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  4. Any part time photographers making a decent living from selling their photos?

Any part time photographers making a decent living from selling their photos?


9 years 10 months ago #380328 by Jeffrey Russo
Eh, why not.  Might as well ask one more question before I mow the lawn today.  Besides I just signed up here today and taking full advantage of being new.  So I'm going to hang out all my laundry!  I'm a part time photographer and have often wondered about selling photos, but then I don't do anything because I start thinking about how competitive it must be.  

So, does anyone who is a casual photographer make any decent cash, even on a part time here and there basis?  
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9 years 10 months ago #380448 by garyrhook
Define "decent"?

I have a day job; my near-term goal is to pay for my toys. Toward that end, I set up my business about 1.5 years ago. I've had some sales, but mostly it's still about improving my skills (in all areas) and building a body of work. For now, since I am legit, it gives me a small write-off on my taxes. So I am still in the red, but optimistic as I learn about running a business like this.
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9 years 10 months ago #380450 by Howard T
I'm keeping this as a hobby for now.  Someday it would be nice to make a few bucks from my photography, but realistically that's not going to be for some time.  I just picked up my first camera last year. 
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9 years 10 months ago #380716 by Jeffrey Russo
Well I should have clarified better.  I was just wondering if anyone here made a living from selling their photos.  
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9 years 10 months ago - 9 years 10 months ago #380718 by garyrhook
Forgive my confusion. First you wrote:

So, does anyone who is a casual photographer make any decent cash, even on a part time here and there basis?  


and then you wrote: 

Well I should have clarified better.  I was just wondering if anyone here made a living from selling their photos.


Those are two different questions. It's also unclear what kind of photography you are referring to: portraiture, weddings, senior, food, sports, ?

There are a few full time photographers that make their presence known on this forum, but they don't post much.
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9 years 10 months ago #380733 by Hassner
I presume you are talking of selling photos in frames or to be framed as art or decoration.
You will have to do a lot of market research. There is a big move away from photography
because digital flooded the market. Image libraries are going bankrupt, the surviving ones
offer a percentage of photos for free to stay competitive.

I do know the people that buy images buy it with their hart. Places they have been, things they did...
I can not sell photos of America or Europe here in Africa.

Maybe start with canvas prints of local scenes at your art/craft/general market.
Go big. A1, A0 or even bigger. Then have a few at A3 and A4 for the man on a budget.
Have a portfolio with you for print orders.
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9 years 10 months ago #382850 by P2CDude
Jeffrey, the reality is that no, you cannot make a decent living off of anything as a part time participant. Photography is just like any other business, any other means to an end. You have to work at it, and these days you have to work HARD at it.

For every photographer that you hear about that just sold 100K worth of images from their instagram feed, the reality is that it took a massive investment of time and creativity to create that demand.

There are millions of part time photographers, and I would guesstimate that there just aren't many outside of a very lucky few with mad skills that are making anything near a decent living off of a part time effort.
While Alive...Live....If you Love It...Print it!
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9 years 10 months ago #382910 by Don Fischer

Hassner wrote: I presume you are talking of selling photos in frames or to be framed as art or decoration.
You will have to do a lot of market research. There is a big move away from photography
because digital flooded the market. Image libraries are going bankrupt, the surviving ones
offer a percentage of photos for free to stay competitive.

I do know the people that buy images buy it with their hart. Places they have been, things they did...
I can not sell photos of America or Europe here in Africa.

Maybe start with canvas prints of local scenes at your art/craft/general market.
Go big. A1, A0 or even bigger. Then have a few at A3 and A4 for the man on a budget.
Have a portfolio with you for print orders.


That's interesting about not selling photo's of Europe or the US in Africa. I'd read that quite a number of years ago.  I think there may be one exception though and that's selling photo's from Africa, animals, in other part's of the world. 

Question if I can? What's an A3 and A4? I see those sizes on my printer program and have never been able to find out what it means!
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9 years 10 months ago #382921 by Joves
Don A3/4 is the ISO designation for paper size is all, for height&width. The difference is slight from the US standard, but just enough to use that setting for those sizes.
Now back to the subject. No I am not making any money off of my photography. I should work on my site to do so, but am not very motivated to do so. It is not high on my to do list. Just maybe one of these days when I am house bound because of weather I may get motivated to do it, but for now by the time I am done with my day, it is not there.
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9 years 10 months ago #382922 by Don Fischer
Thank you joves!
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9 years 10 months ago #382983 by Stealthy Ninja
I am paid enough to keep my in photography gear.

But I also have a full time job for other things... I'm just free to take a day off whenever I like for my business stuff.
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www.aevansphoto.com
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9 years 10 months ago #383589 by Jeffrey Russo
I'm seeing all the new comments and wanted to thank you all for leaving your 2 cents :thx2:
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