Going Pro: Photography as a Career
By Jim Pickerell
Posted: 7/23/2010
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More and more people are producing pictures of a quality sufficient to satisfy the needs of many who want to use pictures. Thanks to the Internet -- and to a great extent microstock -- it is much easier than in the past for those who would like to earn a little money from the images they have produced to make contact with customers who might want to use them.
Many of my regular readers who have established careers in producing and marketing photography hate that this has happened. They want to go back to the good old days. But, there is no stopping this trend. The best those with successful photography businesses can do is figure out how to live with where photography is headed. A number have been able to adapt and are doing quite well despite the changes, but it is a difficult transition for many.
With this article I’m going to launch a series of stories, aimed not at the successful professional, but at the person just starting out, or the microstock photographer who has had some success producing images that sell and believes it is time to quit his or her day job and go into photography full time. This series will try to help these people understand some of the things they need to be aware of before taking the big plunge of trying to turn something that is a fun hobby into a career.
What do I mean by “Going Pro”?
For me the definition of a professional photographer is someone who is engaged full-time in producing and selling images and earns enough to support him or herself and family. This person does not have another job at which he of she devotes a significant part of the working week and which generates a significant part of the person’s annual gross revenue.
There is nothing wrong with being a part-time photographer. In fact, by the time the photographer finishes reading this series of articles he or she may conclude that doing photography part-time is preferable to trying to do it full-time, even with the limitations is places on the photographer and what he or she can photograph.
Photographers dream of doing nothing but shooting what they want to shoot, when they want to shoot it, and make a living do it. Taking pictures is fun. The job can be different every day. Taking pictures of what you want to shoot, when you want to shoot can be extremely satisfying, particularly when someone is willing to pay you to do it. It is not that hard to do two of these three, but it is very rare that a photographer will be successful at all three.
When I use the word “professional” with reference to income generated it in no way reflects on the quality of the work produced. Many amateurs produce images of “professional quality” that are certainly equal in every way, from an artistic point of view, to those produced by photographers who engage in the business as a profession. In fact, often the “professional photographer” may produce work that might be judged in any photo contest as not being all that good, or inferior to, some produced by amateurs. The professional produces his work because it is what the customer asked for and needed, and it was that best that could be produced given the parameters set by the customer. The professional’s first responsibility is to determine what the customer needs and produce it, not try to convince the customer that the photographer’s artistic vision is what the customer should want, although there is nothing wrong with presenting both options for the customer’s consideration.
There are an increasing number of photographers worldwide who are thinking about stepping out and trying to earn a full time living as a still photographer. Over 240,000 creators have submitted images to Shutterstock. While a large percentage of these images are on other microstock sites as well, there are probably in excess of 300,000 individuals who are trying to sell their images on microstock sites. Most of these just want to sell a few images as a hobby, but a significant number of the more successful are either thinking about, or have already stepped out to produce images full time. Many, I believe, without a clear understanding of the work required to generate a small amount of revenue.
On top of this we have the thousands of students in colleges, universities and trade schools with visions of a career in photography. Here’s a sample of what they are told, “Do you want a creative career that will allow you to branch out in many different directions and won't have you doing the same old thing every day? A photography job could be a great fit for you. With photography training and a little determination, you can have the career you've always wanted.”
Most of these students are being taught all the skills they need to produce great pictures, but very little about the realities of the business they are about to enter. Hopefully, this series of stories will be of some use to these individuals and help them anticipate and plan for some of the pitfalls they will encounter.
This series is not meant to dissuade anyone from entering the field of professional photography, but it is designed to give those who choose to do so a realistic understanding of the opportunities and risks that lie ahead.
There will be at least 8 of 10 articles in this series. All of them will also be published on PhotoLicensingOptions.com where readers can pay to read them on an article by article basis. As the series develops we’ll provide a list of links. Readers who are teaching photo business classes may want to use this series as a resource. The next article will examine the market for images that are to be used in print.
I’m also very interested in feedback from my readers as to what they think those who are about to choose photography as a career should know.
Copyright © 2010 Jim Pickerell. The above article may not be copied, reproduced, excerpted or distributed in any
manner without written permission from the author. All requests should be submitted to
PhotoLicensingOptions at 112 Frederick Avenue, Suite H, Rockville, MD 20850, phone
301-251-0720, fax 301-309-0941, e-mail: jim@scphotos.com
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Jim Pickerell is founder and a regular contributor to www.selling-stock.com, a online newsletter that publishes daily. He is also available for personal telephone consultations on pricing and other matters related to stock photography. Fees for the consulting service are $2.50 per minute. He occasionally acts as an expert witness on matters related to stock photography. For his current curriculum vitae go to: http://www.jimpickerell.com/cv.asp. and he can be reached at: 112 Frederick Avenue, Suite H, Rockville, MD 20850, phone 301-251-0720, fax 301-309-0941, e-mail: jim@scphotos.com.