How you got into Pro photography

[Photography~girl~]

I was talking with mom today, and she brought up some very interesting questions. "How did they[you people of OP] get into pro photography? What do they do with their photos?"(not word for word. but close. lol.)
I was like, umm i have no idea! It'll be cool to see how! I'll make a thread." lol. So here i am, curious on how you got started into photography, and what you do now with your images now and what not.

a.k

[Edd]

Well I'm planning on trying to make a little income from photography, I don't think it will make me a millionaire but just a little extra spending money for the hobby would be nice

Ideally I need to get some better glass but plan I could still do a limited amount of work with the glass that I have.

My first starting point is to build up some stock images and then go round some cafe's, resturants hotels etc and see if they will display my work with the intension of selling some for a small cut of the profit. Also plan to visit local fares etc and start selling a few to the general public. Some photographers I have seen at these fares are displaying images that don't really seem that special, and can safely say I have seen better work on this forum and others.

Friday night we went out for something to eat and a local photographer was displaying some work that he was trying to sell. Once of his images was a sunset and I swear I can do much better and he wanted......


Catch this one......


£175.00 for it I couldn't believe it. (not $$$$ but £££££)

I have a long way to go to full learn about photography but I'm hoping to make a little out of it.

As with any business you have to get used to one word and that is "N0" but it makes the handful of "Yes's" all the more sweeter when people buy from you.

There are some outstanding photographers out there, be inspired by their work and try to reach their standards with the images you take.

Ed

[Farmerj]

I haven't been doing this but since October. I have some that keep asking me if I have any new pictures at work and some relatives, but that's about it.

I about flipped when a co-worker asked if she could have one printed up and framed and she would pay for it. So I guess I have my "first" published picture. About it.

[gldiana]

A.K.

"pro-photographer" is very generic. There's the guy who shoots photos for the local magazine and gets paid a salary, the one who sales photos to magazines as independent photographer (freelance), the one who shows his work in a gallery (like me), the one who is sent around the world in assignments (like those National Geographic guys, lucky them), etc. You can try and do it all but in my opinion it will be too hard and you won't accomplish much. I think it's better to focus on one field and be good at it, like the photographer who tries to be all: portrait, wedding, sport, etc. and at the end he/she's not exceptional at any of those. Find what you like, see if it can be enough to earn you a living and go with it.
I started showing my work around to friends and family, words were encouraging, then I started meeting real professional photographers and asked them a blunt opinion about my work. Since words were still encouraging I showed more of my work around until I was invited to display it into a gallery and also a coffee shop. Recently a Japanese restaurant's manager has asked me to display my photos in their restaurant and just yesterday the owner of a fine dining restaurant asked me to display some photos in his. I think what's important is name recognition so little by little I'm building a name. My work is divided into 2 sections: The Natural Landscapes and The Human Landscapes (Trademarked btw, in case anyone wanted to copy me and use the same). The last offer for example was for the Human Landscapes, the owner of the fancy place doesn't care much about Natural Landscapes but was very attracted to the other side of my work.
I also printed a coffee table hard cover book with some of my best work from Yellowstone and the Grand Teton which is available as a limited edition of 100 copies (I have a few left), numbered and signed.

[Mitchell]

i woudent call this pro photography but im starting...

every summer in islandpark there is a antique sale at two places for two days each there is always a ton of people here to.. "when i was really little my dad made log furniture and we went to these and sold the furniture" but anyways, i just got my new printer and so i thought about selling pictures there this year... its nothing big but might get my name out around here and then who knows i might get some more sales around here.