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Thread: Who's Day Job is Photography?

  1. #111
    ARS KC2UU
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    Re: Who's Day Job is Photography?

    Quote Originally Posted by Kirk Gittings View Post
    I was talking to a newby here the other day about the forum. He was surprised given the level of knowledge and talent evident here how few posters actually make their living in photography. As a matter of fact some of the most knowledgeable people here do other things for a living and I believe there are some real good reasons to keep photography as a personal passion rather than trying to make a living from it.

    Just curious. Whose day job is photography? Or if you are like me it is my day, night, weekends and holidays job.
    Kirk: A nice thread opener.

    Not me. If I had to do photography for a living then it would be a job. My day job (i.e, career) is engineering specialist... something I have great passion for and trained many years to get where I am. But not what I want to do in a few years when I retire.

    If my health holds out I plan to buy a 4x4 Quigley van, load up all my photo gear, and hit the road (or should I say off-road) for those obscure photo opportunities that the average tourists never see.

    Cheers. Bob G.
    All natural images are analog. But the retina converts them to digital on their way to the brain.

  2. #112
    Greg Greg Blank's Avatar
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    Re: Who's Day Job is Photography?

    I am in my mid forties, five years ago bought my first home. It was a fixer upper and I was pouring money into the new place to get it to the point I could use the place as a biz location. It sits on a main street where about 75,000 cars pass a day on the way to work. So although I was making good money to initially get the loan, I needed income quicker than I could make it doing photo and billing and recieving it from clients. I did a mix of weddings both subcontracted as wel as my own weddings where I was advertising and working direct with clients. I was also doing magazine features. So I made the very hard decision having one income and not a spouse, that I would work PT and still do some side photo while I continued to work on the house. I am not too far from the goal, though the future is sort of unsure, I try to be positive. But my publication clients are all but gone- down to like one becuase I don't consistently market, which is required- I think. I am not subcontracting weddings at all- which I am actually happy about- it sucked. Both income streams have declined, and there are less weddings though in general- aybe because I decided to remove all advertising for that,- at over a hundred a month it it was money not being well spent. Over the past five years I have slowly been teaching myself something of electronics, once my renovates are complete I may start marketing photo services some more, and to ultimately decide my course of action. I am also learning to weld

    My PT job is in Photo distribution.



    Quote Originally Posted by Kirk Gittings View Post
    I want to resurrect this thread and see if the recession has driven many people out of the profession. One guy I know said the hell with it and went to law school.

    I'm still in it, though I have been beaten up by the recession. My magazine clients have tanked-with one offering me $600 for a shoot I did for them for $2200 in 2007. FA print sales have been holding there own-which i don't understand.
    "Great things are accomplished by talented people who believe they will
    accomplish them."
    Warren G. Bennis

    www.gbphotoworks.com

  3. #113
    Peter De Smidt's Avatar
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    Re: Who's Day Job is Photography?

    My day job is being an assistant photographer, which is kinda like being a photographer but involves taking less pictures and carrying more stuff.
    “You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you.”
    ― Alexander Den Heijer, Nothing You Don't Already Know

  4. #114
    Is that a Hassleblad? Brian Vuillemenot's Avatar
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    Re: Who's Day Job is Photography?

    How can anyone who's day job is photography afford to buy large format lenses, film, and accessories?
    Brian Vuillemenot

  5. #115
    Is that a Hassleblad? Brian Vuillemenot's Avatar
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    Re: Who's Day Job is Photography?

    Quote Originally Posted by Kirk Gittings View Post
    FA print sales have been holding there own-which i don't understand.
    Most of the people who buy fine art prints on a regular basis have so much discresionary income that the downturn in the economy hardly affects them.
    Brian Vuillemenot

  6. #116

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    Re: Who's Day Job is Photography?

    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Vuillemenot View Post
    How can anyone who's day job is photography afford to buy large format lenses, film, and accessories?
    Brian, your comment hits home because it fits my experience in the music business almost exactly. I'm a very successful musician here in LA, and when lay people ask me about my instruments, they expect that I have $10k-20k guitars and am always looking for the next great one. They're always surprised when I show them my beautiful instruments that get the job done but cost nowhere near that. In fact, I'm still playing instruments I bought in the late 60s-early 70s, which still sound great.

    It's nice to have an amazing luthier-built custom instrument, but it's not necessary to get the job done and in the end doesn't really sound any better. How can you spend a third of your income on equipment every year and still be able to live semi-comfortably? If I make a purchase decision it has to also inflate my bottom line. That's just sound biz practice...

  7. #117
    Eric Woodbury
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    Re: Who's Day Job is Photography?

    I did try photography when I was fresh out of school and I didn't like taking pix for others. Oh well. I know that if my day job were photography, I wouldn't enjoy it as much, but that is just me. I design digital cameras for my day job. That's kinda close.
    my picture blog
    ejwoodbury.blogspot.com

  8. #118

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    Re: Who's Day Job is Photography?

    I've been full time for the past 16 years and have only discovered LF photography (Avoided it at college as I wanted to be a press photographer.)
    It's added a whole new perspective to my commercial work and it's nice to use skills I'd long lost forgotten.

    Reason I'm shooting LF is that I've been wanting to do more of my own projects, but I don't want them to feel and look like my day to day commercial work.

  9. #119

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    Re: Who's Day Job is Photography?

    you mean you can get paid money to shoot photos! *gasp* and still eat?

    nope not me. pure fun. no one wants to pay for my images....

    eddie
    My YouTube Channel has many interesting videos on Soft Focus Lenses and Wood Cameras. Check it out.

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  10. #120

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    Brooklyn, NY
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    Re: Who's Day Job is Photography?

    2007 and 2008 were rough despite several decent jobs. The middle of last year I joined a jewelry company as a product photographer and then early this year they made me full time. It isn't glamorous, but it does pay the bills, gives me insurance and leaves enough for me to make personal work. 100 to 150 items a day every day gets pretty old pretty quick though. Arrange, click, repeat; then process and retouch the bunch.

    My fine art sales have been lower since 2006. I'm showing more but selling less... Speaking of which, if anyone is in the Richmond, VA area, stop by 12 12 Gallery. I've got a couple of pieces up in the gallery's annual Juried Photography Show juried by Patrick Amsellem, Associate Curator at the Brooklyn Museum. Help me out and buy a print!

    -m

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