Photographer
Redcrown
Posts: 170
West Des Moines, Iowa, US
Digital Artist
Joe Diamond
Posts: 415
Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
These are just photography examples and not my favorite i must say.
Photographer
Art Of Imaging
Posts: 13136
Brooklyn, New York, US
simple answer, product work is where the money is
Photographer
Don Olson Imagery
Posts: 291
Eugene, Oregon, US
Just like aviation. To make a small fortune in aviation you first have to start out with a big fortune.
Photographer
Don Olson Imagery
Posts: 291
Eugene, Oregon, US
Have your handler get everybody drunk as hell at the auction?
Photographer
HarryL
Posts: 1668
Chicago, Illinois, US
On 2007 I knew a woman photographer she had hr works exhibited in over 30 coffee shops include small cultural veg restaurants. The largest frame was 8x10 but most 5x7 Themes in Polaroid style , people, flowers, & urban architecture . Priced max $30.00 low $15.00 average orders 70 to 100 a month. 2010 she stops doing it but her financial recovery was A truly amazing success. Even now the hidden opportunities are endless but isn't for everyone. Still couldn't hurt try. Personally last summer I sold to several customer in my friends Greek restaurant over $1500.00 worth of my art works ....exclude models. Then my friend kinda didn't Like the way things had grow so I decided to smooth my self out because it was obvious Not to fight the jealous man:) hope to inspire 
Retoucher
a k mac
Posts: 476
London, England, United Kingdom
I like the aviation quote. Who said that?
Photographer
Thomas Van Dyke
Posts: 3232
Washington, District of Columbia, US
Redcrown wrote:
...trying to make money with photography... yep and a lot get caught doing it...
However if you are pursuing a career in child portraiture then you have chosen the most lucrative in the industry... Child portraiture has generated more revenue in the United States of American over the past decades than any other genre...
Helps to really, really love kids...
![https://www.restonstudio.com/gallery/Fgallery15-7.jpg]()
btw, keeping it real is appropriate here... a.k.a. the hand of a graphic artist (retoucher) remains invisible in the mix...
a photo-journalistic style is common place...
all the best on your journey...
Photographer
ontherocks
Posts: 23575
Salem, Oregon, US
we were at walmart yesterday and man that photo place is selling hard. hard to compete with $30 and a zillion prints (perhaps crappy ones but still they are prints and you get them right away i think). anyway that walmart place is always packed. Thomas Van Dyke wrote:
However if you are pursuing a career in child portraiture then you chosen the most lucrative in the industry... Child portraiture has generated more revenue in the United States of American over the past decades than any other genre...
Photographer
John M Hoyt
Posts: 347
Greenville, South Carolina, US
Photographer
David Nelson Photograph
Posts: 348
Dallas, Texas, US
I don't make a ton of money. Buy I've found that finding the right price point and services have been good to me. I shoot a lot of high school seniors, and provide a DVD of the finished images, no print package requirement and no packages required. I find that I get huge picture order because clients don't have to buy say two 5X7s to get 8 wallets. Or conversely you don't have to buy 8 wallets to get two 5X7.
The senior I shoot love that their session photo are in a separate gallery on my webpage.
I also do quite a few couples (engagement) sessions and by providing a creative session at a competitive price I get a lot of word of mouth referrals.
It is a competitive market, anybody with a camera can advertise themselves as a photographer.
Advertising also helps a great deal and a decent website helps.
Photographer
Harold Rose
Posts: 2925
Calhoun, Georgia, US
Redcrown wrote:
A lot of people here are trying to make money with photography. Here's how.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIvHCskdUXY
Number 3 and 1 baffle me. My first full year as a professional photographer, I paid taxes on $12,087 That was 1955. Grew every year till 1999. 2012 spent most of the time publishing, and grew double.. From now on I will be publishing works from my 60+ years in business...
Photographer
Pocket Watch
Posts: 63
Manchester, England, United Kingdom
All film.
