How to Find and Generate Freelance Photography Opportunities by Kelly Gammon

If you ask most freelance photographers how they get work, you will likely hear some variation on the same three answers: word of mouth, referrals, and networking. Most freelancers in any field will tell you that they typically spend as much time marketing their services as they do providing service. But what other options are there? This article will look at 5 ways to find and generate more freelance photography opportunities. Let's begin.

1. Get a copy of the current year's Photographer's Market.
Photographer's Market is an outstanding resource. It is published every year and lists approximately 1500 active buyers in a number of different categories. In addition to providing full contact information and valuable details about various markets, it will definitely expose you to possibilities that you never knew existed. Get Photographer's Market, gather a list of a few dozen potential clients and start sending queries.

2. Set up a portfolio website, keep it up-to-date and market it well. Include your website address in all of your correspondence, both print and electronic. If you participate in online forums that allow for signature files, put your portfolio website address in your signature. If you follow other photographers' blogs, there is usually an option, if you leave a comment on the blog, to include a web address that can be associated with your name. When you leave an insightful comment on posts you find especially interesting or informative, an active link to your website will remain with your comment, allowing others to find their way to you. They key is to create an online portfolio and then spread the word to get people there. Think of it as your business card for the twenty-first century.

3. Write articles. Pick topics about which you are comfortable writing and offer advice and guidance. How-to articles are an excellent starting point for articles. They are simple to organize and easy to compose from experience. Starting out you can submit your articles to online article directories and hopefully get some feedback. As you grow more confident in your writing abilities, branch out to your local newspaper, regional magazines and other online avenues. Once you have built up a portfolio of articles, query national magazines with article ideas. The key here is to establish yourself as an expert and get a byline.

4. Do interviews. Once you have established yourself as an expert in a certain area of photography, look for opportunities to do interviews. Look for opportunities both online and offline. Also, as you check out various job boards for photography work, be sure to keep an eye out for individuals looking for industry experts to interview. Once again, you are looking for ways to establish yourself as an authority and get our name and contact information in front of more people.

5. Teach an adult education class in photography. These are usually non-credit classes and workshops offered through community groups or colleges and universities. Depending on the interest level of the participants you might even expand this is into a series of classes covering different topics. Teaching adult education is another way to establish some credentials for yourself while making contacts in the community and getting your name better known. The great thing about adult education is that the people who participate in the classes have a strong desire to learn and are very receptive and appreciative.

Bonus Tip: If you have a local public radio station in your town, offer to do a 5-minute segment once a week geared toward amateur photographers. Most public radio stations welcome programming ideas and are often looking for new and interesting spots to attract local listeners.

For more tips on how to build or grow a successful freelance career, check out http://www.gofreelancenow.com

Calling All Nature Photographers!

The Nature Conservancy invites you to view more than 100,000 stunning nature images taken by thousands of photographers--from beginners to professionals--from around the world at the Conservancy's online photo-sharing group.

"The Conservancy has built an interactive community of people who love nature photography," said Evan Parker, the Conservancy's manager of digital membership. "It's a place to be inspired, and to inspire others."

Initially launched as an entry point for the Conservancy's first annual photo contest, the site has blossomed, now engaging a community of thousands of nature-lovers around the world. Nature.org/flickr now hosts more than 100,000 nature photos--and it only takes a minute to upload your favorite nature image.

In addition to sharing images with others, group members can enter the Conservancy's annual photo contest, help vote to select the annual contest's grand prize winner and, throughout the year, enter mini-competitions which include publication in the award-winning Nature Conservancy magazine.

For more details, please visit nature.org/flickr

Free Digital Photography Magazine

PhotographyBB has released the tenth edition of the PhotographyBB Online Magazine. The PhotographyBB Online Magazine is quickly becoming a leading resource in the future of free information distribution, offering readers: Digital Photography tips and techniques, DSLR camera function training, and image post processing tutorials in Adobe® Photoshop™, and RAW processing in Photoshop Lightroom™.

This month's release includes a tutorial on better night photography, a guide on keeping your camera gear (and yourself) safe when shooting in winter conditions, Photoshopping your own personalized (to each recipient) holiday cards, "Is CS4 worth the upgrade?," a look at infrared photography, and much more.

In addition to articles which aide photographers in getting the most from their DSLR cameras, the PhotographyBB Online Magazine also features useful and applicable tutorials on how to use post-processing tools such as Photoshop and Lightroom, to build on digital photography post-processing skills.

PhotographyBB Online Magazine is available for free download through the PhotographyBB Website at: http://www.photographyBB.com/magazine

Learn How To Design The Optimal Lighting Setup For Your Individual Portrait Subject

Flawless lighting is the key to creating professional-caliber portraiture. With the right lighting, photographers can create depth and form, set the mood of the portrait, and sculpt the subject's features to create an idealized portrait presentation that will please the subject and satisfy the photographer's artistic vision.

All too often, photographers fall into the trap of selecting and using tried-and-true, one-size-fits-all lighting strategies for their clients. An obvious benefit to this practice is that this is a streamlined approach. Without the guesswork involved in playing with the lights to determine a lighting pattern that best suits the subject, the photographer can move more quickly through the session, book more sessions, and maximize their profits. However, in doing so, they will sell themselves short artistically and will never produce the images that will best flatter their clients.

