anyone making money with photography?

[FrankS]

Just wondering if anyone is earning an income either wholly or partially in photography?

As stated before, teaching elementary school pays my bills and mortgage, but I also dabble in photography for pay.
I photograph 2 or 3 weddings and do a few portraits (individual, family, business) a year for cash. I obtain work through word-of-mouth only but this usually gets me as much as I want. The last wedding paid for that Canon rangefinder I recently got. When I take photographs for pay, I use colour and B+W film. I sell the colour proofs and negs as part of the package, and hope for orders for custom B+W enlargements. I hate being an errand-boy running back and forth to the lab to get colour work done. This way I do only what I enjoy: taking the pictures, and B+W darkroom work producing enlargements from my negatives. (I'd hate to have to print someone elses work - that's just not my thing.)

BTW, I use a rangefinder, a Mamiya 6, for most of my B+W wedding stuff. I love the ease of use and mobility I have with it.

So, how about "yous guys"?

 

[back alley]

i used to but stopped.

for a long time every few summers i would shoot weddings, first on my own, doing everything and then for a studio in town. that was easier as i mostly just shot the wedding and handed over the film to the studio. less money - way less hassles.
i had a small studio with a couple of other guys and that was more for fun than money and once a year we would throw a killer party there.
portraits, nudes -both men & women, 2 cd covers, local bands and some shooting for community 'artsy' papers.
i used to be 'in' - now i'm mostly the solo figure hugging the shadows...

joe

 

[GeneW]

I make money once in awhile but it's mainly unplanned and almost accidental. I shoot a lot of images of the local harbour and have a gallery of them on pbase. The outfit that does the SuperPages telephone directory (a yellow pages variant) found my images on the Internet and asked me to submit a few as possible covers for the 2004-2005 Mississauga directory. They chose one of mine and sent me a very nice cheque, which I turned into a new lens 😀

Have sold a few of the same images to folks who wanted to use them in advertising brochures.

This, of course, is not photography as a business. It's just occasonal mad money ...

Gene

 

[rovnguy]

I guess you could say I get paid for one of the different phases of my photoraphy. I have been getting some government contracts for technical photography for the U.S. Navy. I usually rent the equipment, most often the high end Kodak DSLR and a Mamiya 7 series with a lot of lenses. The best part is when I have to rent a helicopter for shoots involving ships at sea. The oddest gig was was shooting a couple of aircraft carriers from the waterline to the flight deck so we could count the holes in the side of the ship (well over a thousand) and compare the imagery to the blueprints to make sure the other engineers did their job right.

 

[wlewisiii]

I keep thinking that I want to, but I reallydon't need the headaches. Especially since I'm currently a stay at home dad for my 2&1/2 year old son. OTOH, now that I'm starting to process at home, perhaps there's hope for the big annual open air art show here in town for oddball prints. Shrug. If I did accidently make some money on a shot, it'd simply get reinvested so would it even count?

🙂

William

 

[nwcanonman]

Like rovnguy, I used to take documentary photos for the Navy on a research and developement project. Early digital stop-motion, 35mm, video, flash x-ray and hi-speed 16mm movie film.
But now it's for my own enjoyment, with the occasional friend's wedding and some portrait work. They won't sue me, they know I can break their knee-caps, LOL.
😉

 

[sfaust]

Between photography and video, I make the majority of my income through those means. Primarily, video is where most of my efforts are concentrated. I find it easier and more lucrative to sell myself for a 3 week job, rather than a day at a time. For video, I've shot mostly training, marketing, trade show loops, a few commercials, etc for high tech, medical, and legal firms. My photography work is mostly editorial or commercial product photography. I don't feel I'm a good portrait or wedding photographer, so I've avoided that avenue so far. The most interesting job was shooting a re-creation of an airline crash which involved one of the major carriers. The most fun was shooting stills and video for a aerobatic aircraft training business, where as a side benefit I got some time flying a Pitts S2b biplane. We mounted cameras both inside and outside the airplane for some very creative shots.

I guess this could suffice as my self portrait also. Thats me in the front seat.

 

[wlewisiii]

Stephan,

Sweet. Thank you.

William

 

[Oldprof]

Cameras are professional tools for me as an anthropologist, but I'm not a professional photographer in the strict sense (i.e., I don't earn 50 percent or more of my income from photography). As an anthropologist I document other cultures, and their customs, behaviors, and artifacts. I use my photographs for classroom presentations and the illustration of journal articles and books. I have a few book and magazine covers to my credit, but most of my paychecks come from my university and the occasional research grant, not from clients.

I think there are millions of amateur photographers who yearn to be "professionals," but they may not realize how compromising it can be to be a professional photographer. Professionals are constantly responding to the demands of their clients and photo editors, and doing their best to please them. The competition is fierce and few professional photographers become wealthy. It's a tough lifestyle. Amateur photographers enjoy much more freedom and less pressure.

