Are you Interested in Generating Some Extra Cash?


HOW TO MAKE MONEY FROM PHOTOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION.

Virtually anyone, amateur or professional, can make a good living from photography. Some ways are easier to succeed in than other. Some require specialised knowledge and special equipment; other are perfectly suitable for the beginner working with nothing but a cheap pocket camera.

Apart from your photographic equipment and ideas for marketing your work, you'll also need business cards and headed stationery to give to prospects and clients. Business stationery, incidentally, often attracts good trade discounts. Have yours professionally designed and look for a graphic artist who might design a logo for you.

WHERE DO YOU START?

Begin by selecting those opportunities that interest you and which you feel your present skills and equipment are suited to. Draw up a timetable and begin approaching editors, potential customers, and so on. Look for suitable places to advertise. Pin your card whereever potential customers might see it; notice boards in libraries and shops, factory and office rest rooms, hospital waiting rooms, community centers, schools, and so on. Write to likely prospects. Ask local newspapers and magazines for their advertising rate cards. Look at competitors' advertisements for idea to include in your own.

Remember, to be professional, you must:

Carry your camera with you everywhere. You never know when opportunity will strike next. Don't miss it! Better still, carry a spare camera and accessories if you can. Carry plenty of black and white and color film.

Think about having your own dark room.. No ore lost photographs and no waiting for someone else to get it right.

Keep looking for new opportunities.

Never miss an opportunity to publicise your business. Advertise in local newspapers; place postcards or business cards in shop and post office windows; pin your business card to notice boards in offices, libraries, colleges and business clubs. Write to anyone who might need your services: solicitors, Citizens Advice Bureaus, estate agents, insurance firms, clergy, colleges, mother and toddler groups, nurseries, and so on.

Begin an ideas book and keep it up to date. Lit ideas for markets, keep details of all customers, list events and other frequent occurrences and try to get in before someone else does.

Always do your best and remember that the very best form of advertising is recommendation from satisfied clients.

Keep on improving and developing your techniques. Attend a refresher course if need be. Never be afraid to learn from others. Ask fellow professionals if you can join them on a shoot.

Keep a diary and refer to it every day.

Select a range of market opportunities. Decide which are the best paying; which you enjoy most, and which you are best suited to.

A QUESTION OF COPYRIGHT

Don't fall foul of the often intricate rules of copyright. Learn as much as you can before you begin earning.

A number of excellent books are available to guide the reader through the sometimes complex laws of copyright. Look out for:

Blackston's Guide to the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 published by Blackstone Press.

Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 available from HMSO

The Modern Law of Copyright published by Butterworths.

Alternatively, consult 'Writers' and Artists' Yearbook for an excellent introduction to the subject.

MARKET SUGGESTIONS

FAMILY EVENTS

You might be asked to photograph on numerous family occasions, including: Christenings, Holy Communions, Confirmations, and of course, weddings.

Weddings present the greatest opportunity of all; they also demand the highest professional approach and this is a speciality best left alone until you gain experience, preferably from watching established wedding photographers at work.

Ask an experienced wedding photographer if you can accompany him from time to time.

Advertise your services through florists, car and hire firms, caterers and bridal hire specialists. Offer a commission for all work they pass your way. Look in the 'engagements' columns of local papers; write or telephone and offer your service to couples.

GLAMOUR PHOTOGRAPHY

Glamour photography is an extremely difficult market to break into. But it's also very well paid, so it might be worth a try. You might find work through local model schools and small catalogue specialists. Alternatively, send your work to lending libraries and agencies.

STAFF PARTIES, DINNERS AND PRESENTATIONS

Offer to take photographs at staff parties and official occasions including presentations, retirement parties, Christmas staff dinners, and so on. Advertise in local newspapers and freesheets; have your card placed in shop and post office windows or pinned to notice boards in factories and supermarkets. Write to the personnel department or the social club secretary of larger establishments. Do this in the autumn and you might receive a crop of commissions for Christmas.

Ask trophy specialists and engravers to ut your business card in their windows. Ask them to recommend you to customers. Offer a percentage of every order passed your way.

POST CARDS, GREETINGS CARDS

If you decide to do photography for the postcard trade, decide whether you intend to produce, print and sell the cards yourself, or whether you will work to commission or 'on spec' for established firms.

If you work alone, look for likely retail outlets: include gift shops, newsagents, souvenir shops, art galleries, hotels, tourist information centers, and so on. Offer a commission on all cards sold.

Photography for greetings card manufacture, normally means working to a producer's specifications.

Approach a few firms with samples or write, including SAE, for photographers' guidelines.

MAGAZINES

Countless U.S. and international magazines and newspapers require an ongoing supply of good photographs, sometimes with accompanying article; sometime not. Look in your local library for writers' and photographers' yearbooks, in which you'll find details of individual publications' exact requirements, including rate of pay, submissions guidelines, preferred topics, addresses, and so on.

