Freelance Photography - Earn Money from Taking Photographs

In a recent television series, commissioned by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), they polled the top 10 jobs people would really choose to do if they could. Essentially what would make you jump out of bed first thing in a morning, eager to go to work? Well, the fascinating thing is that the top 5 jobs were all 'creative' jobs, and at number 3 was 'Photographer'. Specifically, Freelance Photography, where you are your own boss.

With the huge rise in sales of Digital cameras and equipment, we are all delighting in the advantages of digital photography; comparatively low running costs, the potential to take a virtually unlimited number of snaps at effectively no cost, and the advantage of being able to edit and print them out yourself. The past 24 months or so has also seen a dramatic rise in the volume of digital SLR cameras being purchased – mainly, the SLR beginner models such as Nikon D50, Nikon D80, Nikon D40and Canon 350D.

Directly in proportion to this is the upsurge of photography related websites, discussion groups, galleries - such as Flickr.com for example - where every man and his dog force their photographic endeavours upon an unsuspecting public with tireless fervour. Some great, some just ok and, to be quite honest, some completely hopeless undertakings. However, with many people now tiring of the daily 9-5 grind of life in an office, this is an excellent creative vent.

The majority of people are quite happy to continue with this for amusement, but for me, I've always aimed to find an income stream that can be built from something which most people would deem a hobby. That's what I call Freelance Photography.

Now I'm not saying that you will suddenly turn into the next Lord Lichfield, David Bailey or Man-Ray, but there is reasonable money to be earned in freelance photography, and the best thing is you need not be a magnificent photographer - just fairly competent will more than suffice.

Here are a few thoughts to start you off:

Register with a stock photography agency site like www.shutterstock.com or www.dreamstime.com. These in particular are what are known as "micro-stock agencies". You upload your photographs for approval (by the editorial team) and once approved they can be downloaded by the agency’s customers. With only a small number of photographs, this type of Freelance photography isn’t going to make you a millionaire straight away, but it will provide a steady residual income that grows as your portfolio grows.

Start your own website and sell prints directly to customers. There are numerous merchants on the internet who take care of all the web design and shopping cart details. I have a colleague that makes quite a nice second income by selling his landscape photographs of the Peak District in the UK. The best advice here is to find a niche in something you are good at, and focus your efforts within that area.

Sell your photographs to the local newspaper. Seriously, if you've taken any decent pictures of the local football game, or community event, then see if your paper will be interested in using it. This sounds like a long shot, but local papers (in fact, national newspapers) use freelance photographers all the time. They often can't afford to employ more than one or two permanently employed photographers.

So, good luck in your efforts. Even if you don’t quite get to quit the day job, it is very realistic to attain a very decent second income which will pay for all the expensive lenses, filters and accessories that come with having photography as a hobby.

For more information, visit my website below.

www.digital-photography-pro.com

The author, Nick Bailey, is a pro-amateur photographer himself who earns an income from stock and freelance photography. Visit www.digital-photography-pro.com for more details.

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