Comments on: When photography becomes a business …

By: Making photography your living « The Reality Tourist

Making photography your living « The Reality Tourist — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:56:21 +0000

[...] Photography Tags: Photography A good post at [EV +/-] Exposure Compensation on When photography becomes a business … The upshot is that when you start trying to make a living doing what you love, you compromise your [...]

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 08 May 2008 01:46:43 +0000

If you want to make a living as a photographer, you have to compromise. You don't have to compromise your vision, it's really your time you are sharing. You can take the attitude that you will do the best work you can for your client, and try to offer him something unique to you, your own personal vision, but you have to be prepared that the client may not want that. I think people become professional photographers because they want to make a living doing what they love. Even if you're not an "artist," you love the act of photographing, the involvement, maybe the troubleshooting aspects, and you want to be doing that all the time. You can be a photographer and have fun some of the time, or you can be a truck driver.

By: Dalton

Dalton — Tue, 06 May 2008 11:09:27 +0000

I know with some certainty that I have no interest in commercial work. I envy someone like Michael Kenna, who does some advertising work but it appears to be entirely on his own terms. Agencies hire him for his style and it comes off as quite effortless (if you didn’t know they were ads, many of them would fit right in with his fine art work.)

So, although photography is so much more than a hobby to me, I will never be a full time photographer until I can sell enough of my work to actually support myself, which is probably never.

By: Miguel

Miguel — Tue, 06 May 2008 05:42:15 +0000

Hey Jim … I love your Rembrandt gene theory … very original … and your point very true.

Miguel

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 05 May 2008 23:53:48 +0000

I agree wholeheartedly. I recently made the decision to ‘not’ try to be a professional event photographer and keep my 4-5 events per weekend ‘hobby’ because I could clearly feel the need to please the client in the paid shoots, and felt the images I created were vastly different from the ones I made when I was just trying to capture an event in my own way. It’s hard to explain to some people why you won’t accept their money because you want to shoot it your own way.

By: Jim Mullinaux

Jim Mullinaux — Sat, 03 May 2008 20:30:12 +0000

About forty years ago I came to this same crossroad and decided to turn my hobby into my work. I took the Rembrandt approach. Rembrandt did some wonderful work purely from inspiration (artistic endeavors). He also hired himself out as a portrait painter (commercial endeavors). Today, all of his work from commercial portraits to religious works to quick sketches are all considered priceless. As for me, I quickly learned that I was no Rembrandt.

I slaved over each project, from weddings, to portraits, to industrial case work. I strained for my own unique visions of each project. I did good work and I was proud of it. Unfortunately, most of my clients didn’t agree. They had their own visions.

I think most working photographers soon learn to separate their personal tastes from those of their clients. It only makes sense that you have to satisfy your clients. If you can do both, that is satisfy your clients and keep your artistic drive alive, then you are most fortunate indeed.

I couldn’t do it. Consequently, I gave up my photography as a career and kept it as my avocation. It has been my safety valve and artistic salvation ever sense. I guess I’m missing the Rembrandt gene.

By: Alexey

Alexey — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:28:21 +0000

“I had a world popularity, so-called glory, but thus I have started to live in misery. To sell it was possible nothing. And with 1930 on 1940 I was glad, when it was possible to get money for a dinner. Then I was helped my lessons which by I taught photographers to fans, I learned them to do portraits, certificates and landscapes”
Frantisek Drtikol
It is possible to be guided certainly by high principles of a photography, and to recollect many-many known photographers of the present, but all we people, and at us in a life it is a lot of duties before relatives financial plan..
When speak on great modern photographers why everyone forget that many different reserves which it have helped – rich families, family of hereditary artists, acquaintances to editors of magazines, and simply related communications..
Let’s try to speak more truths..
Not all were born with “gold spoon” in a mouth, the some people feel a photographic reality too close to a body..

By: Rafa

Rafa — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 18:01:20 +0000

Miguel,
you nailed the nail on the head. I get this question asked almost every week. Next time any my friends ask me why I don’t sell my photos or do work at events I’ll direct them to your post. I, nevertheless, envy and admire those that pursue their passion against all odds, and sometimes sacrifice comfort and a good life for the pursuit of their art.

By: Tamara

Tamara — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:18:29 +0000

Miguel:
I agree with you about your words on compromises. Maybe it’s an issue of semantics for me. I am not sure the wonderful photographers or artists that you feature on your blog consider themselves “hobbists.” As you are well aware, making art is hard work full of sacrifices and compromises. Compromises/sacrifices in the form of making the decision to work on art projects during weekends rather than spending time with family or friends or turning down paid work in order to spend time shooting. If these are the issues that you are referring to, then I wholeheartedly agree. However, there are plenty of world renown artists that make no compromises in the form of making art to satisfy the masses or collectors, and have become extremely successful. Sometimes personal work does generate money. There are artists/photographers who live quite well generating their own artistic vision.

