Selling Photographs

Hi all,

Being a full time student living and supporting myself on my own isn't easy with just one 20Hr Job. So I was thinking whether I could get some extra money from selling photographs.

Photography for me is a tool for getting rid of my depression in studying accountancy. But now I think I need to use it to make me some additional income, not much maybe an extra £200/month would be more than enough.

My problem is I don't know whether my photographs are worthy of selling. Ofcourse I will either frame them or Block mount it. My other problem is I don't know where where to start.

Could anyone help me please..???

Thanks,

Things like journalism and fashion photography require full-time commitment.

Selling stock photos is not very profitable unless you have a lot of good stock.

Being a papparazzo isn't for everyone, though it can be profitable.

As a student, you won't have a huge budget, so your own studio is probably not an option.

If you are a masochist, weddings would be a possibility. But see Unlocker's recent post for one man's experience.

My plan, in your shoes, would be to offer my services shooting portraits and baby pics in the customer's own home. I know somebody who does this and makes a useful living. The outlay is fairly small (use manual flashguns and reflectors), and if you can get into the local young mums' circuit you may get quite a lot of business by word of mouth.

If this doesn't appeal, Don will probably be along in a moment with some good ideas.

Good luck.

G

there are some tax benifits to running your own business.
everywhere you look there are images.
somebody will buy...but at what price?
George offered solid advice.
The main thing id to startoff right, business wise. Register it. Get a licince.
Where are your intersts and strengths as a photographer? as a busineeman?

I'm not at all sure this is worth while in the first instance.

Before jumping through any of the hoops you have to, to start up an actual company (and there's no licence required in the UK AFAIK), surely it makes sense to find out if there's a market for what the OP is selling?

If it's a bit of extra income he's after in the first instance, then a little freelance work, as George suggests , obtained by word-of mouth, perhaps, will soon establish whether he has the skills and time to generate actual money from paying clients.

I don't know how it works in the UK.
But here in Canada, you need to deal with three levels of Government.
You need a licence aka business licence/permit from your municipality to operate from your home, or wherever your business is.
You need to register your company name if different than your name.
You need to register to pay Provincial taxes and collect Provincial sales tax.
You may even need to incorporate. (Provincially or federally).
Federal goods and services tax needs be collected and forwarded on to our federal govt.

The fines for running an illegal business will be more than the cost of doing it right.
Bet your last dollar, that if your competitors find out you're not registered, so will Revenue Canada.

Lastly you need to be registered to get the tax benifits.
Being able to write off equipment, expenses, and part of your home will reduce your taxes a substancial amount, esp if you have to work another job to support yourself short term, and tax credits can be carried forward several years to reduce taxes on future profits.

Even if you start off by direct selling prints...
Say you place some free ads online and in local papers classifieds (you might want to do a little viral marketing by putting "Wanted" ads offering to buy "OC Photobug" signed originals for substancial prices.
Generate some buzz and percieved value.

Then you may want to book a conference hall to host your own private gallery show/sale. Be sure to invite prominant people who can help you out. (art gallery owners/currators, art collectors, magazine editors.
Ask your friends and family to come and buy work to help your show succeed.

Network like hell.

Don,

In the UK, we are fortunate in not having too much paperwork to do before starting a business, especially if you don't employ anybody.

The only critical thing is to register for Value Added Tax if your turnover threatens to exceed £60k a year (approx). And the OP won't have to worry about that just yet.

G

I thought that the UK was bad, particularly since The Broons came into power, I wont be immigrating to Canada just yet.

Yes. Doing business in Canada is difficult.
Dealing with various Governments, and Revenue Canada, feels like you're having your wallet lifted during a prostate exam.

Hi guys,

Thank you for the advice I'll certainly look at the portrait idea a bit further. It might be viable. I enjoy taking candid shots and portraits. I have put one candid shot sample up in the forum's gallery section. I'll put up some example of my portrait shots for you guys to comment on so that I can get better at it.

Tax wise, I'm not too worried as I'm studying towards a fully qualified accountant I'm very aware of the tax situation in the UK (I don't mean to be arrogant by the way).

one more thing I don't know whether it is appropriate to ask this in this part of the forum or not. How do I trigger manual flash? (

Of course, tax specialists tend to earn rather more than snappers.

G

PS: Manual flash can be triggered in three ways:

By the camera's RTF - which requires a sensor on the remote flashgun (some have them built-in)
By cable - reliable, but can trip you up
By an IR trigger - best but most expensive, and usually only studio lights have the connections.

George I'd be interested to hear what you consider the two most important personal attributes are that helps you have a lengthy career in professional photography. If you can recall the days of motorcycles picking up the films then I'm guessing you've had a good few years in the profession and I'd be really interested to hear what you think. I've also been self employed for a over 20 years (but not in photography) and I'd like to compare your thoughts with my own.

Personally, I wouldn't want to take a relaxing hobby and make it a business but that's me. Sad I may be but I rather regret not having the opportunity to be an accountant as it seems to be a profession where you make what you want from it.

Mike

MikeW,

If you mean me (another George has appeared recently) I'm not a professional photographer - but I'll answer the question.

I think all owner-operated businesses are fundamentally the same, and require the same basic things, of which the most important are:

1 Hard work.
2 Good marketing.
3 A competent accountant (when the business gets a bit bigger and more complex).

I have seen more businesses go bust because of inadequate financial advice/expertise (or for ignoring good advice) than for any other reason. But obviously it's the hard work and marketing that are the main keys to success. The accountant helps (amongst other things) to avoid failure.

To illustrate my points, let's take Ben K. You may recall his description of a typical shoot. It lasted about sixteen hours, and obviously involved a huge amount of work.

I don't have to mention Ben and marketing. The words are almost synonyms.

I know nothing of Ben's financial support, so can't comment on that.

Where I would say Ben is not typical of the majority of photographers is in being creative. Outside the upper echelons of advertising and fashion, creativity is not much in evidence in professional photographers.

G
(With apologies to any creative photographers who make their living outside advertising and fashion.)

Sorry George I had the idea you were a pro.

As to your points I’d broadly agree but perhaps put the following higher on the list for a sole trader at least:

Being a self starter – no-one else is going to make you get up and go (apart from disgruntled clients kicking your backside)
The ability to take knocks and get back up again ready to do it all over again
To listen, really listen to what your customers are telling you

I think hard work just follows on from the above and I am not sure about the accountant bit. I have an accountant but I find he states the obvious but then my business is very simple and needs very little capital or management. I am a self employed software developer dealing with smaller (and I mean smaller like 5 man operations none of this SME stuff for me) so all I sell is time and all I need is a computer and somewhere to sit down. I have targets for each year, VAT quarter, month and latterly week and day which means I am totally on top of income. Doesn’t mean I earn any more just that I know how bad it is at any time!

I do agree though I have seen clients get into dreadful trouble by not getting good financial advice for putting systems into place that tell them the reality of their business.

Sadly marketing is a closed book to me – I just can’t seem to find anything that works for me apart from word of mouth.

Interesting comments re creativity and pro photographers – my neighbour is a pro and does mainly weddings plus commercial and I don’t think he would say much of what he does is very creative. That said what he does do very well is relate to the people he’s working for and gets the best he can from the situation. In a sense he listens. It's also very hard, potentially stressful work and takes killer organisation.

Thanks for the time to reply.

Mike

Mike,

Agree about being a self-starter, and taking the knocks.

Listening to customers and giving them what they want is of course vital. There's an overlap with marketing here.

By the way, I should just say that a few photogs outside the fields I mentioned are of course highly creative. I was generalising about the majority.

G

It was me who mentioned films and motorcycles.

Ken