Photography work frustrations...

[Shant M]

Hey guys,

I have been trying to expand my business and get some more work, however there are problems... The more I look for gigs, craiglist, freelance websites, the more I see gigs that are TF, free, $10-12 an hour or when I tell them my rate they tell me I'm too "up there for me" mind you my rates I have been quoting are around 100 or under an hour. I placed a search on craigslist with the query "photographer" and instantly got thousands of "pros" offerin to do free photoshoots, weddings for 2-600 a day etc. Sadly I have realized most brides are pretty ignorant when it comes to knowing how to spot a bad photog from a good one so a $300 weddin photographer may be a great deal.

I have done my share of free and volunteer work but the way I see it is they build my portfolio but have no real gateway to paid work when you are already doing the same work for free.

I pass out business cards everywhere, ask pros to help weddings but I just can't get this ball really going with all these cheap offers or professionals selling themselves so cheaply. I want to establish a clientele and make a name but I guess I just don't have the right know-how.

How do you guys overcome the demand from clients for free or little paying work? Do I just have to "pay my dues"? I'm not trying to rush this process but I guess I want some help and maybe hear some of your stories of how you guys have gotten to where you are.

- Shant

[Kawarthabob]

yes that is a problem. It seems that word of mouth is the best way to get yourself "out there".

[Iguanasan]

I can't offer a lot of advice as photography for me is only a fairly serious hobby and I haven't gotten into the business side of it at all. I can tell you though that it's a problem I hear from a lot of people who are in it for the business. One thing I can tell you is that if you are good at what you do, you do not want the $200-$600 wedding. People in that price range will nickel and dime you to death. I listen to a lot of photography podcasts (sorry Marko ;) ) such as Camera Dojo and This Week in Photography and they talk about this sort of thing a lot. If you are going to make a living off of photography then you have to define what makes you different and sell yourself for a price that makes sense. Maybe it's more like $2000 to $6000 per wedding. If that's the case then you need to convince the people who are spending that kind of money - they are out there though I'm not one of them ;) - that they need you to do their wedding because only you can give them what you want.

The overall best advice that I've heard is that you have to let people who you are and then people who connect with you as a person will be more likely to hire you. Trying to compete with Uncle Fred and his new Canon T2i he picked up at Futureshop is just not worth the effort. :(

[Shant M]

Great Advice guys! Thanks. I guess I have to keep blabbing about my photography to people and networking.

[Iguanasan]

I just went and took a look at your website. If you want to be a wedding shooter you really should think about changing your website around to focus on the wedding photography. Having to click into galleries and then weddings way at the bottom won't sell you as a wedding photographer. I wouldn't even know whether or not you shoot weddings from your site. People who will spend real money on a good wedding photographer don't want a photographer that takes pictures of dogs and beaches and children. They want someone focused on Weddings. From everything I've heard it's a very competitive business.

[Shant M]

You're right. I was speaking about wedding photogs as an example. I havent really been pursuing weddings, more so events and family parties.

[AcadieLibre]

First word of mouth is fine once you have been in the business a while but even then if you want to make you living you need to spend on advertising just as you would in any business. As of now and don't take this the wrong way but your portfolio is pretty weak. You need to build up your portfolio and that does not mean for free but until you get your portfolio up to commercial/professional calibre you will want to offer steep discounts. I think you may be looking at it all wrong, it is a business, you do have lots of competition in L.A. and you need to stand out. I would look at some photography business websites, read some books and maybe even take a business course. You can be a so-so photographer but if you can market yourself and sell you and your services you can do OK but it will not happen over night. It could and will usually take a year of more to build up your client base and your reputation. You need a business plan and a marketing plan before anything and while you work on getting those things together work on building your portfolio and look around and see what others who are professional photographers and what they charge and work from there for pricing. Until you know more what you want to do and can articulate it more it is hard to give you much in the way of direction. This is just my take on it.

[Shant M]

I appreciate that AcadieLibre! I admit my portfolio isnt that great... That's why im here trying my best to learn, improve and ever evolve. I have just began, I guess no rushing it, I have to get better and learn some things about business. Like people say, if I'm good, those low ball photogs wont affect me. I appreciate the advice.

[Greg_Nuspel]

One thing you will notice is there are great business people and there are great photographers only on occasion do they occupy the same shoes. The great business person will make a good living while the great photographer may get discovered. The business side is so important for success this is what you really need to study and it is changing rapidly these days, blogs, twitter and facebook are starting to be great marketing tools, but you have to learn how to use them properly. Unfortunately the business side is the part most of us hate to do so you may want to find someone to help you with it.

I have not tried the service of odesk.com (http://www.odesk.com/) yet but it does look like a good source of speciality people. One of my hard learnt life lessons is that I can't do everything and it usually costs me less to use an expert than to struggle with things I'm not good at. So you might try to find someone to help you develop a marketing plan.