No spreads.
Damn. No one here will ever qualify.
Photographer
M Pandolfo Photography
Posts: 12117
Tampa, Florida, US
I don't get it. How is this a statement on how to make money in photography? Unless you're suggesting the way to make money in photography is to produce great images, become famous, die...and your prints will sell for a great deal 20+ years after your death?
I think this thread is mistitled.
Photographer
Tim Roper
Posts: 146
Palo Alto, California, US
Since 7 out of those 10 are dead, dying seems to help, too. Just like with "real" art, I guess. Although I did see a print of Dovima with the Elaphants at a museum once, humbly hanging on the wall next to an exhibit of Rubens sketches, and personally thought the Avedon photo was a much "better" work of art (I know "better" is pretty lame here, but you get the idea). And since those Rubens sketches would undoubtedly sell for in the millions, the high price tag for a print of the Avedon is well-deserved.
Photographer
MC Photo
Posts: 4144
New York, New York, US
Redcrown wrote:
A lot of people here are trying to make money with photography. Here's how.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIvHCskdUXY
Number 3 and 1 baffle me. The photographers didn't make that money. The collectors who bought them cheap made the money.
Photographer
MC Photo
Posts: 4144
New York, New York, US
Tim Roper wrote:
Since 7 out of those 10 are dead, dying seems to help, too. Just like with "real" art, I guess. Although I did see a print of Dovima with the Elaphants at a museum once, humbly hanging on the wall next to an exhibit of Rubens sketches, and personally thought the Avedon photo was a much "better" work of art (I know "better" is pretty lame here, but you get the idea). And since those Rubens sketches would undoubtedly sell for in the millions, the high price tag for a print of the Avedon is well-deserved. It's not dying that helps.
Is there anyone in the world who hasn't heard of Van Gogh or Davinci?
Unless you're using broadcast media to present your art, growing your following to be known enough to be valuable takes longer than a lifetime and in some cases multiple generations.
Think how long it would take to get 1 billion tumblr or twitter followers. Assume that your growth continued identically forever. You'd be dead by then, but you'd be popular enough that people would pay.
Also, deaths sometimes get reported on broadcast media, so that can create a big bump of fame right after someone's death.
Photographer
MKPhoto
Posts: 5665
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
There is one more reason behind increasing art prices and expansion of collecting to more "kinds" of art. It sounds cynical but..the rich ran out of things to collect, so they expand the focus.
Artist/Painter
MainePaintah
Posts: 1892
Saco, Maine, US
I was a photographer in the 1980's and I was always told that the ONLY way to make any money in photography was to sell all your camera gear for a profit!!! So I jumped ship back to being an artist for fame and fortune! Did I mention that last week I had oatmeal for dinner 3 times because I am so rich?
Photographer
Aaron Lewis Photography
Posts: 5217
Catskill, New York, US
Product photography is a great way to make money with a camera. It accounts for about 25% of my over all income and I'm an IT consultant / Network Engineer
The other way to make a small fortune with a camera is to either start out with a large fortune or sell your gear.
I don't recall who said that originally but credits to them.
Photographer
ontherocks
Posts: 23575
Salem, Oregon, US
let's say you can charge $1,000 and you put in 40 hours. that's $25/hour (before expenses), no benefits and you can get sued. PDF IMAGES PHOTOGRAPHY wrote:
weddings 
Photographer
Herman van Gestel
Posts: 2266
Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
it's an 10 year old joke by selling your camera with profit... 
Photographer
Zave Smith Photography
Posts: 1696
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
The creative fields have always been a tough place to earn a living. I remember reading a biography of Michelangelo. He was always complaining about how the Pope was cheating him, not paying him enough and not understanding his vision. But, that said, if one has talent, ambition, discipline and a bit of luck, you can earn a nice keep in fields like photography. Sincerely, Zave Smith www.zavesmith.com
Photographer
Ralph Easy
Posts: 6426
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Photography as an added bonus to a lucrative career can make money.
