I am 19 years old and always enjoyed taking pictures of the outdoors and animals but not until the last few months did I actually start realizing I take some top tier photos. I’ve talked to a few people and understand a few ways it’s possible to start but I figured who better than the power of social media.
If anyone has any bit of hints or tips on how to kind of get my name out there that would be a dream come true.
I have plenty of photos I can send to show some of my work if need be!
Thank you to anyone who helps even the slightest🍻
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PPA (Professional Photographers of America) and your StatePPA. Example, VPPA for Virginia. Also, if you plan on getting a degree, major in business and minor in photography. You can join local clubs, but they are mostly hobbyists who are usually great photographers but know very little about business operations, however there might be a pro who is a member. Use this website to find photographers who have a business in your area and reach out to them. I am not a pro, but I went down this road for over two years, even passed the CPP (Certified Professional Photographer) certification, but realized I didn’t want a business and decided to keep photography as a hobby. A career in photography is 10% photography and 90% business.
Wildlife photographer here: Send me some of your work, please. Need to know where you at right now.
Absolutely, do you have an instagram?
As a photographer that’s “made it”, it takes a lot to get there. I’ve said it elsewhere, but it took me way longer to get from 0/year to 10k/year in photography than 10k/yr to 100k/yr. I did it on the side as a teenager until my early 20s. My first year truly full-time, I netted about $15,000. Now I make that or more in a good month (early 30s now). But it’s still feast or famine and very much subject to the whims of the universe. I need to stay on top of my personal finances to not get cocky. I can make 1k one month and 20k the next. It’s not a steady paycheck, and just because you’re working hard, it doesn’t always mean you’re actually making money (things don’t pan out like you hope, clients get shitty about paying on time, you can end up spending $10k to make $5k while still doing 10k of work, etc.). You can mitigate against that in a lot of ways, but it’s still always there at the core.
I “made it” in a very specific low competition (if you’re good) niche. It’s about a billion times harder in a saturated niche like weddings, fashion, nature, landscape, etc. That shit’s cutthroat. I’m lucky enough that I have work coming out of my ears and don’t spend a dime on marketing or promotion.
You literally have a .0001 percent of making photography a career … do it as a hobby and get a steady job I’m telling you the truth …Thirty years in business and every single studio I know closed … get a degree in journalism or marketing and you will do photography during it but it will not be the main part if your career
There is a huge difference between doing photography for fun and doing photography to try and make money. Honestly I think you are better off trying to find another way to make money than photography. Not only are you going to be competing with everyone else with a camera who thinks they are a photographer or thinks they take top tier photos. You are also trying to make money in a market that really doesn’t have a huge target audience. I don’t want to discourage you, but it’s a tough field. Even myself who is a portrait photographer still find it harder and harder to find clients. The only real area I think money can be made is as a wedding photographer. Even then you are still competing with more experienced and just sheer number of photographers out there.
I do find it amusing that you claim to shoot top tier photos but have no way to prove it. You got some huge balls kid to say you take photos as good as Ansel Adams, Hudson Henry, Pete Mckinnon, etc. I challenge you to submit your “top tier” photos to some competitions and see where you land. I am going to bet you will be humbled, but hey if you can claim a top 10 spot in a PPA competition, I’ll buy that photo for $1000.
I am sure based on comments here that my post will be downvoted to hell, wow what a circlejerk.
not sure what is wrong with having a passion and looking to make a career out of it. All this „here comes another… „ comments- yuck. Have a look at Mark Denney, he switched careers, see what you can learn from his experience. Not sure you will end up same path, but I think you have a good start/attitude: have a means to support yourself and want to pursue something else. Here is the playlist, have a look, he is someone who actually makes money instead of demoralizing people who want to get started, and are not a confirmed genius. best of luck!
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvYR_vUsiJlcQJyiimCBvh8AF7_tWHIYC&si=nEOOBr1bljnUDWxz
Do you have a link to your work?
I think your enthusiasm is great, but maybe a little naive? Pretty much everybody is hustling looking for that same success.
I think the biggest thing to keep in mind as a newbie is it’s less about how good your photos are and more about making connections with the right people. I’d focus on that first. There’s a lot of very very talented people who struggle for work, and lots of successful photographers who’s work is mediocre.
Definetely naieve.
Unless he’s some sort of savant.
But he’s 19, and his head swimming with dreams of making it as a pro-photog.
Odds of become a recognized photog (not a Tuber claiming to be a pro photog) are about the same as a college football player making it to the NFL.
Pro isn’t synonymous with famous. They can definitely start a photography business with the right guidance and make a living.
