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How do I get Paying Work...?
Okay, I know you're out there! There are some successful photographers on this site, and I've even talked with a couple of them recently. They were very cool and gave me ideas on how to market myself commercially; I appreciate their advice and hearing their "war" stories so to speak. But here's the thing: I looked at my bank account, and I have a grand total of $30.00 in there, with another $10.00 or so in my pocket. So... Do any of you have any advice on how I can get a couple paying portrait clients in a very short amount of time? I'm not terribly expensive; not really (I start at $125.00 for a 1/2 hour session that includes post-production and an 8x10 print). I don't currently have a studio, but I can pack up my equipment relatively easy and do location shooting pretty much anywhere. Anyway, I'm in a bit of a bad place at the moment and I'd really appreciate any advice any of you wiser-than-me people could offer. And if any of you know where I might be able to sell prints that would be of great help as well. Thanks much! I appreciate it. -Pat- Aug 29 06 01:00 am Link i dont know how to get work as a photog other than advertising on craigslist. maybe put "you name the price!" and see if you can get more. i heart craigslist. but i feel your pain, so consider this a bump of sympathy. really though, try craigslist. Aug 29 06 01:02 am Link if your hard up for money and want to build clients, i'd lower the price a bit.. build a client base.. then when money is not so hard up, start to raise the prices slowly as needed / wanted. Waltonphotography. Aug 29 06 01:04 am Link Marketing. Aug 29 06 01:08 am Link There's a lag time in just about every business. (the time between when someone sees your work and when you book a gig) Photography is no different. I like your work. So like the other photog said, it's marketing, marketing, marketing! You could be the best damn artist out there, but if no one has seen your work, it doesn't matter. Make yourself a flyer or some business cards and hand them out to at least ten people a day. That's the cheapest way. Dont go home until you've talked to ten new people a day about your work. You've got to plant a lot of seeds to reap a harvest. All the very best to you. Aug 29 06 01:20 am Link I sell poster prints through cafepress. I advertise on my myspace page... my myspace page gets over 1,000,000 hits/month I have over 150,000 friends... a great audience to sell to! check it out! I also post videos of the girls from my shoots!!! www.myspace.com/extremephotography -James Aug 29 06 01:24 am Link Networking has been the big thing for me. When the people you shoot rave about their pictures their friends will come to you first before they ever look at the phone book for a photographer. There is alot to be said for word of mouth. Beyond that... charge a fair price and build your business, more happy clients means more people talking about you. At least that's worked for me. Aug 29 06 01:40 am Link Jessica - The Peach wrote: I just put an ad out on Craigslist, although I've never been successful using Craigslist either for getting portrait clients or for getting me assisting work. But we'll see -- you never know. I also sent emails to a couple people hiring photographers and assistants but I won't be holding my breath... again, I've had zero success with Craigslist for anything. Aug 29 06 01:43 am Link first of all you need to find a market for your style of photography, then put your marketing plan together and sell it to your market audience whether it be magazines, stock, web etc. there are also some book on seeling images, market, etc on amazon.... Aug 29 06 01:44 am Link Find out what your market is in need of. For example... I took 5 pictures.. yes... 5... of a friend's dog. He loves his dog. So I printed a nice 'pro dog' picture for him. His wife loved it. Next thing I know I've got about 20 people wanting to pay $100 for pictures of their dogs/cats/rabbits. I personally don't have the time to do this but it's amazing that I could easily make $2K in a week. Others include expectant mothers, people with newborns, real estate agents, escorts, strippers. And there's THICK cash in corporate headshots.. but it's hard to break into that area. Ya never know where you can find an opportunity. -PKD Aug 29 06 02:39 am Link I don't know about Craigslist where everyone else lives but it is hugely active here. I would bet that, if I put up an ad on CL here advertising portraits and put a simple price range up I'd get innundated with emails requesting my service. People are constantly posting requests for photographers and they are looking for deals that are priced lower than the typical expensive established studio rates. Not to undercut the other guys, but if you are doing it maybe on a part-time basis or don't offer quite the services and settings the big guys are, no one will have much of a problem with it. They are, after all, paying for that big studio space when you aren't. Just a thought.... Aug 29 06 02:59 am Link You often can't find an arbitrary style and price and expect people in your area to pay it, you have to fit your style and price to what the area market will support and if that isn't what you want to do then you have to move to an area which will fit your style and price..........I live and have my studio beween Boston, MA and Providence, RI.....sure I'd prefer shooting fine art prints of rocks and mountains all day, but I' never pay for my business loan of studio......I'm not driving a Mercedes, but business is picking up.....ADVERTISING.......I'm just now leaving doing graphic design work for a newspaper; the pay was horrible for the skill-level, but I got half-rate advertising which is a big help.......having a studio helps to keep things legit, honestly there are many times I wish I didn't have the over head, but it makes people believe that you can do what you say you can do.......my paying market is Weddings, family portraits, senior portraits, and events; my artistic fulfillment is nature, still-life, and recently some modeling photography work......occassionally I get artistic clients for weddings or portraits and the work/pleasure overlap and I hope to eventually build the model-photography and fine-art/nature work into paying endeavors, but for now the two areas lay side-by-side and coexist, the one feeding off of the other, as I've come to terms with sacrificing a degree of art in exchange for paying bills (most of the time).....honestly, it isn't that you don't do good work, but often the measure of what is "good work" must be something which is tangible, i.e. "good work" is paying work........thus the touchstone for measurement is different from place to place, and Minnesota is a hard market for the type of work in your portfolio..... Ryan Entwistle - Photographer re: photography Aug 29 06 03:16 am Link right now the best business in my area is taking senior portrait clients away