Gelled together with another creative endeavor, the chances bloom strategically.
A lot of professionals started with another creative career before photography.
Photography added to their CV, gave them the edge
.
Photographer
Marcio Faustino
Posts: 2811
Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Aaaahhh I still remember when I used to dream of make good money in the art field. I thought I was creative and had original ideas, that everybody would be impressed with my work and I would be recognised in a couple of years... Now a days, just being able to pay my bills and make my photographs is a good reason to be happy.
Photographer
Jenn Reeves
Posts: 11
Lloydminster, Alberta, Canada
I believe quality is where the money's at..just sayin
Photographer
David L Photography
Posts: 252
Phoenix, Arizona, US
Charming Dreams Photo wrote:
I believe quality is where the money's at..just sayin I disagree Charming, unfortunately.I know photographers making over 100 grand and their quality isn't the greatest. These guys are excellent businessmen and bullshitters! They remind me of car salesmen, but they make good money. I believe this business is all about networking
Photographer
Marcio Faustino
Posts: 2811
Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
David L Photography wrote:
I disagree Charming, unfortunately.I know photographers making over 100 grand and their quality isn't the greatest. These guys are excellent businessmen and bullshitters! They remind me of car salesmen, but they make good money. I believe this business is all about networking On the other hand there are many hobbyists with better quality than many professionals but they don't get any good paid work.
Photographer
Barely StL
Posts: 1281
Saint Louis, Missouri, US
AKMac wrote:
I like the aviation quote. Who said that? I first read it in a 1920's book on commodities trading.
How do you make a small fortune trading commodities? Start with a large fortune.
Retoucher
ST Retouch
Posts: 393
Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
I agree with almost all comments here. I want to share couple of thing with you because it is very interesting thread and everyone wants to know how to earn something with photography. I have many ,many friends photographers. Each story is unique. Some of them make really amazing incomes some of them are almost without job. One very good friend of mine is very established fashion photographer on the market with tons of covers , with amazing top files ,represented with one of the best agencies. Someone will think that he makes a lot of money. But it is opposite. From the other side another great friend of mine is a local wedding photographer who doesn't know ( believe me I speak very honest ) even what is Photoshop ( I mean he knows for software but he doesn't use PS ) and he is a millionaire. He shots wedding photos with his team ( again maybe you won't believe me with old Nikon D200 and speed lights ) . He shots only large weddings with 300+ guests and he sells small prints ( without any adjustments) for 3 euros per file. His incomes per one wedding are between 8000 euros- 15000 euros. 8 weddings per month , each saturday, each sunday. Multiply all these things on yearly basis . That guy is my idol , because when I want to laugh I look at his files . He also laughs when he looks his files, but he is BIG BOSS. Another friend of mine shots only ladies with pets . Again snap shots without retouching ( or just very basic touches with adjustments , curves, contrast) , he also makes serious incomes. What I want to say, market is very strange. Sometimes I think if you make iconic work with top files,you won't have jobs, but if you produce the worst snap shots you can make serious incomes. Many people think if they sign with some agency or if they have published files that they will have a lot of jobs. But in many cases it is opposite. Here on this great forum all of us know what is good photography, simply we realize huge difference between top work and snap shots, because we like photography, we learn photography every day , it is our passion and we always try to achieve perfect files on this or that way . But on simple market , ordinary customers don't realize these things, simply they don't know difference between top work and snap shots. If you are good in marketing and lucky guy , you can not even imagine which bullshits you can sell to folks. From the other side you can sometimes produce iconic work and no one will realize that , just sometimes you will get beautiful comments from other great photographers in your port. Last year I made one Ad campaign for one serious fashion company ( including shooting and post production) and they wanted bullshits , I could not believe their taste and what snap shots they wanted to shoot. But they have insisted on bullshits and they paid for that. I feel shame to tell to others that I have worked on that files, so you can imagine which level of work they wanted and they have insisted to make. But, that's the market , what I can say. In many cases I can see much better work in many photographer's ports here on MM then in any top magazines. Too many talents on the market and it is very bad because they don't have chance to be published or to make living with photography. Sometimes when someone ask me what to do to make some money with photography business I say try to produce the worst snapshots , maybe this is you way to success on the market. If you start to produce iconic work no one will see you. Best Regards to all !
