Freelance Photography As a Living by Murray Edwards

So you have purchased a digital camera and now you are ready to go out and make a living as a photographer. Easy you think, take a few pictures, sell them and you are off to the races. Not so quick my friend, unless you are extremely lucky, the road to success is a difficult one. Let us face it, making a living in the amazing world of photography can be fun, but there are many difficulties along the way.

First off, what type of photography are you going to perform? Weddings, portraits, events, editorial or commercial have you given that any thought? Are you going to be one of those who will upload your photographs to a micro-agency and be ecstatic when you receive twenty-cents when someone makes a purchase and downloads an image? Oh boy, you are on your way now!

Wedding and portrait photographers must have the ability to deal with a group of people who are stressed and at times, not very rational. Do you have the right personality to ease a bride to be as she breaks down, or smile while a mother attempts to gather the children for that special family portrait?

Looking to do event photography? You will need to form relationships with the local the baseball and softball leagues, golf courses, racetracks, chamber of commerce, and any form of organization that has or performs civic activities. The ability to review and print on-site is almost a must these days. Be sure that you can accept credit or debit cards for those who do not have cash and desire to a purchase on-the-spot.

Now for editorial and commercial side of things, make sure you understand when and where releases are required. In most cases, the use of an image to tell a story, used in a newspaper, textbook or magazine article, does not require a model or property release, however in some cases a publisher will require one. For any commercial usage of an image that has a recognizable face or facility, get a release. Carry a handful of releases in your camera bag; it will save you much aggravation

Understand your licensing options. If you do not care how the image is going to be used and as long as you have the proper releases then you can provide your customers with a Royalty-Free license, just know that they may, for the most part, reuse the picture as many times and in any manner they desire. You have basically given up your rights to how your hard work is going to be presented.

A Rights-Managed license provides you and your client more control of image usage. Basically, the client agrees to use your picture based of a selection of criteria. An example, suppose a magazine wants to use your image for a inside ¼ page spread with a production run of 25,000 issues and they want exclusive usage of that images for six months, then you charge appropriately.

Having fun yet? You are just getting started, just wanted to begin to educate those who believe that the business of photography is as simple of picking a camera and taking a picture. There is money to be made, just be sure you have a good understanding of the industry before you make the jump and do not leave your daytime job to soon.

Murray Edwards is a freelance photojournalist covering the Southern United States.
http://www.freelancephotog.com/
http://pa.photoshelter.com/c/murrayed