If there aren’t any studios/shops nearby that are hiring, IMO your best bet is to find a local niche (cars, music, skating; anything you have an interest in, really) and make a name for yourself as a freelancer early- your biggest strength right now is that you’re getting started young and have the ability to make tons of lasting connections. Networking is key if you plan to eventually make photography your main income.

Phone up local commercial studios see if they have any freelance assisting roles. You would learn alot doing this as well.

Have you thought of, prom photos, or family photos. Offer your services for a fee?

I would suggest offering your services to a level you feel that is equal to your skill, but always consider doing shoots that could benefit your portfolio or skillset at a discounted/free rate.
Once you have enough shoots under your belt that you are proud of, you’ll be able to just talk casually to people and photography will come up. If you have solid work, people will be interested and you will just find your niche, or explore all of them.
Don’t pigeonhole yourself and just do what you want because what you see with your eyes, and how you use your tools to capture, will be unique in itself.

Assistant for another photographer. Best way to learn.

and studying photography next year.

In what sort of program? Studying photography from an art perspective is really only useful if you are planning on trying to be a fine art photographer or it also has some useful application for fashion photography.

If your goal is to be a professional photographer your best use of educational resources will be to study small business management and do how to photography courses in the area(s) you are looking to get into. Doesn’t need to be college courses either. Very few people who are looking to hire you to work as a photographer will care about where/how you learned,they will be much more interested in what your images look like and to a degree your personality.

Besides studio and camera shop jobs, go for freelance photography gigs, assisting professional photographers, or working for event photography companies. You can also look into social media management for photographers, content creation, or even starting your own photography business if you have enough experience. Plus plus build a strong portfolio will be key to landing photography-related jobs.

By casual job, do you mean part-time?

If you already have a camera, try to locate and offer shooting photos/video to local dentists. This can open up different fields to learn. For example:

1. Architecture photography - shooting photos/videos of the clinic (treatment room, waiting room and so on).

2. Portrait: take photos of the staff. Individual photos and team photos

3. On the job: take photos/videos of the dentists and staff working (treating patients, welcoming/releasing patients etc).

4. If you can stand some blood, take photos/videos of specific treatments. Dentists usually use those on future presentations and case studies.

This can take you to many new heights in very few years if you’re good at it, and have good manners and a great personality.

I started doing this type of work about 8 years ago, and it led me to shooting dentistry master classes in many different countries, and then working with dental Implants manufacturers (covering events and doing products photography/videography) across Europe.

Additional services I started offering over the years include

1. Website-building - using platforms such as WIX.
2. Running dentistry specific ads on social media platforms to generate leads for dentists.
3. Designing dentistry presentaions for seminars.

Usually I do everything from scratch. It’s the content I capture, and I show the dentists different ways to make the best use of the media to drive their reputation and business forward.

If you ask me what do I actually love doing, it’s wildlife photography and videography. When you become good at something, and it pays the bills while also allowing you buy the expensive equipment required for your hobby, such as Super-Tele lenses and better cameras, just do it.

Never limit yourself, better your skills, learn the craft and always think differently.

By the way, I never attended photography of videography schools. I Learned everything from YouTube, online forums and books.

All the best!

I’m a real estate agent and real estate agents are always looking for a realiable photographer to photograph houses. If you show up on time, take good photos and deliver them fast, you can make great in-school money. Standard photo package on-time should be at least $150 and the real estate agent is making plenty on the listing to pay you. Multi-image HDR is a must. You need an ultra-wide-angle for indoors (14mm I think is pretty standard even though the photos don’t seem like it). The front of the house needs a 50mm for some compression without having to be a mile away from the house to take the photo, so two lenses and HDR processing and you’ve got an automatic money stream.

Good luck. I wish I had gotten into photography when I was 17.

Knowing what I know now: ASSIST. As early as you can. You will only be better for it.

I studied photography for 4 years (earned a BFA) and I loved it. It was great. But it wasn’t until I was a photo assistant after college that I really learned what I needed to become a photographer. Obviously I learned a lot in school, but seeing it done in the real world made it click.

The internet is your friend. Find working photographers in your area. Assisting will teach you so much:

• how to plan / pack what you need
• how to talk to clients / subjects
• what you do like about the business
• what you don’t like about the business
• how to light
• how to edit
• how to hang (what you talk about and discuss during downtime… arguably the most important)

Be available, be an asset, and learn to be a sponge and just soak up info on jobs. You will be a better student.

One caveat: be aware that to work in photography doesn’t mean you have to take pictures. You can be a retoucher, producer, stylist, camera tech, or any number of other things. That is yet another thing to be learned while assisting and/or studying photography. Working in the business early will help you decide sooner.

Good luck!

This is how I started Local news paper you minght be able to freelance for covering sports at school take some photos for the school yearbook . work on your portfolio . what i found out is most jobs want you to have a bachlors degree which is bull because the degree would be a liberal arts with a enfisiss on Photography .