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Serious question - how many of you are photographers for profit.
"tony cooper" wrote in message ... On Wed, 04 Mar 2009 19:12:23 -0500, Alan Browne wrote: Odds and ends, here and there. Less than a $K to a couple $K a year. I got paid in bottles of wine for some Christmas family shots... that was fine too. Recently did some studio - distro was mailed DVD's a few days later - could have been via FTP but it was a very large set, easier to mail the DVD. FullFrame / 20+ Mpix yields extraordinary quality _and_ cropability. The tiny amount I get from shoots is nowhere near what I spend on equipment and material every year. My Hasselblad is up for sale along with my MF scanner... Since I often do "street" shooting, I carry small portfolio of 5 x7s in my camera bag with me at all times. In case anyone thinks I'm being intrusive, taking shots that includes their children, or have some base reason for taking photographs that might include them, I can show them some of my output. The variety of stuff in that portfolio shows that my interest is in photography and not in the specific subject. It has come in handy twice. A while back a Scottish tourist with his family saw me and my camera and asked if I was any good at photography. I just shrugged and offered him the portfolio to look at. He then offered me $50 to take some shots of his family with the friends he was visiting. He had forgotten to pack his camera for the trip and his friends didn't have one either. I declined the payment, but took about 30 pictures and mailed him a CD. Got a nice email thank you. I kinda wish I would have taken the money. I didn't want the $50, but I would like to be able to claim to have sold my work. I do have an open offer to have dinner in Dumfries if I ever get back to Scotland. Additionally, it's possible that if you hd accepted payment, you may have been able to deduct the cost of your trip as a business expense. Of course, you would have been liable for any taxes that the local municipality charges. Be advised that if you try this and end up in the Federal prison, you should have checked with a tax professional. |
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Serious question - how many of you are photographers for profit.
Thanks for the answers to my question. (Although not all questions were
answered.) My interest in doing photography as a side line came from a few things happening in my photographic hobby, and life in general. One was the uncertain economy with lay offs and plant closings and such. However the tipping point was that I like to look at the dating sites, not because I'm single but just to see if there are people I know on them. One thing I soon discovered is that there are a lot of people that have no idea what makes a good picture. Some of those pictures that people put up to try to advertise themselves I would have tossed in the garbage. People take pictures with those web cams and do it under floresant light. So we get green or purple people, out of focus, to far away, front lighted blah pics or just stupid pics. I felt I can certainly do better than that. I don't know if I will make a profit in the first year or even two, but it will be a learning experiance. Hopefully I can some day make a profit at this. Ric. |
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Serious question - how many of you are photographers for profit.
"Ric Trexell" wrote in message net... Thanks for the answers to my question. (Although not all questions were answered.) My interest in doing photography as a side line came from a few things happening in my photographic hobby, and life in general. One was the uncertain economy with lay offs and plant closings and such. However the tipping point was that I like to look at the dating sites, not because I'm single but just to see if there are people I know on them. One thing I soon discovered is that there are a lot of people that have no idea what makes a good picture. Some of those pictures that people put up to try to advertise themselves I would have tossed in the garbage. People take pictures with those web cams and do it under floresant light. So we get green or purple people, out of focus, to far away, front lighted blah pics or just stupid pics. I felt I can certainly do better than that. I don't know if I will make a profit in the first year or even two, but it will be a learning experiance. Hopefully I can some day make a profit at this. Ric. With all due respect, I sincerely hope that your motivation is deeper than this. I spend a lot of time studying other photographer's work; analyzing their lighting, trying to determine their camera/lens settings. Recently I had the oportunity to work with a clothing designer who brought in a nearly limitless supply of models. I was able to do an incredible amount of experimenting with lighting and posing. I figure that I packed a year's worth of learning into a couple weeks. I study the marketing that other photographers do to determine whether their efforts 'grab' me, and whether I can use what they are doing to my advantage. I subscribe to various marketing websites and services to improve my own efforts. I attend seminars, both live and online. My goal as a professional portrait photographer is to bring tears of joy to the eyes of my customers when they see their portraits, to create portraits that, if their house was on fire, they would grab the portraits off the wall on their way to safety. In short, I am in this industry to bring joy to my clients, to improve the appearance of their homes, to give them a memory of a lifetime. Whether they look good on the dating websites is way, way down on my list of priorities. And on the way to this goal, they will pay me just slightly more than they can comfortably afford. (Here's a bit of business advice: Never, ever, ever be afraid to ask the customer to spend more money!) |
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Serious question - how many of you are photographers for profit.
"K W Hart" wrote in message news With all due respect, I sincerely hope that your motivation is deeper than this. (Here's a bit of business advice: Never, ever, ever be afraid to ask the customer to spend more money!) ************************************************** ************************** *** Dear Mr. Hart: I did come across that way but that was not my point. The reason I mentioned the dating sites is to me that is the best picture a person would want out there. If they are as bad as some are, I feel I can do them a big favor. I have bought many books on posing and from my own experiance know a little of what works and what doesn't. For a person starting out with on a New York Photography Institute education and years of experiance, I'm not pretending to be as good as someone that went to college or Brooks Institute of Photography. I feel I can give a certain level of professionalism and will charge accordenly. If I end up living out of my car, well then I have only myself to blame. If however people are grabbing my pictures as they exit a burning building, so much the better. I suppose that is better than reading in the paper these headlines... MAN BURNS DOWN OWN HOUSE WHILE TRYING TO BURN BAD PHOTOS. I don't need that. Ric. |
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