Requesting information about photography.

[wafflehammer]

**Semi-long read***

There seems to be a lot of talent when it comes to photography on this board...so I'll start my search here.

My girlfriend has decided to go into photography instead of her past choice of a career. So I've decided to try to find some information out for her ..and this seems like the perfect place to start.

*Most topics will be centered around freelance photography rather than a salary job*

I'm going to try and hit as many points as I can think of:

1-What education is needed? After a quick google search it seems most agree that no formal ( as in a college education ) is required. I know you would need knowledge of the equipment(camera, printer, programs,etc), marketing , and most of all just real world experience. But is a degree really required? I'm sure it would look better...but is it needed? And if it is, how far? Would a associates in photography be good enough?

2-What "career path" is better? This is centered around freelancing because that's what she wants to do. But would a regular job position with a company be better? I know it would be more stable because you won't always have freelance work. But is there any real difference between the two?

3-What does it take to get started? I know it would cost thousands at first for the camera, lenses,misc camera equipment, printer, printer paper, cd's, computer, software,advertising/website, etc. How much does advertising (besides website) usually cost? And what other costs are there? How do you get your foot into the door? Starting young and having a portfolio and experience seems to be the best way I would think. But how do you explain to your first costumer that they are the first without freaking them out?

4-What can you expect? Weddings, senior pictures, family pictures, and random portraits are about the only things I can think of. Are there any other situations to expect such as request from companies and being contracted out or anything related to that?

5-How much money do freelancers make? Doing another quick search on google came out with a mix between people saying they can make from 0-millions and others sticking around $40,000 a year. I see people listing on websites stuff like $1,000 for wedding pictures but how much of that is actually profit? I know the initial cost of the equipment would take awhile to pay off, and then it would mostly be the cost of the printing and time basically.

6-What is the environment like? Is it hard to find jobs the way the market is? I'm sure many aren't willing to spend thousands just on pictures and with technology advances it seems like photographer is becoming easier and easier so extreme talent doesn't seem to really be needed (I'm sure this will be corrected by someone, and I hope it will be.). Besides the job market is there any difficulties with costumers? Do you have to charge a deposit to keep them from canceling and leaving you with wasting time when you could of gotten another job or anything of that sort?


Well, this is all I can think of for now....I hope it's not to long :\ Just trying to cover all the bases before she gets to deep and realizes it's something she really isn't into.

Thanks in advance too.

 

[philbar71]

shouldn't this be in the photography section?

 

[wafflehammer]

well I thought about that..but it's more about the job, not actual photography :\ so I thought off topic would be better

 

[H4x3r]

Hey there waffle! Having a lot of experience in the professional world of photography with my family's business and all i hope i can answer some of the questions

1. I would agree with the opinion that no college degree is required. While it is really useful for learning the technical end of the camera as well as it's history and different techniques it's really not a must. My advise would be to tell her to apprentice under an already established photographer. While it may not earn much if any money at all, it will grant her access to equipment and more importantly the experience of the fellow professional, as well as gained for herself.

2. Most all of the freelancers that i know hold a part-time job as well. Freelancing is really fickle and inconsistent as far a steady income is concerned. Have her keep a job that pays the bills and use freelancing as fun money until she gets a more steady income.

3. As for getting started it takes lots and lots of money. If she is planning on printing her own photo's she'll need to invest in not only the camera equipment but the printers and software as well. As far as camera equipment is concerned think somewhere in the range of 7-10k. The advertising is your pictures. Take good shots and make sure that wherever they are published to have her photo credit. The better the pictures are, the more work she will get.

4. Freelance i've found works a whole lot better for the press instead of things like weddings and portrait as most of those are covered by companies who employ their own photographers.

5. As far as income it really varies based on location and demand as well as experience. I've seen people who make very very good money, and those who don't. There are a lot of factors that play into it and it's difficult for me to put a static number on it.

6. Good photographers are really quite hard to find these days. There are so many people who have good equipment and think that just because they own professional equipment that they are professionals. This is not true. A good photographer usually doesn't have much difficulty finding a job. Although with the economy in America the way it is it is more difficult than with every job. The best way in my opinion is the apprenticeship option, it will also grant access to that photographers customer/partner base and provide a launching point for her. With my business we are always looking for students or prospective professionals to work with us. Gives us free work and teaches them as well.

Wish her the best of luck in her venture! Photography is an amazing and rewarding profession for sure! It takes a lot of time and is definitely an artform all it's own.

