photography as a career ??

kevinhalvey

hi boards

im doing my junior cert this year but more importantly i have to make my subject choices now.

my question is is a photography a good career e.g is it hard to get work freelance or not

what is the average pay per year week etc (obviously it can fluctuate)

i would just like to hear peoples personal opinions on there career choice and the down sides too it

thanks in advance

smelltheglove

Its a fantastic vocation but the pay is relative to 2 things, 1, how good you are at business and 2 how good you are at photography. Some people can make a fortune yet others can struggle and it is not always down to ability with the camera as the business side has a lot to do with it too.

Have you considered what area of photography you might be interested in?

From my very brief overview of photography local to me (that is, I've been looking at the local pros and seeing what they do, talking to them, etc.) it would appear that there's no money in photography.


The most well known photographer in my town (or at least I'd assume he is) also works in a retail store. I don't know if this is because of the digital "everyone's a photographer" age, but I'd say it's partly to blame.


On the other hand, there are people like PCPhoto here, whilst i don't know what his weekly earnings would be, he seems to be getting by. That said, he seems to be working non-stop.


On top of that, you have people like another photographer I know, who is a nuisance to the profession. He charges people to cover their events, and his photos are nothing spectacular. Your friend with his point and shoot would rival him. I'm sure there are a lot of people like this about the place, and it doesn't do the image of professional photographers any good.


(Should point out that I'm not a pro, and I'm not the best in the world with a camera either, so take my post with a grain of salt, but that's all just my opinion).


Most of the photographers I know that are making money, are either also doing something else or working very, very long days. I've noticed, from talking to local amateurs and people I know that are at college or who have an interest in photography, that none of these people seem to want to work their way up any ladder in the photo world.

They are all prepared to accept a wedding and charge accordingly. Yet most of them know a lot less than me, and I certainly wouldn't consider myself in any way, shape or form wedding-competent.


The sooner Joe Soap realises that a DSLR and a high number of Mexapixels doesn't equate to an amazing photographer, the better.

VisionaryP

Deleted User wrote: »

it would appear that there's no money in photography.

There is money in photography. There is not as much as there was in the boom years, obviously, but that goes for every industry.

It's by no means the highest paid job in the world, but it's incredibly rewarding. As Rachel said, you need a good business head just as much as you do photography talent. If you have both, and are willing to work hard, there is no reason whatsoever that you can't make a career out of it.

kevinhalvey

i probobly should of mentioned that most weekends i work for a local sports photographer but would also like to hear about other sectors of the profession

and in relation to business (studies) i have that down for my L.C
also l.c.v.p which is computer project based

smelltheglove

Well said, after working many different areas, legal, airline, service and retail industry this is definitely the best move I ever made and I enjoy going to work each wedding, even just taking phonecalls from brides brightens up my day as sad as it sounds, on the other hand, 3 years in I couldnt yet support my family through it BUT I am almost there.

If you have the heart for it, you have the talent and will stick at it then by all means go for it.

VisionaryP

Great decision to do business studies, you'll take that with you no matter what career you do.

kevinhalvey

smelltheglove wrote: »

Well said, after working many different areas, legal, airline, service and retail industry this is definitely the best move I ever made and I enjoy going to work each wedding, even just taking phonecalls from brides brightens up my day as sad as it sounds, on the other hand, 3 years in I couldnt yet support my family through it BUT I am almost there.

If you have the heart for it, you have the talent and will stick at it then by all means go for it.

i see where your coming from and it doesn`t sound sad in anyway it was a great help to me thank you

smelltheglove

Business studies is a great choice, I wasn't blessed with that in an all girls catholic school but I did do bookkeeping as part of a plc course which has come in handy. If you can include subjects like business and bookkeeping or accounts then you will easily be able to bump your earnings in the early days by a side line job if required.

kevinhalvey

tbh i have no intentions in doing accountancy that is my major weak point in j.c business as its a mix of economics , business , and accountancy but if thats what it took i may re-consider even if i wasn`t going for photography i would also try jounalism as both are media related and thats what intrests me not to much of a desk person

smelltheglove

kevinhalvey wrote: »

tbh i have no intentions in doing accountancy that is my major weak point in j.c business as its a mix of economics , business , and accountancy but if thats what it took i may re-consider even if i wasn`t going for photography i would also try jounalism as both are media related and thats what intrests me not to much of a desk person

I wouldnt be a desk person either which is why my office career was short lived:o but an understanding of book keeping and accountants in the early days can save you a few bob. Bookkeeping is really easy once you put your mind to it and you can always pay an accountant when the money rolls in;)

Journalism is a good choice too and both wouldcompliment each other, I am not sure how the journalism industry is but I would imagine it is quite similar to photography at the moment, I have seen numerous publications, be they rags, get pages off print off info they just lifted off facebook:eek:

Ialso did customer service too in my plc course which I have found has helped me too, I secured a few jobs before photography due to my customer service understanding and unless you are looking at wildlife or landscape photography people skills will be pretty much essential.

challengemaster

Unless you've got some serious savings, don't focus your school education on Photography alone. Photography equipment is (seriously) expensive, and you won't really ever have enough.