Deffo is about networking. Go to local photography events, join local photography clubs, join local online photography groups (most have a Facebook page), etc. Become “known” in your community as a photographer. When I was first starting my first clients were all people I knew from previous workplaces, or old school friends, or my local area.
confidence and talent, always more of one than the other
i did photos once years ago for a friend of my mum, was an actor portfolio, asked to see me work on photos, i spent a lot of time gave him loads of shots with retouch for free as it was mums friend
literally weeks later he had an account on flickr (was good then) after seeing mine, he copy pasted all my contacts/followers into his account, bought the same camera as me and was advertising himself as a photographer for work for actor portfolios
i said i had noticed he had done that, said how he needs to find his own style and influences that reflected who he was
he posted a few shots where he had photoshopped highlights in eyes that didnt match the actual lighting, blur tool to make background look seperated i asked him what he was charging he said 50 quid an hr plus expenses. saying he wanted to give people pretty much what i gave him
when i applied this to what i had done for him and quoted the price which included few days of shooting+editing time +prints, not even including expenses ha ha asked what % of his out of work acting friends could afford that then?
wasnt mums friend for long after that, he posted a set of shots he did of a woman in a park in middle of sunny afternoon with subject squinting into the sun, then nothing.
i wondered how much she was charged for the photos!
Can you share your instagram please?
Everybody here has that same desire… just take pictures and make a fabulous living! Travel the world on someone else’s dime and be revered for your talent…yesss! But its not reality. There are a handful of fashion photographers that make bank, and some that work freelance for National Geographic so if that’s your goal, look into those roles and see what’s required to get one of those prime jobs.
That said, 99.9% of us don’t live off our pictures. I have a full time day job, and I’ve been doing pro photography on the side for 20 years, and I’m busy with people asking for my services. I think most of us here are probably in the same boat.
Photography is a hobby that you can turn into a money maker, but not right out of school. You need experience (yeah, right?) and plenty of gear with lots of backup cameras, lenses, batteries, supplies to make it. So, if you don’t get one of those plum jobs, get a ‘real’ job and shoot during your off time and weekends…that’s what I do!
Its a blast…you’ll love it! My best advice is call an event photographer in your area and work for them…learn the ropes and how to deal with people. And you’ll be on your way.
Two things:
- being successful in photography means being successful in business. If you don’t know how to run a business you will almost certainly fail your dream. That means promoting yourself, marketing your photography, understanding contracts, and keeping track of income and expenses. It’s okay to get someone to help you but you have to know the basics.
- there is an entire world beyond reddit and instagram. Do yourself a favor and find it. There are tons of real life photographers you could talk with. Having the curiosity to even google "How do photographers " will teach you far more than you will ever learn in this sub. Social media does not have all the answers.
Learn to help yourself. You could take the best pictures in the world (there’s probably lots of people who would debate you on that) but if no one can find you and you don’t make more money than you spend, you’ll be working somewhere else in 5-years.
I’m not much of an expert in terms of making yourself famous, but from the photographic side of things: look into the genuine “top tier” photographers of animals and the outdoors and compare your photos to theirs. Be as brutally honest as possible with yourself. If you still think you’ve got what it takes, then you have to make people aware of who you are.
Google the names David Yarrow (mainly animals), Nick Brandt (same), Andy Rouse (animals and others), and Jay Dickman (animals and a lot of outdoors stuff), for starters.
The real photography elite can get deals with camera companies (Yarrow works with Nikon, Dickman with Olympus, etc.). But to get that far you have to not only be among the best of the best, you have to create a name, and that’s the hard part. Most of these guys have been at it for decades. You have to think in terms of the long game if you’re genuinely serious about doing it for a career. Also be aware that many working photographers will tell you that they only spend about 20 per cent of their time shooting, and the rest basically hustling, chasing payments, and all kinds of other boring admin stuff.
So start with an honest analysis of your abilities, and go from there.
Scroll down the sub. This is asked multiple times a week.
You’ll probably not be able to make a career out of shooting outdoor photos and animals. This market is the most saturated of all. If you want to make (decent) money you’ll need to shoot different subjects (like weddings, corporate events, portraits, etc.).
Also: photography is about running a business, not so much taking photos. You can take the best shots in the world, but if you don’t know how to market your business you’ll end up nowhere.
Note that for most it takes years to build up their photography business. Some aren’t even able to make it full-time at all. It takes time to build up a portfolio, create connections, to get your name out there,… Keep that in mind.
Just keep shooting, try different things, settle with something you like, and market that.
Join a local photo group and get critiques. Put your stuff in a local gallery. There are all sorts of challenges and critiques online. See how your stuff measures up. Are you shooting locally or traveling? What are your lenses?