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.

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.

"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!)

"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.