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Hey all, lately I've been seriously thinking about starting a career in photography. I was wondering if some of you veterans out there could give any advice to a new guy starting out? Some questions I have are:1. Is it a good idea to go to school for it?(me thinks me knows the answer to that). 2. What kind of school?(1 or 2 year school). 3. Can you (or how likely is it) you can make a good salary doing this? How long on average does it take to get to that level? 4. A purely hypothetical question, if you have 2,000 photos uploaded onto 5 different stock sites, how much (just a round figure I'm looking for really, very round even) would you expect to bring in in revenue in a month?
I dont like harping on the money side of things cuz thats not why I want to do photography (but in the end bills have to be paid, ya know?) I just really like it and would really love to be able to do something I love like this for a living.
Any info and help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
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nataq
Voesendorf, Austria
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Sorry, me again ;-)
while you definitely have a chance to live from it, I can´t give you a huge lot of advice, because I think it depends on where you live wether you get enough money to make a living.
Stock is definitely here to say, but to solely rely on stock might not be the best idea. You never know what the future brings - for sure there are more and more contributors to every single stocksite and while the number of customers will sure rise too I´m just not sure how everything will turn out in the end.
Going to school is definitely a good idea - here in Austria one has to to be allowed to offer photography officially - hate that though, because many photographers that haven´t seen any school are way better than those that have. But you can also take some books, do a lot of reading and take the one or the other seminar.
How long it takes to get to the level you need is a good question and I think that solely depends on your talent. I heard of people that need a day while I´think many others will never do it no matter how old they get.
If you have 2.000 images online and all of them are good (and stockworthy!!!) and you don´t stop uploading and invest parts of your money, currently you should be able to get enough money and make a living of it, not sure how this will be in two years though.
But first you shouldn´t quit your "daytime job" because you need the money for equipment. There are housings, lenses, flashunits... to buy.
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It is a business like any other business. The more you put in the better the results. When I say more there are several factors. First, quality, if you upload 2000 images and they are average quality the you get average results. Second diversity, 2000 images of the same thing not good, have a diverse portfolio. Third just having 2000 images isn't good enough, think about the world and how often things change... in a year some of your images will be out dated, 2 years maybe 50% three years... you have to continue to upload and follow the trends if you want to keep up your sales.
As for schools, good idea, training is always good but I have also found photo workshops sometimes help much more because you get practical advice and experience.
You can make a living at this but I agree that until you have a regular income stream don't quit the day job. Of course if you do stock, portraits, weddings.... when one is down you have other sources. Don't stop at 5 stock sites.... there are a lot more than 5. I my self am new to this site but sell on 9 others and have been doing it on them for over a year. I'm hoping this site will be as good as the others.
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