In this book, Sculpting with Light, author Allison Earnest "shows photographers how to take full control of their lighting". First, you'll learn how the physics of light govern the way we see it, and how the camera perceives it differently than the human eye. Also learn about the qualities of incident and reflected light, and how the size of the source, the direction of the light, the light intensity, contrast, and ratio between highlight and shadow will affect the mood of the portrait as well as how to best use the tools for modifying light and master its every nuance.

As you move through the book, you'll get can't-miss tips for sculpting the face with basic lighting setups. You'll learn the three desirable positions for the main light and how to best refine the lighting strategy using minimal equipment. You'll learn how to create the lighting patterns most often used in portraiture and will also discover how you can create the portrait effect you're after, from a fashion-type look, to a soft, romantic feel, to an edgy, high-contrast look, by manipulating the light output to create the desired ratio of highlight and shadow on your subject.

Unique to Sculpting With Light is Earnest's focus on using lighting to sculpt a variety of basic facial shapes, oval, long and angular, heart-shaped, and square, and show subjects at their personal best. Makeup artists have always relied on cosmetics to highlight and shade areas of the face to play upon a subject's best features and draw attention away from perceived flaws. However, this is an opportunity that most photographers overlook in their haste to create cookie-cutter portraits with minimal changes to the lighting setup. Allison Earnest shows readers how to choose and easily set up the best lighting for each individual client, male or female, to produce a likeness that makes them feel attractive. After all, a client must like the way they look in their portraits in order to spend their money on your images.

Covering a wide variety of techniques and images that show the impact of using basic and complex lighting setups on individual or multiple subjects, both male and female, this amply illustrated book will prove an indispensable guide for photographers or all skill levels.

Website: http://www.amherstmedia.com/

Travel Photography Competition

Social travel guide tripwolf  and RCA Label Group have launched an exclusive photo competition with international multi-million selling artist, Dido, for the grand prize of a signed lithograph of Dido's newest album Safe Trip Home. The winner will also receive a CD of the album, as will the five runners up. To win, entrants simply post photographs that fall into one of three categories on the competition page, found at http://www.tripwolf.com/en/page/competition/dido.

Submission are now being accepted in the following categories:

* Last photo before heading home from traveling;
* Best travel photo; and,
* Best adventure photo.



"We are thrilled to be working with RCA Label Group to present our users with this wonderful opportunity, and to work with such an acclaimed artist as Dido," says Sebastian Heinzel, tripwolf CEO. "There is nothing like traveling to make you appreciate home. So this album is especially significant to our community of globetrotters."

The competition will run for a full month. A combination of tripwolf and RCA representatives will judge the submissions, and the winners will be announced shortly after the closing of the competition on January 15, 2009. Guidelines and rules can be found on the tripwolf competition page http://www.tripwolf.com/en/page/competition/dido.

tripwolf is a collaborative social network where members share travel experiences, give real-time advice and search for both user-generated and professional editorial travel content on the best places to visit.

7 Secrets of Children's Photography

Confused about children's photography? Discover how to get the skills, confidence and inspiration needed to capture authentic photographs that stand the test of time -- to convey the spirit and personality of the child and the beauty of the holiday season.

Expert child photographer Cheryl Machat Dorskind, author of The Art of Photographing Children, reveals tips and secrets to achieve special children's photographs on the "7 Photography Questions" podcast with host Dr. Audri Lanford.

The key, explains Dorskind, is for the photographer to relate with the child on the child's own personal level. "Become a friend," says Dorskind. "Open the heart and connect in a real way, because kids know the truth and can't be fooled."

During this informative, free interview, Dorskind shares answers to the biggest questions about children's photography. Listeners will hear Dorskind:

* Debunk the biggest myth about photographing kids.

* Find out how to avoid getting stuck when it comes to creative ideas.

* Know the ideal settings and lenses to capture children's photographs.

* Scout out the best locations for taking photographs outdoors.

* Discover tricks to put catchlights in the eyes of kids, even in the shade.

* Learn dynamic exercises to improve outdoor children's photography skills.

Towards the end of the interview, Dorskind shares some of her own photographs of children and tells the stories and techniques behind each one.  Current podcast called "Outdoor Children's Photography – An Interview with Cheryl Machat Dorskind."

Learn To Control Light Effectively And Make All Of Your Images Come To Life

Despite the many advances of digital imaging, lighting problems remain a type of photographic flaw that can't easily be corrected in postproduction. Therefore, lighting skills remain just as critical as ever when capturing great digital images. In this fundamental book, Dr. Glenn Rand gives a complete understanding of photographic lighting--covering tools and techniques that can be applied to any subject or situation. For both studio and location lighting, Rand covers every variable to help photographers avoid problems and achieve the beautiful lighting effects desired.

