Making money Turn your passion into a profession Could 2025 be the year you finally start making money from your photography? Here’s some inspiration...
WORDS BY PETE TOWNSHEND
“Whether you love or hate it, it’s impossible to make money without selling something. The question is, what can you sell?” money. Indeed, the proliferation of free stock websites has made the industry even less lucrative. However, while it’s unlikely you’ll be taking early retirement on the royalties, having your images visible organisation or shopkeepers to see if they’d be interested in supporting or stocking your products? Host an exhibition – Exhibitions are a fantastic way to showcase your work to a new, completely random audience. By finding an exhibition space with a decent amount of footfall, you’ll no longer be at the mercy of algorithms feeding people things they already know they like. Anyone could walk past, and anything could happen if you make it. Bear in mind that hiring space and producing prints requires investment. MAKING MONEY FROM your pastime – it’s the dream. But it doesn’t have to remain a dream. With the right strategy and planning, turning your passion for photography into gainful employment can be easier than you might think. In this article, we’ll provide you with ways to make it happen and hopefully inspire you to take the leap. One thing is for sure: whether you love or hate it, it’s impossible to make money without selling something. The question is, what can you sell? Sell your photos The beauty of selling your photos as pieces of art is that you have complete creative control. Another advantage is that most of us have banks of images just kicking around on hard drives doing nothing, so you’ll likely already have plenty of stock to work with. Create photo products – Photo products can be a great way to monetise your photos. Think greeting cards, calendars, magnets, photo books and more. If you have nice photos of your local town – or any town you’ve visited – why not approach the local tourism Contribute to a stock library – Stock libraries don’t have the best reputation when it comes to making
As soon as you commercialise your photographs, you are exposed to certain copyright risks, so be sure to thoroughly research copyright laws in both the location you are selling the images and the location they were taken. We would highly recommend taking professional legal advice before undertaking any new business venture. DON’T FORGET
GAIN EXPOSURE Invest in a pro studio set-up (above) or an exhibition of your work (right) to increase your customers
to potential customers is better than leaving them invisible on that hard drive. If all it takes is a quick upload, it’s worth a try. License your photos – We’ve spoken a lot about doing something with photos you’ve already taken, but on the flip side, why not take some initiative? By this, we mean getting yourself into the position to achieve a particular shot, then selling it to a newspaper or magazine afterwards. It could be a celebrity, a sporting event or something else newsworthy, but working speculatively like this can reap significant rewards. Sell a service Instead of selling the actual images, you can sell an image-making service. This could be portraits of anything from pets or babies to corporate headshots; commercial photography like product, fashion
Issue 118 | Photography News 33
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