The following handbooks are available and you are strongly advised to acquire at least one for your own use:

Writers' and Artists' Yearbook, published by A & C Black and available from most good stationers and book shops.

The Writers' Handbook, published by Macmillan-PEN, and again available from most good book shops and stationers.

Your work will usually by sold by one of two general methods:

On commission, namely where an editor approaches you and for photographs, or where your proposal to the editor is approved and you are given the go ahead.

On spec, that is where you send photographs to the target market in the hope they will be of interest. Here, more than ever, accurate market study is of paramount importance. Look in any of the three handbooks and yearbooks mentioned above for details of specific market interests.

Things to consider before sending work, include:

  1. Are readers likely to have common interests of characteristics, for example, hobbies or occupation, marital status, age group, and so on.
  2. Does the publication prefer certain topics and subject over others? If so, what can you offer that might be suitable.
  3. Are photographs usually accompanied by a caption or article?
  4. Do photographs complement article, or vice versa?
  5. Is there a preference for black and white or color photographs?

LOCAL EVENTS

Try visiting local events with a view to submitting photographs to appropriate magazines. You might consider: school sports days, gymkhanas, cross-country events, rallies and exhibitions, and similar.

Alternatively, hand your cards to visitors and, for a deposit, offer to take photographs which will then be forwarded to them with invoice for the remainder.

If you're good, local newspapers might well ask you to cover these events on their behalf.

Send a few sample photographs to the editor.

ESTATE AGENTS

Not all estate agents have staff to photograph property on their books. It's much cheaper to call on freelance photographers, who for a retainer fee and set charge per photograph, will rush to photograph properties just on the market. Leave business card and samples of your work with local agents. As soon as a new agency opens, send your card and samples.

CHILDREN

Children represent a very lucrative market indeed, whether you work to commission or set yourself up in schools and supermarkets where customers might approach you.

You can offer your services at: swimming clubs and galas, school plays, mother and toddler groups, soft play sessions in sports and leisure centers, etc. You might also photograph birthday parties and family celebrations.

When working in schools always give a donation to the school fund. They'll remember you again next year.

READERS' LETTERS PAGES AND FILLER MARKETS

This might seem perhaps a relatively lowly opening for the experienced photographer, but it's actually a market to which many very well-paid photographers, and writers, turn to during gaps in their normal assignments or sometimes in their spare-time. It can, in fact, be a very lucrative opening for anyone who takes time to study the exact requirements of the many magazines and newspapers requiring photographs (sometimes with accompanying caption or short letter) for their readers' letters pages. Fillers, incidentally, are short pieces, including photographs, used when a feature falls short of the page.

Rewards range from a token pen or stationery set, to anything between $10 and $50 a submission, sometimes much more where competitions and specific challenges are set of readers.

If editors prefer captions or letters, then supply them with your photograph; nothing too elaborate is required since the photograph is likely to make the sale for you.

Look out for silly shop names, odd signs on the highway, ambiguous notices, endearing animals and children, and anything unusual or specifically related to the magazine you are submitting to.

Obtain a few back issues of target magazines and study the photographs they contain. And remember, you don't have to wait for unusual or interesting things to happen; you can set them up yourself. Ask your neighbour to let you photograph junior wearing that jumper she made from a pattern included in the magazine your photo will go to; make your own amusing sign to photograph; do whatever it takes to come up with suitable pictures.

Bear in mind, those subjects likely to win favor with the average editor, include: animals, children, environmental issues, older people, personalities, hobbies and charity.

PETS

Here we have another potentially insatiable and highly profitable market, especially if you can provide something a little different: jig saws, photographs glazed onto china, portraits subsequently painted in oils or watercolors, and so on.

Advertise in pet shops, shop and post office windows, through advertisements in local newspapers; hand leaflets out at dog shows and obedience training classes; publicise up-market portraiture in dog lovers' magazines, animal charity newsletters, and by direct mail to targeted prospects.

Turn up at dog, animal and agricultural shows, where you might work to commission. Ask a deposit for photographs you will later post with invoice for the remainder due. Horses, pigeon and bird shows present similar opportunities.

WORKING WITH AGENCIES AND PHOTOGRAPH LIBRARIES

This category is perhaps the most rewarding the freelance photographer might consider. Payment is good and established agency photographers can expect regular guaranteed work for several years. Agencies usually sell pictures on commission, paying a certain percentage back to the photographer. Pictures re hired out to clients, magazines and newspapers, advertising agencies, and anyone else requiring high quality illustrations.

Hundreds of agencies and libraries operate in the U.S. alone, but that does not mean the market is easy to break into. It isn't and only the very best photographers will succeed. When you do find an agency prepared to handle your work, success is virtually foregone conclusion; work will be regular and the agency will expect you to commit yourself to a long working relationship.

'Writers' and Artists' Yearbook', 'Writer's Handbook' and 'Freelance Photographer's Market Handbook', provide detailed lists of major agencies, and their precise requirements.

