How to make money from photography

Making Money From Photography

Andrew Mason36exp Photographers’ School

www.36exp.co.uk

http://www.36exp.co.uk/

Agenda• Summary of ways to make money from photography• Where to look for work• How to start from scratch and build a portfolio• How to develop your portfolio• Importance of developing a style• Website development options• How to get found on the web• Intro to social media for photographers• How to make customers happy• Basic sales and marketing techniques• Non-creative considerations• Can you go full time?

Ways to make money from photography


www.36exp.co.uk


What are they?

• Stock

• Portraits

• Weddings

• Travel

• Interiors

• News

What are they?

• Photojournalism

• Art

• Estate agents

• Google Business View

• Cars

• Product

What are they?

• Commercial

• Fashion

• Schools

• Events

• Corporate

• Competitions

Where to look for work


www.36exp.co.uk


Where to look for work

• BJP website

• People Per Hour

• Photographers.co.uk

• Artsjobs.co.uk

• Demandstudios.com

• Gumtree.com

• Photographers’ agencies

How to start from scratch and build a

portfolio


www.36exp.co.uk


What’s in your portfolio?

• Photos that represent what you can do

• Photos that represent the type of work you want to do?

• Your favourite photos?

• Your holiday snaps?

• Your cat?

What should be in your portfolio

• Do your photos look professional?

• Do your photos look amateur?

• How many photos?

• Who is your target?

• Is your portfolio for personal pleasure or to find work?

How to start your portfolio

• Who’s going to pay you to build your portfolio?

• Will you work for free?

• Can you assist?

• Second shooting

• Hiring models

• Hiring studios

• Work in a group


• Join groups and clubs

• Take part in workshops

• Gain skills

• Working for free is valuable experience

• Get used to dealing with clients

• Make mistakes

• Gain confidence


• Get feedback

• Work for charity as a volunteer

• Only max 2 or 3 shots of each person in your portfolio

• Needs variety

• Decide what to specialise in

• Don’t turn anything down

Develop your style and portfolio


www.36exp.co.uk


How to develop your portfolio

• You can’t please everyone

• Decide on an area to specialise in

• E.g. food, product, portrait

• Some are related e.g. portrait and wedding

• But, food and wedding?

• Too many subjects will confuse your clients

How to develop your portfolio

• Be brutal, you’ll have to cull some images

• Don’t include your holiday photos or your cat

• Stand out from the crowd (in a good way)

Develop a style

• Who are your favourite photographers

• Why do you like them?

• Take inspiration

• What is a style?

• Takes time to develop, and constantly evolves

• People need to know what they’ll get from you

• Not everyone will like your style, but enough should

Website development

options

36exp Photographers’ Schoolwww.36exp.co.uk

Build your own or off the shelf?

• Off the shelf packages:• Clikpic, Layerspace, Squarespace, Zenfolio

• Build your own:• Wordpress is most accessible

• Flickr, 500px?

• Domain name and email address

• What functionality do you need?

How to get found on the web


www.36exp.co.uk


Content and links

• Content is king

• Keyword research

• Keyword competition

• Go for long tail keywords

• Titles and meta

Content and links

• Image alt tags

• Build links

• Get social

• Analytics

Intro to social media for photographers


www.36exp.co.uk


Build a following

• Pick your channels – Facbeook , Twitter, G+ as a minimum

• Set up FB business page

• Pinterest, Instagram

• Share stories & helpful info

• Don’t sell

Build a following

• Follow and engage influencers

• Build organically

• Tag people

• Get reviews

Make customers happy!


www.36exp.co.uk


Customer delight

• An unhappy customer will tell 7 people, a happy customer will probably tell no one

• Always exceed expectations

• Under promise, over deliver

• Don’t reply instantly to bad emails

• Be nice

Basic sales and marketing techniques


www.36exp.co.uk


Sales

• Identify needs

• Build rapport

• Ask questions

• State benefits, not facts

• Ask for the booking

• Get contact details and follow up

Marketing

• Create a brand

• What makes you unique?

• Why should people choose you?

• Communicate your strengths

• Create a brand name and / or logo

• Control what you publish

Marketing

• Create promotional materials

• Send follow up emails

• Identify your target market

• Where do they go?

• Hit them 3 times

• Consistently be there

Marketing

• Create a marketing plan

• Don’t expect instant results

• People are not always ready to buy

• Always follow up

• Stay in touch

• Create content and stories

• Network

Pricing

• Should match your offering and your target

• Too cheap = low quality

• Too expensive = no customers

Non-creative considerations


www.36exp.co.uk


Legal and above board

• Finances• Tax• Sole Trader / Ltd Company• Bank account• Record keeping

• Insurance• Your equipment• Yourself

Sole Trader

• As freelance photographer, sole trader is probably the best option

• You are the business, not an employee

• Simpler and cheaper to administer than a ltd company

• Register as a sole trader with HMRC

• You will need to complete a tax return every year

Ltd Company

• You own shares in the company and are it’s employee

• Pay yourself an income from the company

• May be more tax efficient

• Need an accountant

• More admin and cost

Be Organised

• Have a separate bank account

• Keep records of income and all business related outgoings

• Sole trader – self assessment is easy if your records are up to date and you are organised, but painful if not

• Ltd co – accountant will do accounts and tax return

Tax

• If you have another job all photography income will be taxed, could be at 40%

• You will pay your tax as soon as your tax return is done, deadline is 30 Jan for previous financial year

• Save a % of your photography income for tax, it can add up

• VAT is only chargeable if you have turnover of over £80,000

Insurance

• Camera Equipment – insurance for personal use probably doesn’t cover business use

• Check locations covered

• Personal liability

• Professional indemnity

Can you go full time?


www.36exp.co.uk


A salary?

• How much do you need to live on?

• How many jobs can you get per week?

• How much can you charge for each job?

Art & Photos

How to make money from photography