from "corporate studios" who opperate on the understanding that is more profitable for them to loose a percentage of clients and do poor work, then it is for them to do good work and keep all their clients.....I can charge less than the print-package rates and offer a whole new shoot that's much more in-depth and of much higher quality and do location work, because the area big studios overcharge so much for their packages, but underprice their sitting fees....... Aug 29 06 03:21 am Link re- photography wrote: Just out of curiosity, how would you describe the work in my portfolio and what market (if any) do you think might exist for it? Do I need to move somewhere? Aug 29 06 03:40 am Link Ok, I know that this is probably not what you are looking for in an answer (you've got some great ones already) but seeing as you have $30 my only other suggestion for some quick work/making quick cash is by doing school portraits (either apply to work with a company or put up some flyers for individuals). Some one has to shoot those yearbook photos- especially senior portraits because the kids usually get more space or even a whole page their senior year... Also they shouldnt take very long and you could probably get groups of friends in for higher rates... Otherwise get your name out there and don't be afraid to promote your work! Aug 29 06 03:44 am Link Here is a way you can make fast money if you have a DSLR and laptop/burner: Check your paper for live music and comedy events. Go to the events and say you are a photographer which usually gets you in free-almost always has worked for me(plus you will get some free entertainment to lift your mood). Ask the musicians/comedians/performers if they would be interested in getting professional photos of the gig. You tell them they only pay for the photos if they like them and after their performance all of you sit down and review the photos on the laptop. They pick out the ones they want to buy and you burn them on CD charging anywhere from $5-$3 per pic with a $50 minimum(if they like alot of your pics you could end up making a few hundred in fast cash plus free entertainment and drinks. A good type of performance to go to are the open mike nights for comedians and musicians(several potential clients in one night, I have made several hundred cash in a nite this way)-alot of these people are newbies, first time on stage and want nice professional pics of an actual performance. You can also then upsell them on studio pics, business cards etc if you can do that on Photoshop. I have also scored bigger gigs with bands when they've played larger venues this way. If you dont have the laptop then get their number/email to arrange an appt at an internet cafe with computers and burners to give them the cd of pics. When I started out this was a quick way to make cash. You may have to do some leg work by going into several different clubs in town to find out who may want pics so it wont work if you're lazy but if your hungry you can make some good bucks. Note: Im assuming you know how to take photos under low light conditions and always ask them beforehand if flash is Ok or not OK. If not Ok, use your available light skills to photograph. If you don't know how, do a search on it here or other sites. Aug 29 06 04:17 am Link You have to look at the work your showing people. I looked at your page and although you have some nice edge images are those the people who have the funds you need. My work is with magazines and your not gettinga check until print time. So that could be up to a year unless like me they know and want your work. Realtors are always looking for head shots. Hang around outside one of those glaomor factories that people use these days and show your book tp people goin in?? Tailor your work to those you want to and can pay you. The dog idea was good ,I did that as well for awile when starting out. Aug 29 06 05:06 am Link try to make money another way Aug 29 06 05:21 am Link traviskraft wrote: Why? And do you have any specific ideas or suggestions? Aug 29 06 08:13 am Link Pat, I totally feel your pain. the guy that posted 'marketing' is pretty much right, but failed to actually offer help.(di*k) I can toss a few ideas your way in relation to that as well as a few ideas....maybe one will work, or spurn another idea. 1- take a one line ad out in some of the local acting magazines, or trade papers, offering cheap head shots. There also may be forums or message boards (in addition to craigslist) for your area. Toss em up cheap, and shoot them well. Word of mouth in that arena goes far. 2- along the same lines, print up some flyers, and hit some of the acting studios and local colleges offering headshots, or photography services. Ask the owners first of course, but plaster away. 3- Here on the east coast, we have a little wacky paper called the Penny Saver. Its a free paper, and the damn thing is always in my mailbox, seemingly daily. Ads are super cheap in there. Again, one line ads. 4- This may not give you immediate bucks, but hit your local funky coffees shops (i remember being in one in somewhere in minnyappy) and ask if the owner would be interested in hanging some of your framed art work (if you have any), and split the proceeds. If that works, you might even get a 'show' out of it. If it doesnt COST these owners money, makes them look good and they can MAKE money along with you, I dont see the downside. I do this with the wine vinyards here, and its worked out REALLY well over the past 2 years. Frequent visitors to these vineyards have become private clients who now actually call me, ask me to shoot something specific for their walls, and they pay REALLY well, and sales at these shows do really well now. 5- it might be late in the season, but think soccer mom. A bunch of us here in the east have set up shop at some of the kiddy lacross and soccer tournaments, 10x10 tent with printers, shot the games (which isnt fun, well not for me), and printed right on the spot for the mommies. Moms all want prints of their kids in action. You just need to work it out with the athletic leagues. Again, if you have to offer a percentage of sales, do it. Long term, this may work out to be more profitable. So, there you have a mini brain dump from Stu. Good luck. Best, Stu Aug 29 06 09:30 am Link Capt Stu Beans wrote: Great advice Stu! One more thing you may want to do is put some flyers at local hair salons offering a discount for their customers. I've also made a few deals with local plastic surgeons (I've had a bunch of operations and got to know them - long story) offering discounts to their clients. Aug 29 06 09:41 am Link Thanks much for all the comments and suggestions; I'm going to see about implementing at least some of them. Of course, I'm totally open for additional ideas. For instance, do any of you use Cafe Press? Is it a viable way to sell work and get your name out there? Maybe there are some online techniques that I'm missing. Anyway, thanks much! -Pat- Aug 30 06 05:07 pm Link |
