How, When, Why did you decide

[sluggo913]

The question may or may not have a simple answer, but how, when, or why did you decide this is what you wanted to do for a living? My story is kind of winding starting back in the late '70s early '80s and a 13 year break from 1994 to 2007 when I was inspired by some friends and some still images to pick up the camera again and at that point it felt natural. When I got around to reassing my career path and what I would like to do for the rest of my life and have decided I would like to be a photographer/videographer and share the images with the world it just feels right. Please if you happen to take the time to visit my site comments on any and all pictures are welcome.

[MJB DIGITAL]

I was bartending and pulling $250/night. I was in school and pulling $2500/semester in school loans. I waited tables on the side and made almost $200/ night.
I was doing great.

The bar I was working at hired a super hot sexy babe, and suddenly they didn't need me to work any more. The place I was waiting tables at decided to take the side of an irate customer and fired me. (said irate customer was later barred from the restaurant for causing other people to quit/disturbance)
My school loans waited...waited.........waited.........my car's tags expired. I got ticket after ticket after ticket ON THE WAY TO SCHOOL AND WEDDINGS TO SHOOT

I quit school.
I had no jobs.
When my school loans finally came in, I had already quit school.....
So that gave me a new second K10D/540fgz/50-135 to match my other flash and 16-50

I hit the street marketing creating word of mouth.

The first thousand that rolled in kept me alive

The next thousand paid taxes....

Now I'm trying to figure out how to afford some help to handle the thousands

(a thousand bucks translates to.....lots of work.)

Its a hard job. Luckily I found something that I love and can be turned into a business...thank god.

8)

[Frogroast]

I have loved photography since I hijacked my dad's Minolta back in 82 - so much so he bought me my own SLR. But getting into it to get paid - that was more of a round-about way... My sister-in-law asked me to photograph her wedding and of course accepted. I got such good feedback I said to myself it was time to take the next step.

Besides, it's a legitimate excuse to crash a wedding, snoop around behind the scenes, catch people having fun and "in the moment", and you get paid to do it!

[jmbradd]

Originally Posted by MJB DIGITAL

I was bartending and pulling $250/night. I was in school and pulling $2500/semester in school loans. I waited tables on the side and made almost $200/ night.
I was doing great.

The bar I was working at hired a super hot sexy babe, and suddenly they didn't need me to work any more. The place I was waiting tables at decided to take the side of an irate customer and fired me. (said irate customer was later barred from the restaurant for causing other people to quit/disturbance)
My school loans waited...waited.........waited.........my car's tags expired. I got ticket after ticket after ticket ON THE WAY TO SCHOOL AND WEDDINGS TO SHOOT

I quit school.
I had no jobs.
When my school loans finally came in, I had already quit school.....
So that gave me a new second K10D/540fgz/50-135 to match my other flash and 16-50

I hit the street marketing creating word of mouth.

The first thousand that rolled in kept me alive

The next thousand paid taxes....

Now I'm trying to figure out how to afford some help to handle the thousands

(a thousand bucks translates to.....lots of work.)

Its a hard job. Luckily I found something that I love and can be turned into a business...thank god.

8)

Thats sort of where I'm at right now. I'm a little under a year from graduating with an environmental sciences degree (the sort of degree you get for forestry or marine management that kind of thing) with not too great a GPA and honestly, there isn't a ton of work out there. I'm sort of looking for a way to secure my own future. How did you do it? Shoot weddings? I gotta tell you I'm more interested in stock photography than event shooting. I've thought about trying to find someone to apprentice under just so I can become more confident and learn how to handle the nuances because at my wedding we had great photographers and it made all the difference. Is this something that is done?

[Frogroast]

Selling stock photography is not the best way to go if you're planning on making it your primary source of income. In my experience it takes a lot more work to ramp up to make money in stock photography than it does in event photography.

Reasons are quite simple - in event photography, you are there documenting an event that typically is unique to the moment. A party, a band's performance, a wedding, etc. So people will pay you for the product you produce at that moment. They have a vested interest in it.

Portrait/Modeling photography is somewhat the same - you get paid for the product you output for that particular event.

Stock photography is quite a whole different ball-game and here are some reasons why.

1. Images: When you shoot specifically for stock photography, you are shooting in the hopes that someone will be looking for that particular type of photo, find it in some repository/storage/vending site, and pay for its use. There are no guarantees that image will make you money.
2. Competition: You are competing against a massive amount of stock photography providers and sites, some with decades-old reputation and marketing power, and with a library in the thousands of images.
3. Portfolio: You need to aggressively build your portfolio of images in the hopes they will be seen and purchased.
4. Selling: Many people think they can host their own website and sell stock photography. That rarely works unless you have a truly unique product, a niche business. Because of the unpredictability, and considering points #2 and #3, you might want to consider joining a stock photography purveyor/business so they can handle your catalog, sell and promote you, and you get your cut after they get theirs.
5. Frustration: If you work for a stock photo agency, you will get your images approved/rejected based not just on the quality of the image, but also on the look, whether it's too common for them to show, or whether they already have 500 versions of your latest work. Basically someone or a group of people subjectively decide if your image is worthy.
6. Payout: Many of the sites such as iStockPhoto charge a certain amount to sell the limited use of your photo. You get a certain percentage of that money, they get their cut. Unless someone wants to buy your image for their exclusive use, you're looking at making a couple of dollars per image download. You would get more if you worked for some of the top stock photo agencies, but you need to have a hefty portfolio to be considered for those. So the money to be made isn't fantastic, certainly not enough to make a living out of, but nice enough as a supplement.
7. Slow progress: There's no rushing the stock photo business. You need to be constantly shooting and uploading images to build your portfolio and keep your catalog fresh. This takes time and planning, particularly if someone else has to approve them.

I would suggest finding a local photographer that might do some stock photo work. But at the same time, I would suggest you look at other kinds of photography, just as lucrative.

For example: Architectural, business portraiture, or commercial/advertising photography. It's almost like stock photography, but not quite. You follow the same principles to setup, create images that look generic, etc, but you're working for a client that will pay you for your time, effort, and product. Like for example, a local restaurant hires you to take photos of their chefs and servers in action, or the big attorney firm wants you to shoot their lawyers in the boardroom, etc.