Photographer
name removed3
Posts: 264
Boston, Massachusetts, US
making $$$ in the arts is a myth unless you are left with tons of $
Photographer
RKD Photographic
Posts: 3265
Iserlohn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
The only guaranteed way to make money in Photography is to sell cameras.
Photographer
SoCo n Lime
Posts: 3283
Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
to the OP - it is not the photograph itself that sells for these sums of money. it is the work from a well profiled and publicized person that clock up such sums. collectors and people with money feel they can invest in his/her work for profit at a later date or based purely on vanity reasons
to the rest of you
if you want to make a living from photography then stop concentrating on vanity projects and concentrate on providing example work (proof of your ability) directed at particular people in your chosen genre. then sell yourself in a professional way based on that.
you will only make a living if you focus on a salable service, are 100% commited whilst being professional, this provides confidence in your pay master
remove all personal feelings and emotions to your work and replace them with a professional attitude. create your own manageable goals. look to improve year on year. create and stick to your own ethics and standards (Ethos, Core Values and Standards) even if that means just to do a good job. do not under sell yourself.
after all that there is still no reason why you can't still enjoy making your own (personal) work in your own time.
stick to your day job if you just want to create t+a pictures or want to keep working on those vanity projects.
Photographer
KurtVdV
Posts: 54
Leuven, Flemish Brabant, Belgium
ST Retouch wrote:
* zip * This! :-)
Photographer
KMP
Posts: 4834
Houston, Texas, US
Redcrown wrote:
A lot of people here are trying to make money with photography. Here's how.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIvHCskdUXY
Number 3 and 1 baffle me. Hmmm you noticed that the guy who posted video, that is also apparently, the one selling photos as investments..not THESE photos...necessarily....
Makes ya wonder...
Note: The forum title is about as relevant to the video as the video is to photographers looking for work... Zip, Dodah, Nadda, the big Zilcharoo..
Photographer
KMP
Posts: 4834
Houston, Texas, US
David L Photography wrote:
I disagree Charming, unfortunately.I know photographers making over 100 grand and their quality isn't the greatest. These guys are excellent businessmen and bullshitters! They remind me of car salesmen, but they make good money. I believe this business is all about networking Marcio Faustino Santos wrote:
On the other hand there are many hobbyists with better quality than many professionals but they don't get any good paid work. Oh get a room you guys...
I'm really SICK TO DEATH of the sour grapes and whiny-ass comments that paint professionals, making a nice living as better at business than their craft.
Such comments as: "They have better gear." or "They know the right people." or my favorite. "I could have done as well, or better if given the opportunity."
Fat fucking chance and it ain't fucking likely, for the great majority of those out there..
YES David, it's about networking.
But ALL business is about networking.
Successful photographers are probably just paying attention to business AND their marketing, as well as their art.
The truth is most people don't have the ambition, talent and personality to do what it takes to make a living in the arts. It's just hard and can be frustrating. Success separates the doers from the wanna-bes.
There IS more to the photography business, than just taking good/great photos.
I've known some VERY talented photographers who weren't able to make a living. Normally, they are not able to see their art as a business. It's a service. For those that think they are not in the service industry, they are kidding themselves.
Yes, you need a great product but that alone does not guarantee success. We need to deliver compelling images, consistently, fast and be able to think quickly on our feet.
All the while dealing with all sorts of personality types.
Believe me, if my clients didn't believe in my work, the best bullshitting and gear in the world would not get them to hire me.