Early digital photography teacher Ike Lea said many years ago, bad lighting with digital imaging, is still bad lighting. His point was clear: while digital imaging can be used to correct many errors that happened in the capture, if the lighting is bad, post-capture tools can do little but cover the faults. These tools cannot correct poor lighting. While it is true that great lighting cannot, in and of itself, make great photographs, bad lighting will surely ruin photographs.

Lighting For Photography presents the tools that are needed to create and control photographic lighting, going beyond avoiding bad lighting to gaining an understanding of how to use lighting as the ultimate tool of the photographer, whether with digital capture or film. Though many books approach lighting from a genre-specific stance, this volume covers the principles of lighting, rules that are not confined to any single pursuit. This "gives readers an understanding of the hows and whys of light and lighting", rather than a series of limited solutions that work only in certain situations.

To this end, the book addresses not only studio lighting, where photographers have total control, but also lighting in the scenic environment, where they are at the mercy of nature. Because photography happens in all environments, a solid knowledge of how to apply these basic concepts will benefit all types of images.

The book begins with how light is created and the optical functions that provide the ultimate controls for lighting. These underpinnings are followed with a discussion of the qualities of light. Next, the book covers the use of various control methods for manipulating and modifying light, as well as how to best measure and capture it. With these basics in hand, the book then moves on to discuss defining the shape and form of the subjects, followed by a brief description of lighting highly reflective surfaces and transparent materials. Finally, the book addresses the specific types of lighting equipment used by professional photographers.

In addition to sample images, the book includes numerous diagrams and detailed captions that explain why particular lighting methods were chosen, as well as how they were executed.

Photoburbia.com Kicks Off Photography Contest

QuickPro, LLC is commemorating the launch of Photoburbia.com (http://photoburbia.com/), its new online community for photographers of all skill levels, with a photography contest that features a Canon Rebel XSi Single-Lens Reflex (SLR) camera as the grand prize.

To enter the contest, members simply create a site account and post any pictures that they have taken in the contest media files. Categories include: People & Portraits; Nature, Wildlife & Travel; Weddings & Events; and "Other" for miscellaneous pictures. In addition to the grand prize of the Canon Rebel XSi SLR camera, other prizes will be awarded for the "best of show" in each category. There will also be SLR's from Pentax and Olympus given on the 15th of December and January for members. On February 15, 2009, the Grand prize will be chosen by a panel of judges made up of professional photographers.

The contest's submission deadline is February 12, 2009. "Not only will participants have a chance to win a gorgeous, high-end digital camera, but it's also a fun way to get together with other photography enthusiasts," said Landon Bradfield, sales manager of QuickPro. "To be eligible for prizes, you just have to set up a valid account and the pictures that you post must be your own."

Members and visitors can browse a gallery of the submitted entries. In addition to the contest entries, members can upload a limitless number of photographs to the site for display in their personal galleries.

The purpose of Photoburbia is to enable photography enthusiasts, from beginners to professionals, to connect with each other to share picture-taking techniques as well as to view and critique each other's photos. "Our business is helping photography enthusiasts get excited about their art and improve their skills via DVD tutorials for SLR cameras," stated Bradfield. "But we wanted to help all photographers expand their knowledge no matter what type of equipment they use. So we have created Photoburbia."

The online community allows users to share the stories and techniques behind their photographs so that others can gain insight into their work. Users can take advantage of blogs, forums and wikis to connect with each other and share expertise, photo opportunities, comments about the inspiration behind specific photographs as well as suggestions on how to enhance images.

Users can look for specific community members via the site's browse, sort or search features. In addition, community members who are searching for specific information or support can join or create groups in the categories of Photoshop, Scrapbooking, Product Review and Photography.

To learn more about Photoburbia, visit http://photoburbia.com/.

Podcast : Digital Photography Life: Make Every Shot Count

Personal Life Media, Inc. (PLM), a publisher of lifestyle podcasts and blogs for people on the leading edge of culture, has added "Digital Photography Life: Make Every Shot Count" to the network. This new podcast by Scott Sherman and Michael Stein is a new show from the creators of one of the most successful photography podcasts, "The Digital Photography Show." The Digital Photography show was nominated for two Podcast Awards in both 2007 and 2008, including the "People’s Choice" award, putting it in the top ten of over 4,000 considered shows in both years.

Leading industry pundits and expressed their support for Scott and Michael in their new podcast:

Scott Kelby, best-selling technology writer, editor and publisher of Photoshop User Magazine, and President of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals said, "I'm totally psyched about the launch of Digital Photography Life. Scott and Michael are two of my all-timefavorite podcasters in the field. People ask me all the time what they can do to improve their photography - my tip for today is subscribe to Digital Photography Life."

Rick Sammon, author, photographer and television and radio personality said, "Scott and Michael and the kinds of über-enthusiasts I most enjoy talking with. They bring the enthusiasm of true fan-boys to digital photography. Better yet, they have a knack for attracting listeners who are every bit as motivated and cool as they are. As a guest and as a listener, I can't wait to be a part of Digital Photography Life."

A free multi-show podcast player widget is free for any podcaster or fan at http://personallifemedia.com/widget

Access the shows for free from a browser or subscribe via RSS or iTunes and listen on an iPod or MP3 player.