How To Make Money As Ameteur Photographer

JacobGriz · Oct 11, 2010

Hey guys I'm new to the forum so I just decided to post this question in the beginners section. My canon Rebel T1i is coming tomorrow, but I have previous photography experience. I'm only in high school, so i plan to make a little bit of money with photography. How can I make money either online selling my photos, offline, or in great photography competitions. (I know about shutterstock). Could you list some of the ways, and links to the competitions?
-thanks in advance
-JacobGriz:mrgreen:

Mr. Innuendo · Jan 30, 2015

Well, by definition, if you're making money with your camera you're not an "amateur".

You may not be a "pro", but the amateur ship sails once you start getting paid work.

Your experience notwithstanding, you'll need a portfolio. No one is going to hire you without knowing the quality you're capable of producing. Start there. Decide what you want to shoot (sports, portraits, etc) and start concentrating on that. Do free shoots if you have to. Many cities have "Meet Up" groups for photography. Get involved there and take part in shoots where they're doing "TFCD" (trade for CD) with models.

You're not going to just jump in and start making money. You need to have a product to show people.

KmH · Jan 30, 2015

The market for photographs is super-saturated and your will be in competition with literally millions of other photographers that already have photographs online available for sale.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to make money doing photography.

To reliably generate any sales at all requires a lot of business/marketing/promotion/Internet savvy to drive eyes to your photos.
Of course, your photos have to stand out in some way from the millions of other photographers that causes people to take notice of your work.
Plus, most of the photos that do sell (about 85%) have people in them, and are bought by the people in the photos.

Something like 500 million (1/2 billion) new photos are added to the Internet EVERY DAY.

photoguy99 · Jan 30, 2015

Take photos of your teachers behaving inappropriately with the female students, and then blackmail them. The teachers.

tirediron · Jan 30, 2015

The only sure way to make money is to sell your camera!

Scatterbrained · Jan 30, 2015

photoguy99 said:
Take photos of your teachers behaving inappropriately with the female students, and then blackmail them. The teachers.

Or in this day and age it could be the female teachers and the male students.

Scatterbrained · Jan 30, 2015

JacobGriz said:
Hey guys I'm new to the forum so I just decided to post this question in the beginners section. My canon Rebel T1i is coming tomorrow, but I have previous photography experience. I'm only in high school, so i plan to make a little bit of money with photography. How can I make money either online selling my photos, offline, or in great photography competitions. (I know about shutterstock). Could you list some of the ways, and links to the competitions?
-thanks in advance
-JacobGriz:mrgreen:

Get a job waiting tables. You'll make more money doing that than trying to sell photos while in school. Rather than trying to chase dollars with your camera, focus on enjoying photography and growing artistically. Develop your own personal style and your work will sell itself (sometimes literally).

pixmedic · Jan 30, 2015

pffft...
its easy.

get camera for holiday ->take some shots-> post on FB->get likes-> start FB business page-> offer mini-sessions-> get paid with fat loots!

Scatterbrained · Jan 30, 2015

pixmedic said:
pffft...
its easy.

get camera for holiday ->take some shots-> post on FB->get likes-> start FB business page-> offer mini-sessions-> get paid with fat loots!

SSHHHhhhhh! Don't give away the secret formula!

sm4him · Jan 30, 2015

LOL at the four+-year-old thread that had ZERO replies in 2010 getting resurrected and suddenly managing eight (now nine) replies in about an hour.
Ain't the internet an odd place??

pixmedic · Jan 30, 2015

sm4him said:
LOL at the four+-year-old thread that had ZERO replies in 2010 getting resurrected and suddenly managing eight (now nine) replies in about an hour.
Ain't the internet an odd place??

the zombie threads are a better conversation than most of the current ones.

Lucryster · Jan 30, 2015

Or get really really lucky, like I just did, and win a contest that pays out for the winning photo.

Scatterbrained · Jan 30, 2015

sm4him said:
LOL at the four+-year-old thread that had ZERO replies in 2010 getting resurrected and suddenly managing eight (now nine) replies in about an hour.
Ain't the internet an odd place??

We pride ourselves on the quality of our answers, not the punctuality of our replies.

bribrius · Jan 30, 2015

i have "accidently" made money in photography. Granted, not much. But i also turn down stuff, dont put myself "out there" dont get involved locally except by those throwing my name around and they know i dont do this for a business so don't ask. I think you can make money in photography, because i know i can. i just really don't concentrate on that direction most of it isn't my "thing" and my health is kind of questionable to be hitting the beat to drum up work.

How much you can make, well that is a entirely different question. I can't answer that one you could end up eating in a soup kitchen. Like i had someone ask about shooting a wedding. I didn't jump up and volunteer put it that way. I probably could have made something right there. There are people that advertise, at least on facebook. I dont advertise anything. I also have turned down having my work shown more than once. So there ya go. I am not even "out there" and have made a few bucks just on freakn chance. Another good question, is ARE YOU READY to make money on photography. For me that answer is no. I don't believe my capability or my equipment is at that level. So while i could, i would risk taking peoples money and potentially giving them a substandard product.