Study individual agency requirements before making a submission; and send only your very best work, not something which has already been turned down by other markets. Sending anything less than perfectly suitable for whatever agency is a recipe for disaster. Stick to exact requirements: subject, size of print, type, number, color-black and white etc. And once you've sent them, forget about it. Agencies are notoriously slow and will not appreciate you bothering them with questions about the fate of your photographs. And never, ever submit the same prints to other markets while they are still in the hands of an agency.

A MEDLEY OF IDES AND BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

  1. Incorporate one or more of the following into your business portfolio or start them as ventures in their own right:
  2. Sell the work of other photographers - usually amateur - on commission.
  3. Start a line of reproduction prints of old photographic street scenes. Sell them door-to-door, through retail outlets, at craft fairs, to shops and offices, and by direct mail in the locality they belong to. Buy originals from postcard dealers or at specialised collectors' fairs, or else borrow rom collectors and owners.
  4. Set your camera up at some busy tourist spot and take pictures of visitors. Take a deposit and send the finished photograph with invoice for the remainder.
  5. Have you thought about offering a really different service, such as aerial photography? You can hire the plane yourself and take photographs of individual properties or village scenes. Sell door-to-door or by direct mail.
  6. Business packages and franchise operations are available for anyone interested in aerial photography. Advertisements are frequently found in specialist franchise magazines and most major daily newspapers.
  7. Also try: Sky Library, P O Box 40, Kettering, Northants, NN14 3EH Agents required to represent this firm selling aerial sots to home owners, businesses, and so on.
  8. Write and publish a newsletter of interest to others who want to make their camera pay. Charge a subscription and aim for secondary sales, such as books and manuals, accessories, advertising space, and so on.
  9. Start a market newsletter for freelance photographers. Sell on subscription. Provide information about new markets, competitions, article writers seeking o liaise with photographers, library and agency update, and so on.
  10. Offer to produce an album of their more exotic and elaborate creations for confectioners, bakers, cake decorators, wedding cake specialists, caterers and restaurants. Visit prospects in person or send letter with sample photographs included.
  11. Visit well-populated events, such as: craft shows, antiques roadshows, leek growing championships and gardening competitions, art and craft competitions, sports events, and so on. Offer to take photographs of winners and anyone else who commissions you. Hand your cards around in case anyone later decides they'd like a memento. contact organisers and ask permission to attend. You can offer a share of the profits to the club or whatever organisation is hosting the event.
  12. Offer to restore or touch up old, faded, torn or damaged photographs. Offer a range of sepia toned reproductions. Advertise in local and national newspapers, postcard collectors' magazines, direct to postcard collectors' clubs, genealogy magazines, and so on.
  13. Take photographs of children visiting Santa's grotto. You can charge customers or else ask the shop to sponsor you. Evidence suggests that most customers return for their photographs and therefore bring increased custom to the store.
  14. Offer to glaze photographs onto plates and other pieces of china. You don't have to take the photographs yourself if you don't want to. Ask customers to bring their favorite prints, or offer a complete service from photography to glazing.
  15. Make friends with an article or feature writer. Plan assignments together. You'll both find your acceptance rate much increased.
  16. Take photographs of private homes and business premises. Have some turned into letterheads and take samples to homes and businesses and offer to produce something similar for them.
  17. You can travel the world free as a photographer, on behalf of numerous customers who will pay you well for the privilege. You'll usually get some payment in advance, allowing you to fund the entire trip and have something left over to spend. Contact magazines, market research specialists, advertising agencies, businesses, and so on.
  18. Let solicitors and insurance companies know you are available to take photographs of personal injuries and damage to property, ready for use in whatever claims and court cases might ensue.
  19. Offer a novel alternative to traditional business cards. Include photographs of the card holder. Advertise your service and take samples of your work to small businesses, large commercial and industrial enterprises, private individuals, and so on. You might find a few ask you to o their next passport photographs. Incorporate an ideas section and perhaps include a month by month checklist of suitable topics. August-September, for instance, might be time to think about approaching magazines and newspapers with ideas for Guy Fawkes themes and bonfire photographs.
  20. If you're really good you might try starting course in photography. Take a room in your local college or operate by correspondence.
  21. Print photographs onto t-shirts and other items of clothing.
  22. Offer to photograph valuable items for insurance purposes or else to help identify 'lost and found' or stolen property.
  23. Buy and sell used and second-hand photographic equipment by catalogue or list. Alternatively, specialise in very old 'antique' cameras and accessories. Sell at antique and collectors' fairs. Watch the weekend press for details of events. Then ring the organiser and ask for a venues list and details of stall fees.
  24. Specialise in out of print photography books and magazines. Sell by post to photographers and book collectors. Advertise in photography magazines and book collectors' publications. Alternatively sell at book fairs, antique and collectors' fairs.