How to Make a Living as an Environmental Portrait Photographer
Earning an income as an environmental photographer requires more than taking beautiful pictures. There are many opportunities available for your to earn money by selling your work, but many of these opportunities often pay very little up front. If you are willing to invest the time researching ways to earn money selling your environmental photography, you could find that your photos generate multiple revenue streams, such as from sales on stock photography sites.
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Instructions
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Look up stock photograph sites, and review their submission guidelines. If you are an amateur photographer and do not have access to expensive equipment, you may still be able to submit your photographs to a smaller stock photography site. While these sites may pay you less for a photograph download --- less than fifty cents per download --- if you have multiple photographs up on the site and receive multiple download requests, a few cents can begin to earn you a few hundred dollars over the course of a month.
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Research what kinds of photographs sell well online. While half the mission of being a successful photographer is taking photographs of subjects that catch your eye and really inspire you, earning money from your work means you need to keep an eye on what the market currently demands.
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Set up an account with an independent art selling company online, such as Deviant Art, or create a shop on Etsy. Search for other sites like these that are well known and get a large number of potential customers who want to buy original art. While you may only generate a small amount of income from this, small amounts of revenue can add up if you have multiple streams coming in from your work.
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Join a local chapter of an organization associated with the environment, such as the International League of Conservation Photographers. These organizations can help build your network, and a great places to share tips, advice, and gain knowledge which can help you improve your work. Networking can also land you contacts which can also yield potential job offers or contract work on a project basis.
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Create a portfolio. You should have both a hard copy portfolio of between 12 and 20 of your best images, as well as an online portfolio that you refer potential potential clients to. You can make a simple portfolio from a three ring binder and sheet protectors, which are plastic covers that you can insert your photographs to display in a binder. It is very important that your work looks neat and professional.
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Print business cards for yourself, listing yourself as an environmental photographer. Include a link to your online portfolio. Ask local businesses, such as banks or coffee shops, if they would allow you to leave a few of your cards at their counter, or post them on their bulletin board.
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Buy a domain name and hosting on a server, and either build your own website or hire a professional to do this for you. This may seem like a major investment in the short term, but it has the potential to make you seem much more credible as a professional photographer. You can link your page to a PayPal account, so people can buy your work directly from you, which saves you from having to share your earnings with companies like Etsy.
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Tips & Warnings
Start a step at a time, setting up one marketing or sales strategy for your work and completing this before moving on to a new project.
Earning a living as a photographer involves a lot of effort in marketing your work.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
