why does photography cost so much?

[jstuedle]

(I always preferred Maserati :mrgreen: )

Sweeeet!

 

[Otohp]

I'll take a camera off your hands.


..for free.

 

[uberben]

It seems all my hobbies are rather expensive, i'm amazed that my wife hasn't left me yet. I keep telling her that my windsurfing gear, mt bikes, skis and camera gear are what makes me unique. She tells me that I should learn to like basket ball or running. I dont drink, smoke or do any other expensive lifestyles, so i cant spoil myself on cool toys.

 

[jstuedle]

It seems all my hobbies are rather expensive, i'm amazed that my wife hasn't left me yet. I keep telling her that my windsurfing gear, mt bikes, skis and camera gear are what makes me unique. She tells me that I should learn to like basket ball or running. I dont drink, smoke or do any other expensive lifestyles, so i cant spoil myself on cool toys.

Sounds familuar. Other than a few medical problems, my lifestyle could be called , well boring by the faster crowd. But when it comes to toys, Katie, bar the door. Photography, always, but from time to time I have dabbled in R/C airplains and race cars, fast cars, old cars, motorcycles, go-karts, drag racing, competitive shooting sports, and several more minor excursions into near bankrupsy.

 

[panzershreck]

So you'd get 4 of those for $80? Not much of a hobby.

whatever floats your boat, nobody said it had to last long or quality, so it's do-able, you can also get one of those $10 wal-mart digital point&shooters, that'll last you as long as you don't care about blowing up your photos or fine detail (there's also the last resort - free cameras - ie: stealing one)

as for hobbies, my friend and his dad are a perfect example of two extremes... he (my friend), as a kid used to build RC cars, just parts you put together and some custom made to fit it together (like a computer)... he did that with maybe 2 or 3 small cars... his father has his own tool room, complete with every piece of industrial equipment you can fit into a 30 foot by 15 foot room, thousands of tools, etc. and builds his own RC planes from wood and etc. very precise stuff, very expensive

which is better? i'd take the $300 car and some screwdrivers

 

[Marctwo]

It can be a real part of the thrill - building up on a low budget. When I got into photography I decided I'd only fund it by using profits from selling camera gear. It's a nice challenge.

 

[Willc73]

Expensive. hmmm. Depends I guess. There are photographers that do beautiful work with a $5 holga. It is all about your vision and type of photography you do. My type of photography happens to be very expensive.

 

[DocFrankenstein]

Expensive. hmmm. Depends I guess. There are photographers that do beautiful work with a $5 holga. It is all about your vision and type of photography you do. My type of photography happens to be very expensive.

Where can I get holga for 5 dollars?

 

[Willc73]

I guess that was a few years ago. Ok, $19.99.

 

[jstuedle]

Where can I get holga for 5 dollars?

To quote Bill Cosby, "any side street". I have seen a few used going for that or passed around for free as people get tired of them.

 

[ev13wt]

Uhmmm. After all that equipement and those classes and you STILL haven't sold an image, I guess you suck.

yea, start over, forget EVERYTHING you learned, get a Canon A1 and a 50mm prime, and then go shoot 4 rolls of film.

If its 50/50 on good pics, stay with it. If not, switch to video ;-)


O.k. I get a great feeling too mounting a EF L 300 usm bla on my body. But, its just a tool. Just a darn tool. It doenst matter what you have, good cams have NOTHING to do with a good pic. Stop thinking about your "collection" and start shooting.

Like; #Sharpness can hurt your pic. think skin on models...

I have some old lenses from the canon FD range that I use with an adapter. Makes for interesting pics, that the 2000$ gear could never produce...

 

[jstuedle]

O.k. I get a great feeling too mounting a EF L 300 usm bla on my body. But, its just a tool. Just a darn tool. It doenst matter what you have, good cams have NOTHING to do with a good pic. Stop thinking about your "collection" and start shooting.

True. Some of the best photos were taken with basic equipment. A manual camera, 50mm lens and a handheld light meter is an outstanding rig capable of great work. Master a rig like that and you can shoot anything.

 

[usayit]

very true... but its true with things...

SUVs that never leave the road
Performance cars that see traffic jams more than a track
High priced running shoes that are purchased for fashion
..

the list goes on...
..

in the end, its what makes you happy.

 

[Willc73]

Uhmmm. After all that equipement and those classes and you STILL haven't sold an image, I guess you suck.

yea, start over, forget EVERYTHING you learned, get a Canon A1 and a 50mm prime, and then go shoot 4 rolls of film.

If its 50/50 on good pics, stay with it. If not, switch to video ;-)

Don't agree with this at all. For one thing why give up something you love even if you do suck? (not saying you do).
Really don't agree with 50/50. Professional photographers, will shoot a bunch of film and only a few will be acceptable. If you think 50% of all the pictures you take are good, then your standards are way too low.

 

[Rob]

Uhmmm. After all that equipement and those classes and you STILL haven't sold an image, I guess you suck!

I don't agree, and I think that's a bit nasty to be honest.

Let us not forget that selling photos is not the definition of a good photographer. These days every monkey with a 5MP digicam can take a half-reasonable shot, so why they gonna pay you?

Being a professional who makes money from selling images has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with how sucky or otherwise your shots are. Some of the most profitable pro photographers I have met have been crap. Really damn bad. In fact, most of you lot here on TPF would comfortably out-shoot them. Don't believe me? Oh well, but it's true. They were masters however; masters of business and marketing their abilities.

You can be a damn fine photographer and not sell shots often. There's loads of possible reasons for this, but most of them are related to what you're shooting.

Landscapes. A photographer goes out to do something like capture the beauty of a natural scene. This is a tough end of the market, as the next National Geographic landscape of the year has the best photographers in the world going in for it. Winning prizes or making calendars is also at the difficult end and it's proven time and time again with every calendar that fails, or poster which doesn't sell.

Stock libraries aren't what they used to be, the internet has changed the market value of stock images.

Selling work on the internet is damn hard. There's too much average-quality near-free stock out there to justify anyone spending more than a couple of dollars on a bit of your work. You are really unlikely to sell more than one or two prints off a personal website, even if you have 1 million visitors a year.

Selling original framed art is becoming difficult. I've seen photographers sticking their negs in the frame and selling a piece as unique to try and bump up the price £100. This lack of sale at shop level IMO is due to places like Ikea selling modern art (including photos) in bulk. Why pay £120 for a decent framed print when you can get a poster-style inket printed framed thing from Ikea for £15? The public can't see or appreciate the difference. To them it's a bit of art on the wall.

Weddings. Ok, you can do well here, but maybe it isn't everyone's thing. I personally don't think they're worth the hassle and I'll only do one if I don't know the person. This way I don't have kittens about the prints and do them all over again just to get it perfect. (Last one left me about £1 in profit - DOH!)

Portraits. Please? The low end of the market where nasty talentless photographers try and weasel money out of poor unsuspecting chav couples by hard-selling them PS'd rubbish? (venture) I think not. Unless you're as connected as our dear recently departed British photographer, you ain't got much chance with celebs.

School portraits - closed to you unless you know someone at the top.

Corporate work - you need to be networked.

So whatcha gonna do?

I personally keep photography as a hobby so I don't have to worry about paying the next credit card bill or how "marketable" I am. Also, cos I don't like weddings.

I'll get off the soapbox now!