Toronto Photography Meetup Group

I am 23 years old, working in a exhaust company. Im not liking what im doing and its very hard on the body.


I was thinking of going to school for photography.
Is the feild hard to get into.
Hard to get a job?
Make a decent living form it?

don't bother.

Christopher Gardner: [to his son] You got a dream, you gotta protect it. People can't do something themselves, they wanna tell you that you can't do it. You want something? Go get it. Period.

Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably.
The lesson is, never try.
-- Homer Simpson

I was thinking of going to school for photography.

There are a few schools for photography in the GTA (Ryerson, Centennial etc) however most focus on the technical aspects of photography and not enough on the business concerns.

Is the feild hard to get into.

The barriers to entry are pretty low which means there are lots of competition.

Hard to get a job?

There aren't many salaried photograph jobs. If you want a salaried job, you should probably look elsewhere. On the other hand, if you have business savvy, determination and marketing and sales talent (in addition to image making competencies) then it's possible to start a business and be your own boss.

Make a decent living form it?

Depends on what you consider decent. The average licensed mechanic or automotive technician makes far more money than the average photographer.

Last time I looked, the average full-time professional photographer in Canada averaged about $35K a year. Decent for some - not for most.

Good luck whatever you decide.

it's like being an artist, you make a piece - you get paid, it's art industry, it's not about money, rather about passion and pursuing your dream. Though if you like weddings - it could be a business, but how many wedding photographers exist already?

its a hard industry because its quite saturated already. Most pro's you talk to out there, will tell you, they just got lucky.

You can always "dream a dream, that never dies", but make sure you have something that pays the bills!

Perhaps but it just doesn't happen by itself either. A lot of hard work and a good understanding of marketing and business savvy. You basically need to be able to be your own boss and properly market your service.

Absolutely! Those are the foundations of a good business. I ran my own business in the past (non-photography related) and its quite a lifestyle change from the 9-5. Marketing is one of the biggest parts of running your own thing.

Photography business can be pretty $$$ to start up... even in the wedding biz

Question: So which type of Photography is the most profitable? Weddings?

paparazzi

I would say weddings is the moneymaker. If you have a well managed workflow/business, you can shoot as many weddings as you can squeeze in in the summer. From speaking to pro photographers in the industry, fashion and product photographers are mostly on a contract or as-needed bases and even so, not always guaranteed the next shoot.

In my workplace, we use a number of different photographers depending on their specialty and the mood/look that the clients are after so there is no guarantee we'll use the same photographer for every shoot.

I worked one time with a prominent photographer from Montreal and she was telling me that she's one of 7 contracted photographers that shoots for Chanel and even so, she was only guaranteed 7 shoots for the year on a 1 year contract.

i need to get me some longer lenses!

Wow

Good call! lol

anything is possible with hard work and effort

I think the key to making money is good marketing and the ability to find your niche

Forgot this...

You've got to be a person with not much of a conscience or respect for other's privacy to pull that off I'd think. Don't think you'd get much for a pic of Ben Mulroney. lol

As others have mentioned, you can be a kick a$$, out of this world, amazing photographer but if you can't market your work and yourself, you're as good as the next Craigslist photographer asking for $50. a shoot. Last thing you want is your work to fall into the "sea of sameness" and you need to get yourself distinguished from other people's work.

I think this is one of the kickers to the whole thing... its a tough industry

I hear some people are making money at stock photography. Does anyone know?

Curious to know as well! I ran into two stock photographers when I was up in Algonquin shooting the fall colours about 5-yrs ago. Got to talking about stock photography and was told that if I wanted to get into it, I'd want to have a 200-300 really good images as a base and then build on that annually. If there's any truth to this, I have no clue but sounded viable at the time. How much payout is beyond me. I know that Masterfile and other big stock agencies make a killing but how much of that money goes to the photographer?

I was just looking at istockphoto.com

http://www.istockphoto.com/sell-stock-photos.php

Looks like you make money as long as your pics get used or purchased by someone. Not sure if this is the industry standard, but this is one scenario.

If you can find me a stock photo company that pays out when the photos aren't used or purchased...

One perspective often ignored is retirement income.

how much money do you think someone needs to put aside for retirement when you finally put the camera down for good? You may earn a living as a photographer but it is rather daunting if you consider you need to save a few hundred thousand bucks for retirement income.

+1 for that...

and most photographers don't get benefits

Consider this point of view. It's hard for someone to do.

now that everyone and their dog can get easy access to a good quality camera, competition has been tougher than ever. Also people are willing to give their photo's away for free for 'recognition'. absurd.

I would say, if you're dabblling ... then don't do it where you depend on the results. Work and dabble to see if its something you want to chase. Work to support your dream till you can make money at your dream that is at a level that is acceptable for your lifestyle.

Give the guy some hope.

It's real easy.

1. Get a camera. Nikon is hot right now.

2. Put an ad in craigslist that you're a wedding photographer and your starting price is $500.

3. Now wait for the phone to start ringing.



You're in the wrong city for this type of photography. Move to L.A. or New York City. Then wait outside popular clubs or restaurant for hours and hope Britney arrives wearing no undies!

Here are a couple of books you may be interested in looking into:

I have researched this in the past and have come up with the following reference books that lists what education and skills are needed in the various careers in photography (the first book is in the public library, but I don't think the second one is):

"Career Opportunities in Photography" by George Gilbert: Grade 9 Up

At least one of Marlyn Monroe's photogrphers got some benefits.

let's see....a few of the ppl I know that graduated from Ryerson Photo...are now electrician, in IT, etc.

my best friend graduated from waterloo math accounting is now in real estate.