Photographer
Phase Shift Photography
Posts: 86
Atlanta, Georgia, US
ST Retouch wrote:
I agree with almost all comments here.
I want to share couple of thing with you because it is very interesting thread and everyone wants to know how to earn something with photography.
I have many ,many friends photographers.
Each story is unique.
Some of them make really amazing incomes some of them are almost without job.
One very good friend of mine is very established fashion photographer on the market with tons of covers , with amazing top files ,represented with one of the best agencies.
Someone will think that he makes a lot of money.
But it is opposite.
From the other side another great friend of mine is a local wedding photographer who doesn't know ( believe me I speak very honest ) even what is Photoshop ( I mean he knows for software but he doesn't use PS ) and he is a millionaire.
He shots wedding photos with his team ( again maybe you won't believe me with old Nikon D200 and speed lights ) .
He shots only large weddings with 300+ guests and he sells small prints ( without any adjustments) for 3 euros per file.
His incomes per one wedding are between 8000 euros- 15000 euros.
8 weddings per month , each saturday, each sunday.
Multiply all these things on yearly basis .
That guy is my idol , because when I want to laugh I look at his files .
He also laughs when he looks his files, but he is BIG BOSS.
Another friend of mine shots only ladies with pets .
Again snap shots without retouching ( or just very basic touches with adjustments , curves, contrast) , he also makes serious incomes.
What I want to say, market is very strange.
Sometimes I think if you make iconic work with top files,you won't have jobs, but if you produce the worst snap shots you can make serious incomes.
Many people think if they sign with some agency or if they have published files that they will have a lot of jobs.
But in many cases it is opposite.
Here on this great forum all of us know what is good photography, simply we realize huge difference between top work and snap shots, because we like photography, we learn photography every day , it is our passion and we always try to achieve perfect files on this or that way .
But on simple market , ordinary customers don't realize these things, simply they don't know difference between top work and snap shots.
If you are good in marketing and lucky guy , you can not even imagine which bullshits you can sell to folks.
From the other side you can sometimes produce iconic work and no one will realize that , just sometimes you will get beautiful comments from other great photographers in your port.
Last year I made one Ad campaign for one serious fashion company ( including shooting and post production) and they wanted bullshits , I could not believe their taste and what snap shots they wanted to shoot.
But they have insisted on bullshits and they paid for that.
I feel shame to tell to others that I have worked on that files, so you can imagine which level of work they wanted and they have insisted to make.
But, that's the market , what I can say.
In many cases I can see much better work in many photographer's ports here on MM then in any top magazines.
Too many talents on the market and it is very bad because they don't have chance to be published or to make living with photography.
Sometimes when someone ask me what to do to make some money with photography business I say try to produce the worst snapshots , maybe this is you way to success on the market.
If you start to produce iconic work no one will see you.
Best Regards to all ! This is the most profound post I've read on making money in photography. From a business perspective, the largest market, by far, is the average consumer and they don't give a damn about a photographer's equipment, experience, artistic vision, or Photoshop skills. Facebook is a great example of the type and quality of images that people enjoy where cell phone image quality is more than sufficient.
Photographer
Camerosity
Posts: 5805
Saint Louis, Missouri, US
ST Retouch wrote:
I agree with almost all comments here.
I want to share couple of thing with you because it is very interesting thread and everyone wants to know how to earn something with photography.
I have many ,many friends photographers.
Each story is unique.
Some of them make really amazing incomes some of them are almost without job.
One very good friend of mine is very established fashion photographer on the market with tons of covers , with amazing top files ,represented with one of the best agencies.
Someone will think that he makes a lot of money.
But it is opposite.
From the other side another great friend of mine is a local wedding photographer who doesn't know ( believe me I speak very honest ) even what is Photoshop ( I mean he knows for software but he doesn't use PS ) and he is a millionaire.
He shots wedding photos with his team ( again maybe you won't believe me with old Nikon D200 and speed lights ) .
