Job in Photography

Who wouldn’t want a job in photography? Being your own boss, travelling the world, capturing beautiful images, having your artistic talent praised at every turn, and getting paid fistfuls of cash into the bargain…sounds good, right? Unfortunately, the reality is that only a very small fraction of the would-be professional photographers out there will ever actually make a reasonable full-time living out of it. For the same money, of course anyone would rather be an artist than a cubicle drone, and so (just as with any artistic pursuit) there’s a huge amount of competition, and a lot of people willing to work for nothing or next-to-nothing in order to pursue the dubious goal of getting recognition.

Be that as it may, there are still good photography jobs to be found. Here are three of them:

#1: Wedding photography – being a wedding photographer is probably one of the best jobs in photography. Not because it’s glamorous or easy, but because there’s plenty of work and the pay is reasonable.

In order to be a wedding photographer, you’ll need to be an expert in people photography, particularly in using flash. You’ll need high-end gear including two digital SLRs, fast lenses (both wide and tele), huge memory cards, and duplicates for everything. And much more importantly, you’ll need awesome people skills and great business nous.

If you think you have what it takes, contact wedding photographers in your area and offer to assist them for free (there’s that working for nothing thing!). This will give you experience and put you in a better position to decide whether wedding photography is for you.

#2: Fashion photography – this is probably the most envied job in photography, especially by men. Gorgeous models, creative control, and big money. The downside? It’s next to impossible to break into the world of fashion photography without a lot of luck.

Getting a start in fashion photography requires building a portfolio, but this is difficult without access to models and expensive lighting equipment. The best strategy is probably to get work on fashion shoots, ideally assisting the photographer, so that you can grab shots for your portfolio when the main photographer isn’t shooting.

#3: Stock photography – stock photographers shoot ‘stock’ for online image warehouses. And what is ‘stock’? Stock photographs are generic photographs that publications need from time to time to illustrate their stories, from palms on tropical beaches to ‘three people in suits at a business meeting‘. Stock photographers place their work with stock agencies who display it to potential consumers. The photographer gets a commission (which could be anywhere between $1 and $200) every time one of their shots is licensed.

Becoming a stock photographer is as easy as deciding you want to, but making any kind of money doing it requires absolute dedication. Because the amount you receive per-use of your photos is so low, you need to have a very large library of shots with stock agencies that you are continually adding to. Most pro stock photographers set and pay for their own shoots with specific locations, models, and lighting rigs.