7 “MONEY MAKING” TIPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS

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by @natalie_horton

The question. The question has been bouncing back and forth in your head since the day you took your first great looking photo. It deprived you of sleep and made your daily job look like a nightmare. It made you crave for a better life for yourself, fulfill yourself. The question, once answered, promised to make you happy  for a long, life long period. The. Question. Is. How can I make money doing what I love? For the photographer there are several paths still open. Despite very high competition undermining  your desire to fight for your daily loaf of bread, one rule remains firm, certain and unbeatable – if you are very good at something, break a sweat to become the best, and you will win! Based on this rule, we have decided to break the pathway to the pedestal onto 7 essential steps. Mastering each is a victory itself but combined all seven will bring you to the level you always dreamed about. So unholster your Sony a7 II and lets make some money!

1. MASTER YOUR SKILL

  While it seems obvious from the first sight, many photographers make a major mistake by expediting their marketing game and trying to sell out when their product is not competitive yet on the market. What happens in that case is a failure of first impression. Your first potential clients will see your sloppy work, will remember your name, turn you around and will avoid your future offers later, despite the fact the quality in time might improve significantly. So be patient, young padawan. Master all the essentials of good photography first – composition, light work, color correction, retouching. Compare your work with the work of popular photographers, make sure it does look alike. Be a copycat if needed. Your goal here is to show your potential clients that you can make the same if not better product for, maybe, less dollars.  

2. HAVE THE BOMB WEBSITE

  Nowadays it has become a standard to have a personal website with your work, contact page, information about your past projects and the artistic vision (if you have one). If you don’t have one, you will not be taken seriously. Your portfolio, your best shots must be presented and reachable online. If you work in several genres/categories make a tab for each, i.e. portraits, landscape, real estate, fashion, etc. DO NOT overcrowd each category with a ton of pictures. Keep in under 15 but keep the BEST only. Remember, it is not the photographer that sells the product, it is the product that sells the photographer. And your photos must be carefully selected to be so good, You will be sold out right away. Make sure to include links to your social media profiles, such as Facebook, 500px, Tumblr or  Instagram. Be on top of the response time if somebody writes you an email through the website. Nobody likes to wait.  

3. FOCUS ON YOUR NICHE

  We have no doubt that you can be very versatile creative genius who easily nails portraits and nightlife club photography and then the next morning takes a master piece of DTLA architecture. While the versatility may provide with different angles to approach a particular idea, from the marketing stand point a focus on one niche is a must. At this step you would need to decide which genre you will dedicate your full undivided attention to. Love the smile on the bride’s face and a father-daughter dance, choose wedding photography. Want to work without models, MUA, stylists and just be in your zone, by oneself – choose interior design or landscape photography. The point is to find something you never found boring or a chore. Once you settled on your one or two awesome categories, let’s move to the next step.  

4. MAKE THE LIST

  This stage might seem a bit tedious. Yet it is the final step to make the deal. Since you have already chosen the niche you want to advance in, now you would need to find all agencies, clubs, or other clientele communities that require your professional services. For example, if you are in a nightlife photography, search all night clubs in your city, analyze their websites and the kind of photos already posted so you can imitate and adjust for their needs. Also, search all local bands, singers, DJs and MCs. Their performance needs to be captured as well. What about concert agencies? There are plenty organizations that provide equipment or manage the entire concert productions. Their events definitely need the exposure! Your list must be pretty lengthy. A couple of hundreds of entries is the least we looking at. Got it done? Let’s move to action.

5. MEET, CALL, EMAIL

  According to statistics, you are guaranteed to succeed at least once if you reach your first 100 potential clients. The success rate increases if you make the contact in person. It will show not only devotion and desire to get the gig but also will leave a mental note much clearer about you and your service for the client. Even though your potential client might not have the gig for you at the time he/she will still remember your pretty face and those great photos you showed so expect to get a call back. Of course, gas money are not unlimited and and your time spent in traffic coulee used to make some more great photos. Thus, choose the personal meetings wisely, select high profile clients first to meet. The rest can be reached via phone. Use email only if other two methods fail. Also use it vary time to follow up with clients you just met or phone to. Remember the statistics. If you reach 100 clients you will get at least 1 client and that is already a ray of light to spot the pedestal.

6. EXPAND ONLINE

  So you got your first client, maybe the second and third after that. Yet it still seems like not enough of money. While word of mouth is the best advertisement it is a very slow one. To escalate the volume of clientele you need a blast on the web. To your advantage there is a tremendous amount of platforms available for free to promote your work. Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, 500px, Youtube, Vimeo are just to name a few. Literally, every second millions of people scrolling their phones in search of something entertaining and emotionally touching. Your work might just be the perfect fit for their daily digest. And their buck might end up in your pocket. Make sure to post regularly your latest projects to keep the momentum going. 3 posts a week is a good number. Every day is even better. Let your future clients know how better you get day by day and your name will be the one surfacing their mind when they will need a photographer.  

7. PERSEVERANCE

  Previous six steps were the gears that will construct your money making engine. This step is the oil to that engine. Without it, your engine will be stuck, dusted over and eventually rusted away. As your engine burns the oil slowly every day you would need to refill it every day as well. Start your morning with the ritual. Affirm to yourself why you do what you do. What your goals are. What your next steps are. Tune your self in every day and visualize the goal. Have your oil of persistence refilled and boosting up the engine. And you will succeed.