He shots only large weddings with 300+ guests and he sells small prints ( without any adjustments) for 3 euros per file.
His incomes per one wedding are between 8000 euros- 15000 euros.
8 weddings per month , each saturday, each sunday.
Multiply all these things on yearly basis .
That guy is my idol , because when I want to laugh I look at his files .
He also laughs when he looks his files, but he is BIG BOSS.
Another friend of mine shots only ladies with pets .
Again snap shots without retouching ( or just very basic touches with adjustments , curves, contrast) , he also makes serious incomes.
What I want to say, market is very strange.
Sometimes I think if you make iconic work with top files,you won't have jobs, but if you produce the worst snap shots you can make serious incomes.
Many people think if they sign with some agency or if they have published files that they will have a lot of jobs.
But in many cases it is opposite.
Here on this great forum all of us know what is good photography, simply we realize huge difference between top work and snap shots, because we like photography, we learn photography every day , it is our passion and we always try to achieve perfect files on this or that way .
But on simple market , ordinary customers don't realize these things, simply they don't know difference between top work and snap shots.
If you are good in marketing and lucky guy , you can not even imagine which bullshits you can sell to folks.
From the other side you can sometimes produce iconic work and no one will realize that , just sometimes you will get beautiful comments from other great photographers in your port.
Last year I made one Ad campaign for one serious fashion company ( including shooting and post production) and they wanted bullshits , I could not believe their taste and what snap shots they wanted to shoot.
But they have insisted on bullshits and they paid for that.
I feel shame to tell to others that I have worked on that files, so you can imagine which level of work they wanted and they have insisted to make.
But, that's the market , what I can say.
In many cases I can see much better work in many photographer's ports here on MM then in any top magazines.
Too many talents on the market and it is very bad because they don't have chance to be published or to make living with photography.
Sometimes when someone ask me what to do to make some money with photography business I say try to produce the worst snapshots , maybe this is you way to success on the market.
If you start to produce iconic work no one will see you.
Best Regards to all ! Milan, you should contribute to the forums more often.
Photographer
Giacomo Cirrincioni
Posts: 22232
Stamford, Connecticut, US
KevinMcGowanPhotography wrote:
David L Photography wrote:
I disagree Charming, unfortunately.I know photographers making over 100 grand and their quality isn't the greatest. These guys are excellent businessmen and bullshitters! They remind me of car salesmen, but they make good money. I believe this business is all about networking Oh get a room you guys...
I'm really SICK TO DEATH of the sour grapes and whiny-ass comments that paint professionals, making a nice living as better at business than their craft.
Such comments as: "They have better gear." or "They know the right people." or my favorite. "I could have done as good or better if given the opportunity."
Fat fucking chance and it ain't fucking likely, for the great majority of those out there..
YES David, it's about networking.
But ALL business is about networking.
Successful photographers are probably just paying attention to business AND their marketing, as well as their art.
The truth is most people don't have the ambition, talent and personality to do what it takes to make a living in the arts. It's just hard and can be frustrating. Success separates the doers from the wanna-bes.
There IS more to the photography business, than just taking good/great photos.
I've known some VERY talented photographers who weren't able to make a living. Normally, they are not able to see their art as a business. It's a service. For those that think they are not in the service industry, they are kidding themselves.
Yes, you need a great product but that alone does not guarantee success. We need to deliver compelling images, consistently, fast and be able to think quickly on our feet.
All the while dealing with all sorts of personality types.
Believe me, if my clients didn't believe in my work, the best bullshitting and gear in the world would not get them to hire me. Thank you.
My favorite is them thinking that making $100K in photography is somehow the pinnacle of the profession. It wasn't that long ago that any decent product photographer in a good market made AT LEAST twice that.
To look at those here, you think they'd be willing to kill themselves for $50k a year.
Someone above posted about doing a wedding for $1,000. Are you kidding me??
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