 

[wafflehammer]

thanks for the advice! I was hoping you would stop by here .

So what I've gathered so far:

-It's best to start early and get as much experience that you can via working under someone.

-A lot more money than I expected to start out (I was thinking around $5,000ish but you say $7,000-10,000 just for camera n equipment? )

-It's best to hold a part-time job to make sure ends meet if things aren't as stable.

Okay, another question--- You say

4. Freelance i've found works a whole lot better for the press instead of things like weddings and portrait as most of those are covered by companies who employ their own photographers.

But what if she wanted to start her own business type deal...As in a website sorta thing like --- Wedding Photography Packages and prices by photographer Mike McElhatton, Digital Arts Photo, Lewiston, Clarkston, Moscow, Pullman, Orofino, Kamiah, Spokane, Coeur d Alene, Post Falls, Pomeroy - pictures, portraits, albums.

Would that still really be "free lancing" or would that be pretty much running a business? And are things like that possible to do with only one person really doing it? Or would it require you to hire additional help?

 

[H4x3r]

$5000 would really only cover a body and lens. The rest is for the accessories that are really good to have, filters, extra batteries, bags, ect.... as well as different lenses.

That is really not freelance anymore but running your own business. For weddings your need a minimum of two photographers to get the amount and verity that you need to put out a good product, unless it's just a tiny wedding with no reception.

There are lots of times however that we'll take on an event that requires more photographers than we have employed or we'll need someone to rotate out for breaks. When that happens we'll hire freelancers. Usually the way we find them is through our other photographer contacts, asking around if they know anyone that they would recommend that's where apprenticeship comes in.

 

[wafflehammer]

$5000 would really only cover a body and lens. The rest is for the accessories that are really good to have, filters, extra batteries, bags, ect.... as well as different lenses.

That is really not freelance anymore but running your own business. For weddings your need a minimum of two photographers to get the amount and verity that you need to put out a good product, unless it's just a tiny wedding with no reception.

Makes a lot of sense.

I think I'll ask her more questions to see exactly what she wants out of it. I'm not 100% sure but I think she just wants it to be a solo type deal. If it is solo, what all is possible to do...and what isn't? And would larger events such as weddings be possible? I'm sure as long as the customer was aware there would be only one photographer and the limitations of just having one were clear it would be okay, wouldn't it?

I'm a real amateur at this stuff, so cut me some slack

 

[H4x3r]

We try and stay as far away from weddings as possible. Because the photographer is usually the last person on the bride's mind and if we mess up it's not like they can have the wedding over again that being said as long as it was small one person could handle it just fine. Wedding photography is also very difficult, usually always dealing with low lighting. By the time she gets to that point she will know her limits and what she can and can't do.

There are a lot of things that a freelancer can do. I know people who would follow an ambulance to the scene of an accident and take pictures and sell them to the insurance companies. Others will approach a news network and present their portfolio and then they will send them to whatever site they want photographed. That's really the only freelance work i have done myself. Others are working for photography companies but not being an employee.

 

[wafflehammer]

yea, that makes sense too...special events like those must be stressful especially if you miss something..but I'm sure you would have a contract mentioning stuff about missing shots that have been guaranteed or something like that. We keep talking about weddings..so lets get some variables cleared up. Small and large keep being mentioned, but by your terms what are they? Would you say anything over like 50 people is large? Or does large mean hundreds?


I noticed from your website ( nice site btw) that you focus a lot on sport type events? Is there a lot of demand for stuff like that ? Like " My son's last XXXXX game is on XXXX date, can you be a photographer for that event?"

Just trying to see what all types of work there is in the field.

Thanks for the help so far, I really appreciate it..and I'll make sure to show her this thread and I'm sure she'll be thankful too.

 

[H4x3r]

Oh yeah we really only do action event photography. We also do portrait, but action is our bread and butter. Action, portrait, freelance, and artistic are the main types of photography. Portrait a lot of times falls in the artistic category.

The action we do is print on site. Meaning that we have a contract with whoever is hosting the event to cover the event and provide pictures of all participants in a "fast food" manner. We don't do pictures for individuals as we are semi-large business and it's not cost effective. For single employee companies it's just fine to do however and usually works quite well. She can try running an ad in the paper as a photographer and get things that way. Haha a word of advise though is not to advertise "will take pictures of anything". Only do that after considerable experience and knowledge enough and confidence to provide quality pictures. Also she should look at some online developing labs to do her high end printing, find a place fairly close to where you live. They will do most of the color correcting and print it on quality paper.