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How to get enough experience so I can charge?


4 years 8 months ago #652272 by Kyle O
I'm not even sure where to post this question and I hope it comes out the  right way.  I  want  to build experience, but  my family and friends are limited and those who I have photographed, have gone out of their way just for me to photograph them once and one person twice. 

So how are you then building experience so you can ethically charge for your photography?  
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4 years 8 months ago #652277 by Piechura
The obvious answer is to do it for free until you're good enough. But there's also the question of ethically not charging for your work. Ideally you want to be offering your services for free, without taking customers away from professional photographers. So you're looking for people who want to be photographed, but would never hire a professional photographer.

What kind of photography are we talking about here? Portraits? Events? Fashion?
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4 years 8 months ago - 4 years 8 months ago #652284 by Ozzie_Traveller
G'day Kyle

To copy the mantra of the real estate salespeople ... 'practice - practice - and more practice'

Personally- I would not consider charging anyone for work undertaken unless I had a good 5-years of "hobby photography" behind me so that I had a good knowledge of what I was doing, along with some experience with heaps of different subjects.

If it is family members, it's your call as to whether you ask for a 'materials-only reimbursement' for whatever you deliver back to them

In the meantime, maybe you could benefit from some training via the local adult-ed college or camera club or suchlike - but your own common-sense will tell you that you need pretty-good skills before you attempt to become a money-making 'semi-professional'

Hope this helps
Phil from the great land Downunder
www.flickr.com/photos/ozzie_traveller/sets/
Phil from the great land Downunder
www.flickr.com/photos/ozzie_traveller/sets/
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4 years 8 months ago #653512 by htdavidht
Hi Kyle,

I am going to give you a totally different answer than the others.

To start charging money you don't need experience, you need confidence.

After you figure out your camera, and you think "I can take that picture" you are pretty much ready to start asking money for it... Free gigs will never give you professional experience. There are groups on facebook of starting up models and starting up photographers and so you can post in there that you are looking for a model and if your town is big enough you will sure get some answers... 

The model want to build portfolio and will do the free pictures, you want to build up portfolio, there is a makeup artist trying to build up portfolio, a hair stylist want to build up portfolio... a bit of management and reaching out, you can pull out a whole team of beginners wanting to build up portfolios... I have seeing groups on facebook doing just this.

However be aware that this will take you only so far... you want professional experience, only paid work counts. So start asking for money as soon as you can, and when you consider yourself a professional, then do not do it for free.
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4 years 8 months ago #653894 by Office Guy
Practice!
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4 years 8 months ago #654397 by Instamixes
It just depends on your talent. There are so many young  photographers out there, they don't have so much experience but they can charge a lot.
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4 years 7 months ago #655661 by selena18
Keep your photography! Keep practicing! Take a lot of photos everyday. It’s not like that you can’t charge until you become skilled or experienced. It’s up to you whether you charge or not. There’s nothing wrong in charging someone as you use photography equipment that costed you money and spend a lot of time for shooting. Just make sure that your prices reflect your abilities.
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4 years 7 months ago #655793 by Missy J
one word: practice 
Photo Comments
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4 years 7 months ago #656319 by Ian Stone
And don't forget to try to position yourself with another existing professional photographer as an apprentice for a little while.  That way you can observe and learn from a working professional.  
Photo Comments
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