Is pursuing freelance photography an ideal career choice?

Gary A. · Jul 20, 2016

"Ideal" is something you must discover for yourself. What is ideal for you may not be ideal for others. Some people prefer the job security of working 9-5 for a large corporation, even though they are not fond of what they do, the trade off is worth it for the security. Others, would rather work long hours and take risks in order to be their own boss and do what they love. As stated earlier, go for it. We cannot tell you if you will be successful or not ... we cannot tell you if freelancing is "ideal" for you ...

I know many professional photographers, some are struggling to put two nickels together, another is a wedding photog who charges $15,000 per event, photojournalists who receive a weekly salary from large corporations. The fine folks here can help you navigate the choppy water of professional photography ... But they cannot tell you if it is an 'ideal' job/career for you.

dennybeall · Jul 20, 2016

Two key suggestions to anyone starting a new business. The first being do a comprehensive Business Plan. The second is to have enough money on hand to finance you and the business for one full year.
That said, I would not even consider starting a new photography business now. Technology changes are changing so much of the business that a good business plan would be impossible.

Beatles2 · Jul 20, 2016

I actually think there is more money in teaching photography now, then shooting. Just an observation .

table1349 · Jul 20, 2016

Might be a good read of the OP . Can You Make a Living Doing Photography?

TheLibrarian · Jul 20, 2016

Apparently not. Big money weddings seem attractive but can you get 52 a year? To sum up what I'm hearing, teaching seems like a reasonable route but generally you need to know what you're doing to teach. ^above blog post ends up offering classes. I like the 85/15% suggestion if you can do it. Having larger amounts of low/ middle end clients may be doable but much more work and maybe best left to the part timers.

All I can add is echo the business side of things and suggest people make money selling tacks, sewing needles, milk and bread at convenient stores. Not huge money but enough to justify retail space, rent et al. Properly marketed and sold you can sell ice cubes to Eskimos. Hardly ideal though. Better off waiting years to be a bank manager or loan officer and maybe getting the bank to pay some of your schooling for whatever they want you to go to school for. Its literally where the money's at.

I'm considering (even though i dont have the skill and hate editing) part time, doubly so after reading the above article. Family, kids, senior photos, actor/ model portfolios, dating site pics. 50 a year at $100 for an hour a week is a nice 5k bonus. Reading about stocksy today who proudly say they paid 50% of their $5 million or whatever to their 900 photographers which gives each 5k a year. Maybe not evenly divided and who knows how much work each put into it and no one should rely on stocksy or uber to make a living but then why. If its not good to do all day long then doing it a little isn't likely any better. Full time stocksy staff (not photogs) get 6 weeks paid vacation, free food, a nice patio overlooking the lake, likely 80k a year and more. Not accepting photographers now but need a UX guy and a co-op specialist.

Maybe get creative I know some SG's and not evens that have 18,000 followers. Ill leave it up to others how they want to take advantage of something like that selling random stuff to fans.