I've been thinking about having a career in photography and I've been doing some research. Most of the time, when we think of photographic careers, we think of the usual wedding photographer or National Geographic photographer. So I was wondering if there are other types of careers out there that might be good for me.
First of all, I have no plans of being a wedding photographer. Although I would love to take photos of couples in their wedding, I'd rather spend my weekends with my family.
I also don't think I want to travel to exotic places to take photos for National Geographic either. Especially after watching a DVD of National Geographic Magazine photographer Joel Satore contracted a deadly disease that nearly killed him while doing a shoot in some jungle which required having a tube of medicine drip directly to his heart.
So I was wondering, if I were to make photography as a career, what would be a good one?
There's food photography. I love food and love how delicious some foods look like in a book or magazine, that's a career I can look at. It takes some skill to make a food look good in a photograph. I haven't taken any good food photos so I haven't posted any on my Flickr account.
I just recently learned how to do food photography after reading Ree Drummond's blog on food photography. Who knew that all you had to do was move the food to the window to get natural light? Now I know.
There's architectural photography. I love to take photos of buildings and structures, that could be a career as well. Taking photos for realtors and architectural magazines and websites.
I can also take photos and sell them as stock photos. I can submit your photos to websites like iStockphoto.com or Shutterstock.com. One of the biggest stock photo agency is of course Corbis.com.
I haven't submitted any photos to any of them and I can't vouch for any of these sites. But from what I hear, they seem to be ok. Of course, read the contract before you commit to anything.
My favorite photography book author, Bryan Peterson does sell his photos for stock photography and some of his photos have made over $15,000 over the years. How much one gets paid for stock photography depends on how the photo is going to be used. Local is cheaper than international use. One time versus year round use has a different fee as well.
Does it sounds like I did a lot of research on stock photography? Yes I have.
I was thinking of being a portrait photographer. If you're the type of person who love to play with lighting and equipments and you don't like to travel, that could be a good career. I don't necessarily have to rent a studio. I can do it in my basement if I set it up properly. But nah...I like taking photos in natural light outside.
I've also thought about photojournalism. There are tons of websites and news agencies always looking for photos of relevant news. Somehow, being a photojournalist reminds me of Peter Parker and Jimmy Olsen. It takes a special dedication and quite a lot of drive to look for news worthy photos. Probably not for me.
The last career I looked at was as a family photographer. This one I think I can definitely do. I came upon this when I read Tara Whitney's blog. I love taking pictures of my family as well as my friend and their children. I always love the spontaneity of children and the candid shots of people.
Yes, this might be a good career in photography. You set your time, you choose your clients, you work when you want to, on location or not. Seeing your client's smile when they finally see their photos. Yeah, this might be a good career when I retire. :)
Happy shooting!
First of all, I have no plans of being a wedding photographer. Although I would love to take photos of couples in their wedding, I'd rather spend my weekends with my family.
I also don't think I want to travel to exotic places to take photos for National Geographic either. Especially after watching a DVD of National Geographic Magazine photographer Joel Satore contracted a deadly disease that nearly killed him while doing a shoot in some jungle which required having a tube of medicine drip directly to his heart.
So I was wondering, if I were to make photography as a career, what would be a good one?
There's food photography. I love food and love how delicious some foods look like in a book or magazine, that's a career I can look at. It takes some skill to make a food look good in a photograph. I haven't taken any good food photos so I haven't posted any on my Flickr account.
I just recently learned how to do food photography after reading Ree Drummond's blog on food photography. Who knew that all you had to do was move the food to the window to get natural light? Now I know.
There's architectural photography. I love to take photos of buildings and structures, that could be a career as well. Taking photos for realtors and architectural magazines and websites.
I can also take photos and sell them as stock photos. I can submit your photos to websites like iStockphoto.com or Shutterstock.com. One of the biggest stock photo agency is of course Corbis.com.
I haven't submitted any photos to any of them and I can't vouch for any of these sites. But from what I hear, they seem to be ok. Of course, read the contract before you commit to anything.
My favorite photography book author, Bryan Peterson does sell his photos for stock photography and some of his photos have made over $15,000 over the years. How much one gets paid for stock photography depends on how the photo is going to be used. Local is cheaper than international use. One time versus year round use has a different fee as well.
Does it sounds like I did a lot of research on stock photography? Yes I have.
I was thinking of being a portrait photographer. If you're the type of person who love to play with lighting and equipments and you don't like to travel, that could be a good career. I don't necessarily have to rent a studio. I can do it in my basement if I set it up properly. But nah...I like taking photos in natural light outside.
I've also thought about photojournalism. There are tons of websites and news agencies always looking for photos of relevant news. Somehow, being a photojournalist reminds me of Peter Parker and Jimmy Olsen. It takes a special dedication and quite a lot of drive to look for news worthy photos. Probably not for me.
The last career I looked at was as a family photographer. This one I think I can definitely do. I came upon this when I read Tara Whitney's blog. I love taking pictures of my family as well as my friend and their children. I always love the spontaneity of children and the candid shots of people.
Yes, this might be a good career in photography. You set your time, you choose your clients, you work when you want to, on location or not. Seeing your client's smile when they finally see their photos. Yeah, this might be a good career when I retire. :)
Happy shooting!
Hi,
ReplyDeleteIt was a good post on "Careers in Photography".
In photographers life they have photographed everything they can imagine and have been well compensated over the years and you can too. Most of the time the work is interesting and fun and people appreciate what you do for them. I have mentioned a small fraction of what you can do to earn a living in photography and photography related fields. There are multiple resources available to you on the internet detailing all you need to know for the various career options in photography.
Hi Bennett,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info.
There are certainly a lot of details like that to take into consideration. That is a great point to bring up. I offer the thoughts above as general inspiration but clearly there are questions like the one you bring up where the most important thing will be working in honest good faith. I don?t know if best practices have emerged around things like that, but I am sure that your job is clearly identified as a fair game. Both boys and girls feel the impact of just a moment’s pleasure, for the rest of their lives.
ReplyDeletephotography programs