 

[RML]

I'm like the amateur OldProf speaks of. I've been tempted to go pro but I make more than a decent living from being a IT specialist in Storage/ Backup/ Restore of data I've never felt too inclined to make a carreer switch. I have yet to make even 1 cent from my photography. 🙂

Another reason is the "more freedom/ less pressure" I enjoy as an amateur or hobbyist. It leaves me free to shoot what I want, when I want it, or not shot at all.

I'm not into setting up exhibitions and such either, so I have very little exposure as a photographer. The RFF book and proposed RFF pdf magazine give me an opportunity to show off, even if it's only for a small audience.

 

[Pherdinand]

"from being a IT specialist in Storage/ Backup/ Restore of data" -RML, just two months ago i had a hard disk crash and it was right when i wanted to make new backups. 🙁

Anyway, to the original question: nope, but heck - a year ago i won 100 euro and a year subscription to Focus, a dutch photo magazine 😀

 

[Pherdinand]

this is the one (submitted half this size, electronically - to give you an idea about the "competition" hehh)

 

[RML]

Pherdinand, always make backups before a crash happens, not afterwards. 🙂

But I know how it feels. My external 80 GB hard disk is showing some hints of a pending problem, so I've been busy since friday to get all my scans editted and saved. I've finished doing that but now I find out that my internal HDD is too full. I fear I need to invest in a RAID-1 (mirrored data) storage solution. This is unfortunate as I went from a pc to using a laptop because it uses less space in the room.

This is an issue a pro would have to consider when he/she sets up business, and one that's often forgotten. Being a pro isn't easy: you need to be a photog, a business (wo)man, and a computer wiz, all at the same time. I doubt I could find the energy to be one.

 

[Pherdinand]

Thanks, RML, great advice😀

Anyway, problem was, my disk (still under 3y warranty...) did not give any signs...just bang, in the middle of the day, stopped working, just before i went on my holiday. And it failed mechanically - the electronics were ok (checked by switching the circuitry with a similar, still working disk) but it gave a weird click sound when powered up...

 

[RML]

You could try to gently tap the disk. It could be that the read head arm is stuck in its grease.

I had the same problem. I solved it by switching the disk on and off a few times, and trying to see the mapping appear again in Windows Explorer. If not, I tried again, until I got it visible again. It's working flawlessly again, but G*d knows for how long. 🙂 After I've returned from my trip to Mongolia (and paid off the bills!) I'll have to get me some new hard disks.

 

[michael]

I imagine I'd like to sell some photos now that i've started snapping my own little world and my own little town.

Like OldProf, I've used a camera professionally as an anthropologist, and have got damned good at using a 50 mm lens to capture just the moment when the action is happening that illustrates *what* they're doing and *why*. It is very sweet to capture that sort of thing, and it goes very well in, or on, your odd book, or in a lecture.

but my aspiration is not to be a professional photographer---I lack many things to achieve that---but rather to make people pay occasionally to own something i've snapped. It seems more fruitful than packing them away or papering our own walls with them.

but until then I'll just enjoy posting them here and enjoying your attentive, careful, and critical comments. Thanks

 

[jdos2]

Hmmm. I wanna hear a scream.


(whispers to RML: "TSM" and awaits the inevitable "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRGH!!!")

I've popped open a fixed disk where the r/w head had stuck- I quickly took all data off of that disk (watching the magic of the head zooming around) and then removed the magnets, bent the platters, and called it a day, not willing to risk it anymore.

What's "windows exporer?"

 

[RML]

JD, you did what?! 🙂

If you use Windows (and I assume most of us do) the program to access your files and directories is called Explorer. 🙂

After writing to this thrad yesterday I went on a fact finding mission. I didn't find ANY disk cabinets that I could afford. I did find cheap (100-125 euro) external DVD burners.

I think Monday I'll run to the shop to get one; my external disk gave up on me again last night. I'll need it to work only one more day so I can burn the left-over data to DVD; than it can die.

If I have time I might even be tempted to burn to CD. The photo data is only about 1 GB, but there's still more data (MP3's, software, etc) on it. All in all I'll need a handful of DVDs, meaning a handful of boxes of CDs.

I'll get another hard disk as well, though a small one.

 

[Pherdinand]

well, you know what? On the advice of a computer guru friend, i tried the weirdest trick possible: i put the disk into the freezer for a few hours, then plugged in and triedif it works. He said he managed once to make a disk work for 15 minutes like this😀

 

[Todd.Hanz]

My wife and I have a small part time-portrait studio. We shoot weddings, dances, school portraits, church groups and basically anything anyone wants.
My oddest and most memorable shoot was a "boudoir" shoot, a friend of my wife's, and she was present at the shoot. Kinda felt weird but she was cool about it. 😉

Todd