How many of us are making money out of photography ?

[DCM1024]

This has been the first year that photography has generated a significant part of my income. No plans to give up my day job, but have considered backing off from a 40 hour week to 30. Will wait and see if the volume of photo jobs (weddings, portrait, boudoir) hold up as I have recently increased rates.

This year I purchased a 7d, 5d2, lenses and a pimped out gaming laptop for editing, etc. Photography paid for all of that with money to spare. I wouldn't have made it this far without my boyfriend pushing me. He was the one who insisted I shoot more people, made arrangements for me to shoot fashion for a local modeling agency and dragged me to weddings (I seriously kicked and screamed, but now I'm having fun).

The downside? I don't get to shoot for fun as much as I'd like and I could live without editing. Between a 40 hour work week, weddings virtually every weekend and editing I probably put in 60-70 hours per week.

 

[extremeinstability]

100% income from this last 8 years. It's never been enough to justify much gear and so has actually been done on the back of the rebel line the whole time, minus 6 months or so with a 5D II.

 

[awinphoto]

100% for the last 7 years give or take... and then around 30-50% before then... Between photography expenses, kids, daycare, mortgages, gas, utilities, car notes, crappy economy, etc... not much going into savings accounts, but we are doing ok...

 

[bdunbar79]

A few reasons I don't do it full time is that in the U.S., most photography jobs are your own business. At least the ones that make money. So then I lose health care and 401k. I'm too scared to lose those I suppose. I can't get the math to work out to make as much money or more, factoring this in, with just doing photography vs. a full-time job with benefits and 401k, and doing photography as a second job. I'm sure it's done, I just don't know how and perhaps I don't have the "guts" to do it.

 

[lipe]

love this hobby
i mean i want to find job too but haven't really tried to find it hard enough.

I still enjoy it very much

I am not sure if I take it as a job, will it be fun like going out to take something I like...

 

[willis]

Currently I'm not getting anything but great feeling out of great shots but few times I've thought that I could do some freelancer stuff.

 

[unfocused]

I used to work as a small newspaper photographer, many many years ago.

Got tired of being poor. Spent most of my career managing a communications staff in the public sector. Writers, photographer, graphic designer, web and social media folks, etc. That allows me to enjoy photography as a hobby. I've considered it as a retirement option. I have 4-5 years to experiment before retirement.

Someone asked for advice. Not sure some would consider me qualified since I don't earn a living in the business now, but a lesson I learned when I was working full time as a news photographer and which has served me well in all endeavors is this: it's not about the light, the bokeh, the focus or any of that. It's about the people. If they don't like you, they won't like your pictures. If they like you, they'll love your pictures.

 

[Chuck Alaimo]

100%, but my general expenses are very low at the moment. 2 years going for it pro. Last year income was around 12K - this year looking to be 21/22k. So by next year I should be a whole lot closer to sustainable income, and if I can keep up the hustle, I should see more and more income each year (or course with that comes more and more expenses!!!!)

 

[DCM1024]

Someone asked for advice. Not sure some would consider me qualified since I don't earn a living in the business now, but a lesson I learned when I was working full time as a news photographer and which has served me well in all endeavors is this: it's not about the light, the bokeh, the focus or any of that. It's about the people. If they don't like you, they won't like your pictures. If they like you, they'll love your pictures.

+1 I'm a people person and clients often treat me like part of the family.

 

[silversurfer96]

No money here... Just for the love of photography. Just another uncle Bob the photographer. It's mainly to keep a photojournal of my kids in their growing years and every one else that matters to me.

 

[Axilrod]

I make money shooting video with photography gear, does that count?

 

[YellowJersey]

I don't make any money off of it, but I'm not really sure I want to. You see, I never want photography to stop being fun and I worry that if I tried to make money off of it then it would become more about the money and less about actually enjoying myself. I'd rather be less wealthy and having fun than more wealthy and not having fun or not having as much fun.

 

[bp]

Personally, I make enough from shooting that, if I did quit (or lose) the day job, I could probably scrape by and survive on it alone. I'd have to stop buying gear, because then all my photo/video money would have to go to bills. Right now, I'm playing both sides of the fence, and I'm able to pour all the money I make shooting, back into more (and better quality) gear, with a little left over because I've sorta run out of things I want to buy - which then in turn allows me to charge higher rates and take on more ambitious gigs.

In the back of my mind, I always say "hey, if I can get this to a point where it could take over, I could quit my life-sucking day job and just do this full time!"... but I know me. The more likely reality is that I'll probably just keep doing both for as long as I can feasibly juggle the two... I've done 100% freelance for years at a time in the past, and it was very feast-and-famine - so inconsistent. The day job sorta sucks my life away, but the paychecks are good and they roll in like clockwork. I try to look at it like it's my most frequent client - boring as it may be. But I am also very happy to have photo/video as my slightly less lucrative "plan b" in case something happens.

 

[nicku]

Personally, I make enough from shooting that, if I did quit (or lose) the day job, I could probably scrape by and survive on it alone.

In the back of my mind, I always say "hey, if I can get this to a point where it could take over, I could quit my life-sucking day job and just do this full time!"... but I know me. The more likely reality is that I'll probably just keep doing both for as long as I can feasibly juggle the two...

. you read my thoughts... I'm exactly in the same situation. : WOW

 

[sb]

"hey, if I can get this to a point where it could take over, I could quit my life-sucking day job and just do this full time!"...

LOL I felt like that for years and solved that problem by getting a way better full time job Now my full time job makes shooting weddings look like vacation in Aruba, and I will actually start shooting LESS I want my hobby back, I don't care for a second job anymore

 

[Tammy]

Currently I am fortunate to make enough doing my 9-4 that it funds the purchase of my gear and I am able to approach photography merely as a hobby. I remain open to taking freelance paid gigs here and there but have found that I generally value my free time more than the pay+work.

 

[KitsVancouver]

This is a total guess, but I'll bet the majority of people on gear forums who can afford the best gear, can't afford to leave their existing job to do photography. I don't think many photographers are gainfully employed.

 

[thepancakeman]

If they don't like you, they won't like your pictures. If they like you, they'll love your pictures.

Well carp. I guess I have personality issues. :-\ Although I've gotten "rave reviews" of the little bit of work that I've done (about a whopping $2k worth) all of those clients have gone to other photographers for additional work. Not that I'm trying to make a living at it, but hoping to make enough to support the habit (i.e. buy new toys tools.)

That being said, I know one of them (and I've vaguely heard this is the norm for sports events like traithlons) went with someone that was actually paying the event 15% of proceeds. This is a obviously a big departure from "always charge for your time." Anyone else have experience with this?

 

[dirtcastle]

Most professional photography is low-paying grunt work that involves tons of customer service and zero job security.

...which can also be said about a lot of non-photography jobs too. ;-)

 

[Schultzie]

Like many of you, I've not made a single dime from photography. I really enjoy it as a hobby too much to want to consider doing it full time.