When a Hobby Becomes a Profession – Making a Living from Photography

As this age is dominated by visual materials, young people can easily make their obsession of taking photos an additional source of income or even a regular job. Also, due to the tremendous growth of the number of first-class smartphones, you don’t need to spend thousands of dollars to launch a career of a photographer. An average smartphone will do for starters. Moreover, the aforementioned increase in the number of gadgets will popularize photos and videos to an even higher degree, resulting in higher demand for skillfully shot photos. So, where to start and how to grow to prominence in this field of work?

Find your own style

What the majority of people do with their gadgets is shoot dozens of different motifs, without deeper thinking about the matter they’re observing. However, photography is much more than just taking photos with your smartphone or camera.
Therefore, if you want to stand out from an average I-make-blurry-photos John Doe, start building your own unique style of photography. Be it landscape motifs, social images or portraits of people, try to discover what inspires you. Moreover, play with filters and adjustments. Every serious smartphone that has an 8-MP camera can make great photos in the right hands, so get familiar with the settings and turn it into a powerful photography device.

Explore second-hand equipment

If you develop a serious interest in photography, you will soon leave your smartphone and search for a more powerful device – a real camera. But don’t rush into buying brand new expensive equipment until you start making money. What you can do instead is get a refurbished or used device on one of the numerous websites that offer second-hand cameras. Although the hip culture often cites old-school, analogous cameras as the only genuine ones, try to stay away from such extreme attitudes. When you master the modern techniques and realize how wonderful photos you can make with affordable DSLR cameras, you should try those traditional devices.

Find clients

Now that you’ve shot thousands of photos, it’s time to tell the world about your photography skills. If you get out there too soon and apply for photo contests without any success, it could affect your self-confidence. Only when you have several thousand meticulously taken photos should you offer your services to clients.
First of all, register on several stock photography websites and try your luck there. More importantly, don’t expect easy money, but keep doing what makes you happy and it will eventually start bringing an income.
Secondly, don’t underestimate the power of local contacts. While the earnings might not be high, you will soon have completed projects for your portfolio. This will, in return, improve your chances to make your photography hobby a lucrative job online.
Finally, make your own Facebook page and promote your photos there. It’s a perfect medium for any kind of visuals and people will soon notice your work there. What’s more, you’ll get honest and benevolent feedback from your followers.

Add a unique photo value

Regardless of how great or bad your initial entrepreneurial steps in photography turn out, keep moving your limits and adding a new value to your work. If the local landscapes and people were great motifs at one stage of your development, it’s now time to move on and set new challenges to yourself. Accordingly, whenever you have the time, travel to other places and find your models there. Moreover, expose yourself to one-of-a-kind natural phenomena. Photos of that kind can easily help you reach first-class photo magazines and professionals.
In line with that, sell the old second-hand camera and go for a device that will meet the needs of the new stage in your photo career. For everyday situations, get a modern DSLR camera. However, state-of-the-art game cameras are the right choice for taking photos in harsher natural conditions. Investing in new equipment will keep you motivated and focused on your future improvements.

This hobby is such a relief for the mind and soul that it doesn’t have to bring money to pay off. Still, if you have a strong desire to make a name for yourself in photography, it will be an even more pleasant experience to make the ends meet by turning your hobby into a profession.

Guest article written by: Dan Radak is a marketing professional with ten years of experience. He is currently working with a number of companies in the field of digital marketing, closely collaborating with a couple of e-commerce companies. He is also a coauthor on several technology websites and regular contributor to Technivorz.