By: Miguel

Miguel — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:40:37 +0000

Hey Tamara,

No, of course, I am not kidding. It is a question of choices.

The reality is that an artist will do what it wants, only when it doesn’t do it for money, just to express his/her vision. Call it a hobby or a profession, it doesn’t matter. The point is to make the case that when the artistic direction is driven by the need to satisfy the client, to generate photography that sells, there are compromises to be made, and not everyone likes to make them. If you have to make a living from your artistic work, sometimes it becomes complicated.

A full-time photographer that takes his/her own private time to do personal work is not different from what I described in my post. They have a day job and on the side a passion for photography. What is the day job, it does not matter as long as you enjoy it. When it comes to do what you like as you like in your free time, not driven by money but by personal interest, then you can call it a hobby.

Thanks much for sharing your opinion.

Miguel

By: Miguel

Miguel — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:27:31 +0000

loose or lose … thanks for correcting my stupid mistake …

Miguel

By: Tamara

Tamara — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:36:30 +0000

Are you kidding?? Keeping photography as a “hobby” for people who have spent thousands of dollars going to art school for photography is a huge waste of money and talent. How can one say that you will have more time creating your art projects, while paying the bills in a traditional 9-5 job? I know many commercial, wedding and event photographers who are behind the camera everyday learning about photography, making a decent living and having enough time to create personal work. Full-time, free-lance photographers take huge risks in their profession but get the opportunity to do what they love. I don’t know many successful artists who are say, “Photography is just a hobby for me.”

By: pw-pix

pw-pix — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:51:28 +0000

Lose is spelt with one o, the word you have used is loose which is the opposite of tight. My pants are too loose, I hope they don’t fall down. If they do I might lose them completely.

By: Massimo

Massimo — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 08:45:31 +0000

Miguel,
reading your post today morning made me really think that I was the author
I’m exactly in the same position you are, enjoying photography as a Passion but working in a different area. It hearts, however, sometimes since I realize I would like to have more time for my passion and this is often impossible.
Thank you again for putting in words so clearly what is in my mind.

Massimo

By: Alexey

Alexey — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 06:07:54 +0000

Very correct words!
Completely with you agree!
The Photo as it not paradox are – easy money (behind very small exception of great names which burned down on the work and have left after itself – property of a photo). Often photographers come far in a component of business of magic of a photography. Photographers people observant and consequently in this life pass much through themselves, but especially – a rich life and poor – is disturbs them always.
Later 3 years professional works as the photographer, I come to the same conclusion which you here have written.
Sorry for my bad English.

By: Miguel

Miguel — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 05:09:15 +0000

Thanks a lot for your comments.

Congratulations Mike for keeping your hobby alive while working full time as a photographer. I am very glad you realized about the importance of separating both, so you can cover financial needs and create art.

Stella, thanks for the reference. I will check it out.

Miguel

By: Stella

Stella — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 02:42:28 +0000

Great post, Miguel. We all go through this and I thank you for your honesty. There is a wonderful book by Glenn Kurtz called “Practicing” that speaks of this truth. You may want to check it out.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 02:23:06 +0000

You can make your living as a commercial photographer and still do your own work. Photography is both my work and my passion.

The personal work I do makes me a better professional, and my pro work makes me a better artist. However, I work very differently at the two endeavors, both on a technical level and from a point of view.

My personal work is all done on film with medium format manual cameras, images are scanned to make prints and books. It’s all street work with my own way of seeing the world. My pro work is to satisfy clients. It’s all digital and all of my efforts go into making the client look their best no matter what I’m shooting. When I shoot for myself it is all about communicating what I feel about the world I inhabit. For clients, it’s all about giving them what they need, and then some. It’s not about my ego or how I feel, but how I use my skills to make them look their best.

I draw a very strong line between the two worlds, in the way I approach my subject and how I work. It is important to keep them separated because you will rarely derive any personal satisfaction, other than being well paid, from a commercial shoot. Photography is not an easy way to make a living, and because of that you can get easily and quickly burned out if you don’t stay in touch with why you became a photographer in the first place. I can’t imagine not shooting for myself, I’d become and angry old hack if I didn’t. I’m sure you’ve met one, I know I’ve met more than a few.

In the end, all we have is our passion for what we do and how we see the world around us. Exercise that passion on a regular basis, don’t let your personal work become a commodity. Hopefully, our personal work will one day be the work we’re all known for, but until then, I have bills to pay and kids to send to college. I wish I had a trust fund.