Freelance Photography - Make Money from Your Hobby

By: John Alexander

In a recent television series, run by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), they investigated the top 10 careers people would really like to do if money was no object. Basically what would make you jump out of bed first thing in a morning, eager to go to work? Well, the intriguing thing is that the top 5 choices are all 'creative' careers, and at number 3 was 'Photographer'. In particular, Freelance Photography, where you are your own boss.

With the huge rise in sales of Digital cameras and equipment, everyone is enjoying the advantages of digital photography; comparatively low running costs, the ability to take a virtually unrestricted number of photographs at virtually no cost, and the convenience of editing and printing them out yourself. The past 24 months or so has also seen large increase in the amount of digital SLR cameras being bought – primarily, the SLR beginner models such as Nikon D50, Nikon D80, Nikon D40and Canon 350D.

Growing in proportion to this has been the upsurge of photography related websites, discussion groups, galleries - such as Flickr.com for example - where all and sundry push their photographic endeavours upon an unsuspecting public with relentless enthusiasm. Some great, some good and, to be quite honest, some completely hopeless efforts. Mind you, with most people now tiring of the daily 9-5 grind of life in an office, this is a superb creative outlet.

Most people are quite happy to continue with this for pleasure, but for me, I've always aimed to find a living that can be built from something that the majority of people would deem a hobby. That's what I call Freelance Photography.

Now I'm not saying that you will suddenly turn into the next Lord Lichfield, David Bailey or Man-Ray, but there is good cash to be made in freelance photography, and the great thing is you need not be an outstanding photographer - just fairly competent and in touch with the basics.

Here are some thoughts to get you started:

Sign Up with a stock photography agency website like www.shutterstock.com or www.dreamstime.com. These in particular are what we call "micro-stock agencies". You upload your photographs for approval (by the editorial team) and once approved they are available to download by the agency’s customers. If you only have a small portfolio, this type of Freelance photography isn’t going to make you a millionaire overnight, but it will bring in a steady residual income that increases as your portfolio increases.

Set up your own website and sell prints directly to customers. There are numerous providers on the net who take care of all the web design and shopping cart details. I have a colleague that makes quite a nice second wage by selling his landscape photographs of the Peak District in the UK. The best advice here is to find a niche in something you are good at, and focus your efforts within that area.

Sell your photographs to the local newspaper. Seriously, if you've taken any decent pictures of the local football game, or community event, then see if your paper will be interested in using it. This sounds like a long shot, but local papers (in fact, national newspapers) use freelance photographers all the time. They often can't afford to employ more than one or two permanently employed photographers.

So, good luck in your efforts. Even if you don’t quite get to quit the day job, it is very realistic to attain a very decent second income which will pay for all the expensive lenses, filters and accessories that come with having photography as a hobby.

For more information, visit my website below.

www.digital-photography-pro.com

Niche Article Directory: http://www.thatsmyniche.com

The author, Nick Bailey, is a pro-amateur photographer himself who earns an income from stock and freelance photography. Visit www.digital-photography-pro.com for more details.

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