If I went missing they wouldnt have a photo to show on the news"

So I got a digital camera, and start takin loads of pics with friends, then of random stuff, and le rest is history


Start locally

Work for the customer

Find a niche and grab it

Network - make friends with as many other photographers as you can
When they need help, help them out, and when you need a favour, they should return it

Ricky91t

unreggd wrote: »

Ive a weird story of how I got into it :P

One day I realised I had no recent photos of me [when I was about 15, for the past 5 years or so] and I wa like "If I went missing they wouldnt have a photo to show on the news"

So I got a digital camera, and start takin loads of pics with friends, then of random stuff, and le rest is history


Start locally

Work for the customer

Find a niche and grab it

Network - make friends with as many other photographers as you can
When they need help, help them out, and when you need a favour, they should return it

Good i remember reading this somewhere!
Thought it was on a side of a milk bottle though :pac: and not the news

For me,I did work experience with a local newspaper,got to know one of the well known local photographer,Then a friend asked me to teach people of my age about photography i turned it down because i didn't feel like i was in a position to do that yet.So instead i sat in on the classes helping the tutor and figuring out what should be covered,She was another local newspaper photographer and was really pleased with my work

Then she let me know of a photographer needed for a local event,(road racing) for the prize giving ceremony,i agreed and decided to ask for a press pass to get access to the prohibited areas,This payed off as some of my racing photos were already used,From there i was invited along to the other events they were doing,A website release and a memorial plaque at the site of a racing crash,both of which i covered for the site and magazines.As this was my first ever photographic job and i was only 17,had very little work behind me that i could show to the person,I didn't get much pay but with the three events covered I've payed off my main body.

So really,
I did some work for free,

Got some contacts(who could then be my kind of backup too,and say I'm good at making deadlines or whatever)

Shot an event,took pics they were happy with and did some more

And from there i would of liked to cover more events but my last year of school started soon after and i wanted to get some work in

Danbo!

enzyme wrote: »

For me personally....

With the way the architectural industry is at the minute (job losses etc..) this is hopefully where I am heading myself. Been working in architecture 3 years now and although I studied Arch. Technology, I have spent most of my short career working the 3d's for my practice. This doesn't involve as much photography as I would like it to, but definitely involves using your head before going to take the shots, as you need to get the right angles and exposure etc to match what will eventually be rendered by the computer.

The 3d software I use, Autodesk Viz, uses 'physical cameras' which you input the settings as you would on a real camera (aperature, shutter speed etc..) and these settings are unlimited. (Think of taking a 40 Megapixel picture with a 1mm lens at f0.1!!, or a 6000mm lens, etc, possibilites are endless- examples are obviously the extremes) So I sit in work taking test shots basically!

I'm hoping to get as much experience as possible in this field and who knows where it will take me, hopefully to full time architectural photography.

I suppose my post is slightly off-topic (?), or maybe not quite what the OP was getting at, but this is my road to photography full time, as I see it anyway, just hasnt happened yet!

Borderfox

Bought a Horse around 4 years ago started taking pictures and started taking pictures of other peoples Horses then on to shows and weddings and all the rest.

unreggd

Ricky91t wrote: »

Good i remember reading this somewhere!
Thought it was on a side of a milk bottle though :pac: and not the news

Yeah I think I posted that in the "why you take photos" thread a while back

I dont even remember me own hypothetical abduction, what am I like!!?

RoryW

Borderfox wrote: »

Bought a Horse around 4 years ago started taking pictures and started taking pictures of other peoples Horses then on to shows and weddings and all the rest.

do you every get confused as to whether you are at a horse show or a wedding :eek::)

smelltheglove

I always loved being behind the camera but could never afford a pro camera, being a single mammy there was always something more important to spend my money on. My hubbie bought me one before we were married and pretty much started from there, took loads of family shots and gig shots and when I realised that mine were just as good as many samples from photographers on the net I decided to do a course.

After my course I threw myself in the deep end, working for free for a few different people, social events and even weddings. I covered a couple of free weddings and then did a couple for 200 moving up a few euro each time. I think this helped me develop my skills and my style without having to learn someone elses first. The fact that I was recently married and remembered what I expected at my wedding was of huge help.

Now one year on I now work from my own little place 3 days a week specialising in child photography, I have done some paper work but am not interested in developing that and I have done quite a lot of music photography and most recently been asked to shoot for a well known bands album cover, I have covered quite a few weddings and other events and today I cover my first artists portfolio shoot, with that I have to get up and get my gear ready but I am very proud to be able to call myself a successful photographer so soon after starting into photography.

My speciality now, can't decide between child, weddings and music. I earn my weekly wage from child but also a fair amount from weddings. Music is a love but lets be honest there is always someone offering the same as you for free just to get their foot in the door so I think I may keep that as more of a hobby.

mikeanywhere

RoryW wrote: »

do you every get confused as to whether you are at a horse show or a wedding :eek::)

Yeah very confusing alright hahahaha

galwayfotogrfr

I found working for a studio for free a days a week was a great help. I learned how to take proper studio pictures, different lighting techniques, even framing a picture from scratch. Starting out I always worked for free and still do for friends or charities. Though I say starting out, the good thing about photography is that there is always different aspects of the profession to be learned or improved upon.

YourName

Could anyone give any advice on how to get into sports photography???

galwayfotogrfr

Hello I did a bit of sports photography in the past. It is great to do as you can get all the emotions a persons face can do captured in about 1 hr.

You could start by picking a few sports you are interested in and contacting clubs that play these sports telling them you can do some pics for free.

show up at training and at matches and photograph for a few weeks or months and build a portfolio of work.

take the portfolio to a local press photography agency and see what they say. if the press photography co. dont have much work you could offer a local newspaper your images regularly. there seems to be no quick solution in getting a job straight away as with most photography work you just gotta do loads of freebees till someone picks you up.

forwarding your images to local and national press constantly helps matters along nicely. this has to be done straight after the match as it shows you understand deadlines.

YourName

galwayfotogrfr wrote: »

Hello I did a bit of sports photography in the past. It is great to do as you can get all the emotions a persons face can do captured in about 1 hr.

You could start by picking a few sports you are interested in and contacting clubs that play these sports telling them you can do some pics for free.

show up at training and at matches and photograph for a few weeks or months and build a portfolio of work.

take the portfolio to a local press photography agency and see what they say. if the press photography co. dont have much work you could offer a local newspaper your images regularly. there seems to be no quick solution in getting a job straight away as with most photography work you just gotta do loads of freebees till someone picks you up.

forwarding your images to local and national press constantly helps matters along nicely. this has to be done straight after the match as it shows you understand deadlines.

Thanks a million for that comment, really helpful advice there . . . . . .

soccerc

mcgowaner wrote: »

Thanks a million for that comment, really helpful advice there . . . . . .

Do it for free and you'll never be short of work!

Paulw

There's a good few people on here who do a lot of sports photography.

It's certainly not a "get rich quick" scheme. You'll earn a lot more money with weddings/portraits than through sport.

Making contacts in the papers is the quickest way. You need to be able to get consistent quality images, and processed/captioned and submitted in a short space of time, to meet any deadlines.

I disagree about doing loads of freebies, in fact, I'm against doing freebies at all. If your images are of a good enough quality to be printed, then they're a good enough quality to be paid for.