I've ~3k of actual camera gear, and about another 1k between filters, lighting equipment, etc etc. In the next few weeks I'll be adding another ~4-500 to that for one item (DIY job too, so that's the cheap version), and could easily make a list of about ~10k worth of stuff that'd be super handy to have, to start...

You will need income to fund all of this. Don't ignore your studies because of this great idea of becoming a photographer. People (on here and otherwise) have taken out substancial loans to get started, and get what they need. A decent camera body is the guts of ~1k, and for top notch lenses they start at ~1k a piece. I know people with lenses that cost 4.5k per lens.

As for getting paid, it depends what area you're working in...but basically the market is flooded for just about every type of photography, and people are now picking up DSLRs and instantly a photographer :rolleyes: so theres competition for business all over, and people hiring are always looking for cheaper...

Also despite what you might hear, you do not in any way, shape or form need a degree in photography to be a photographer. It's all about portfolios rather than qualifications. A good portfolio shows you can take good photos, ones which will entice clients. A qualification means you can write essays and know technicalities, but there's no proof you can take a good photo.

So my over-all advice is, do something else initially and keep the photography as a hobby. Use it as time to improve and build a good portfolio of work. If you go on to get a degree in Science, or whatever, it's a qualification that can actually get you a job, and is always there if you need to fall back on it. You're not guaranteed Photography will ALWAYS be there to pay the bills every week....

Sleepy

TBH, as someone who did Business Studies, Accounting and Economics for Leaving Cert prior to doing a B.Comm; Business is actually the least useful of the three subjects in the real world, accounting will stand you far greater stead and if your school's accounting teacher is any use at all, will give you a huge leg up if you have to do any accounting modules in college. I had a great Accounting teacher for JC & LC and, as a result, barely had to attend a lecture to score highly in the Accounting modules of my degree!

I'd second the advice about keeping your options open by doing a degree in something other than photography. No matter what course you do in college, there'll be a college photography club (and if there isn't one, you'll be able to start one very easily). That way you can get a qualification in something that will get you a job earning enough money to start building up your equipment whilst photography is still "just" your hobby or even a weekend nixer.

robertbarry

photography is going the same way as video and audio recording, down the tubes. Its one of those fantasy careers that blokes wanna do. the only money is in wedding photography. the worst type is music photography. everyone and his dog is music photographer these days. goin to a gig and takin some pics seems to qualify you.

melekalikimaka

robertbarry wrote: »

photography is going the same way as video and audio recording, down the tubes. Its one of those fantasy careers that blokes wanna do. the only money is in wedding photography. the worst type is music photography. everyone and his dog is music photographer these days. goin to a gig and takin some pics seems to qualify you.

off the track completely there.

you can make alot of money in photography.

Fajitas!

the only money is in wedding photography

Far from it.

VisionaryP

robertbarry wrote: »

photography is going the same way as video and audio recording, down the tubes. Its one of those fantasy careers that blokes wanna do. the only money is in wedding photography. the worst type is music photography. everyone and his dog is music photographer these days. goin to a gig and takin some pics seems to qualify you.

Wrong. Evidently, good grammar is going down the tubes, but photography is holding its own amongst good photographers.

pete4130

It depends what you do. I've worked as a real estate photographer in London and Sydney and its good money. It's taken a lot more seriously here in Australia than it was in London.
It is far from being creative at all. It's very formulaic and boring. I don't even process my own stuff over here. Upload to an FTP at night and someone else does it all. A lot is done with bracketed shots using ambient light (so I guess some sort of HDR/belnding applied) and then ambient with flash and a flash only shot so you get a range of exposures to highlight the window frame, the exterior and it all gets cut up and placed on top of each other to create a "perfect" interior image that is far from real life.

That earns me AU$252 a day/AU$1258 per week (E183 per day/E915 per week) which is pretty good money.

I actually hate that sort of work but its easy and easy money.